Smartboard

Smartboards are an innovative tool of technology teachers use to enhance their teaching styles. Smartboards allow easy access to the internet to use educational videos for any subject lessons a teacher has planned. Educational games can be played on smartboards as a manipulated hands on interactive tool that has special pens or can be used with just your hand (Foundations of American Education: Becoming Effective Teachers in Challenging Times p. 355, para. 6). The smartboard can be used as an active center to practice a lesson taught earlier by the teacher in small groups. This technology offers whole group teaching that gives a visual to all students.

Ipads

Ipads are portable and easy to handle devices that children like to use especially in the classroom. Ipads can be used to research information for projects when students are paired together in homogeneous or heterogeneous groups, centers which can strengthen motor skills, literacy, and math skills teachers want students to learn. Teachers can use ipads in their center rotations in the classroom while other students are working on other activities during this time. Ipads can also be used for collaborating group projects of students which can be produced into a video presentation for parent to view at school socials. Ipads are an easy way to keep students involved in learning because they think they are playing games instead or learning (Foundations of American Education: Becoming Effective Teachers in Challenging Times p. 353, para. 3).

Overhead LCD projectors

Overhead projectors are used in the classroom today as teaching tools used with the Smartboard. The overhead projector can project images from the computer onto the Smartboard which makes the visual image come alive. The overhead projector can also reflect the image of any book placed under the projector for a larger image of the book to read to the class. Teachers can use the projector for writing maps that children can copy from. This is a great visual aid for activities teachers or students want to project images in the class.

Audience Response Technologies:

This tool can be used to influence instruction and learning in the classroom by allowing the student to be part of the lecture. Instead of students taking notes or raising their hands all students are able to give their opinion. This allows the students a chance to demonstrate what they know without singling them out. This tool could be used to meet student needs by giving all students the chance to answer a question without being influenced by another student. This can increase teacher efficiency by allowing the teacher to poll how many students know the answers. I would manage this technology in my classroom by making sure that my lesson plans were appropriate. I would also make sure to incorporate other teaching tools into the weekly plans so that students did not become reliant on guessing. Another thing I would do is make sure that I give the students the same clicker daily so that I can keep track of what each student knows.

Document Cameras

Document cameras influence the way teachers instruct by allowing them to transfer images to the smartboards in the classroom. In the picture above it shows a teacher using it to display a picture of the shapes. This can influence the way students learn by allowing the students to all see the object or document all at the same time. It makes it larger so that everyone can see from any place in the classroom. This tool can be used to increase a teacher’s efficiency by allowing teachers to display the material that they need for a lesson in a large way. Instead of having each student come up and view an object or having them pass a document around the teacher can display it on the smartboard. I would manage this tool in my class by making sure each lesson that I used it in was suited for this tool. I would also make sure it was beneficial to the lesson plan and the student.

Reference

Johnson, James A., Musial, Diann, Hall, Gene E., & Gollnick, Donna M. (2014), Foundations of American Education: Becoming Effective Teachers in Challenging Times

Clip art Retrieved from http://www.google.com