Interactive Whiteboards

I think that Interactive Whiteboards would enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. I feel that by using the SMART board, you will engage the whole class in your lesson. This technology allows for more class participation and targets all styles of learning. The activities/lessons that can be taught using the SMART board are fun for the students. I felt that this program was alittle much at first to learn, but I quickly got the hang of it. I think that it is easy to create a lesson and would want to use it for my future lesson plans. Using the board during my lesson gets easier with use, (like any other program). I think that the Whiteboard is pretty easy to understand if you get the hang of it...especially once you've practiced and found where you made your mistakes before. I think that creating a lesson plan will come easier and not take as long the more your create them. My lesson seemed to take a long time to create while I was making it, but it only took the one class time to finish.

The pros are what I mentioned above regarding all of the possibilities for lessons and activities.
The cons to having this technology in the classroom would be that not every teacher is trained on this program and/or is comfortable using it. Also, something that is happening with the teachers at my school, the Boards are having technological problems with the wires which then do not display ANY images, or the may offline and need to be adjusted again. The expense is costly and not all schools have the funding for Interactive Whiteboards creating an inconvenience for those that do not have them in their rooms.

I would revamp my lesson plans to incorporate activities just as we did for our lesson that we taught in class. I worked with a two teachers that used the Interactive Whiteboard often in the lessons. I was taken by all that they could do on their boards and how they had the attention of their class, even those students that had trouble staying focused before the lesson. I liked setting up the lesson from Introduction to Review on the SMART board. I feel that this technology can reach more students and prove to be a highly effective instructional tool.

Chapter 8

...I agree with the point that we need to make the curriculum more engaging for the students to keep them connected to learning by making the curriculum more relevant to their experiences. It is so true that the students lose interest by the time they reach high school. However, I do believe that there is more to it than just them "becoming disconnected". It is more than just an issue of having to do with students not having the opportunity because of "disadvantaged situations". It is also an issue of the attitudes of the students by the time they reach high school grade levels and the overall "attitude" of the society of the younger generation of today that contributes to the disconnectedness of interest in the curriculum today.

Regarding other content of the chapter, I agree that emails open a window of communication for students and faculty. But, I have experienced how emails can be misinterpreted as wrong messages taken by the other party. So often people take the wrong message sent in an email because there isn't a face to face to use as a visual.

I did like the ideas of the Molecular Workbench and the AskNSDL for curriculum. Just think about how that would interest the students to learn more. I do agree, though, that the Bugscope would eliminate the Tactile Learning Experience for the students; which is just as important as the learning itself.