Interactive Whiteboard Lesson

Putting together this interactive whiteboard (IWB) lesson was a good experience for me.  I had not used the SMART Notebook software before so it was nice to learn how to use a new tool.  I think this was a very relevant assignment because I’m sure some of us will be working with IWBs and we should probably know how to use the software that coincides with the board.  We may not have the same board or software in the school we end up at, but at least we have used a type of program that is most likely similar.  I probably spent a good three to four hours from start to finish on my IWB lesson.  The hardest part was figuring out what to do it on and make sure it met the requirements of the science standards.  Once I found all the pictures and interactive pieces I wanted to use, it wasn’t very difficult to put it all together.  It reminded me a lot of power point, but with more options.  Learning about the tips and tricks Dr. Boyer went over in class was also helpful.  I have a part of my IWB lesson where you match words to definitions and the answers are covered by blocks.  If he hadn’t taught us how to lock down pieces that we didn’t want to move, I probably would have had issues with showing answers and things moving when they weren’t supposed to.  I think the lesson that I made could easily be adapted to teach a higher grade level than it is targeted for right now.  A few minor changes could make it a more in depth presentation; making this a very versatile lesson.  Creating the IWB lesson has showed me that as a teacher I need to really consider using technology in my class room.  I know that I would have much rather listened to my science teacher lecture if there had been a chance for more class interaction.  The IWB makes that interaction possible without the teacher having to make a lot of changes to the lesson or having to do a lot of extra work.  From all the other tools I have learned about in this class, this one seems to be one of the easiest to use.  If the school I teach at has IWBs in their classrooms I will definitely use mine to keep my students engaged and to enhance their learning.