I hear a lot of people questioning if we need SmartBoard when instead we can use an iPad and projector to do the same thing. This is actually not true. Yes an iPad and projector when hooked up will project the iPad onto the screen but it is not the same as using a SmartBoard. It is like comparing a Mazarati to a Hundai. The SmartBoard is more than a projector. It is an interactive whiteboard which can be used throughout the day for many activities. Yes it is a projection device but it is also so much more than that.
I have had the opportunity to have one in my classroom for the past year and a half and it has become part of my teaching. I use it to create and show lessons, as an interactive whiteboard, and yes as a projector. I have also had the opportunity to use an iPad in the classroom. I see great uses for both of these technology tools. I see that both SmartBoard and iPad are important to have and use in the classroom. However, they are not the same. The iPad is a great tool for encouraging students to be creative with their learning as well as a great 1:1 device whereas the SmartBoard is not really a 1:1 device. You can use the SmartBoard to teach mini group lessons but if you are looking for a 1:1 device then the iPad is the way to go. Yes both iPad and Smartboard have interactive touch screens but the iPad relies on apps whereas the SmartBoard has Smart Notebook which has a gallery with many tools and graphics to edit and create your own lessons. For example, you can create a notebook page with interactive dice and unification cubes when teaching your students how to add. You can also go to Smart Exchange to download, create, edit and share lessons. Yes, I love my SmartBoard and can't imagine teaching without it! I also love my iPad and see the value of having iPads in the classroom. They are both useful and handy for teaching and although they are both interactive and can be projected I see them as being used very differently in the classroom.
One final note, in order for the SmartBoard to be used easily by both teachers and students it must be attached to the wall. I have found that SmartBoards on wheels don't get used as much because people get frustrated because the slightest movement means reorienting the board.
I love using both the SmartBoard and iPad but I use them differently and for different things. Which do you prefer to use?
Friday, 31 August 2012
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Time flies by
It seems that it was just yesterday that I was saying goodbye to my class of wonderful grade ones and cleaning up the classroom for summer vacation. I was just beginning to make summer plans with my own children. July just flew by and before I knew it August was halfway finished. This summer I have managed to read several good books, mostly fiction, as well as have fun vacations with my family to our family cabin and to Penticton. I have even managed to continue to build on my professional development via Twitter. Through Twitter I have discovered many great ideas such as:
*moving my classroom furniture around (moving my desk) to open up the room more and make it even more student centered.
*Global ReadAloud-signed up
*Quadblogging-signed up and starts in September
*Flat Classrom Project-applied and was accepted and will do it in the Spring
*Whiteboard paint on tables- great idea. Now just have to find some tables
*building a terrarium
I have also met some wonderful, inspiring teachers on Twitter. This summer I set up a new class blog and am excited to use it in September.
Next week, I will be excited to go into the classroom and set it up for a new school year. I always enjoy sorting the books, moving the furniture, planning for the year, visiting with colleagues that I haven't seen this summer and meeting new staff. I will also be sad that summer is coming to an end and that the lazy days of summer are coming to an end like reading on the patio, going to bed late, sleeping in and playing at the beach. Instead early mornings, packing lunches, loading up hockey equipment into the car, rushing to work, late dinners, hockey practice, Scouts, and swimming lessons will all be starting again.
But time flies and before you know it summer will be here again!
*moving my classroom furniture around (moving my desk) to open up the room more and make it even more student centered.
*Global ReadAloud-signed up
*Quadblogging-signed up and starts in September
*Flat Classrom Project-applied and was accepted and will do it in the Spring
*Whiteboard paint on tables- great idea. Now just have to find some tables
*building a terrarium
I have also met some wonderful, inspiring teachers on Twitter. This summer I set up a new class blog and am excited to use it in September.
Next week, I will be excited to go into the classroom and set it up for a new school year. I always enjoy sorting the books, moving the furniture, planning for the year, visiting with colleagues that I haven't seen this summer and meeting new staff. I will also be sad that summer is coming to an end and that the lazy days of summer are coming to an end like reading on the patio, going to bed late, sleeping in and playing at the beach. Instead early mornings, packing lunches, loading up hockey equipment into the car, rushing to work, late dinners, hockey practice, Scouts, and swimming lessons will all be starting again.
But time flies and before you know it summer will be here again!
Monday, 16 July 2012
The Importance of Play
Often we are rushing to make sure that we teach all the PLO's and we forget to slow down and let the students just play, unstructured play. Play is so important. It gives the kids a chance to explore, create, try out the new skills learned, build on the new skills learned, develop their oral language skills, learn to work together co-operatively, as well as discover their own interests. In a busy world, where the day feels that it goes so quickly, we need to remember to slow down and let the children have unstructured play.
Thursday, 5 July 2012
What I have learned this year
This has been an exciting and rewarding year. I feel that I have grown as a teacher and a learner. This morning, I opened up an email from a friend and the first line was a comment about how much I have been on Twitter and about how three years ago she would not have imagined me on Twitter. This is true. Three years ago I had small, Nokia, cell phone which I only used for phone calls. I emailed people from my home computer but my main type of communication was talking on the phone. Now I have a Samsung (and I can text), iPad, iPod and a SmartBoard.
It has been a year with a huge learning curve starting last April when my Smartboard arrived. I was so excited to have it that I started to use it immediately. First I used downloaded lessons from Smart Exchange and showed You Tube clips and DVD's and now I feel confident creating my own lessons. My students, this year, also felt confident using the Smartboard and several even played with the Smart Notebook, creating dice games, flashcards, maps etc. It was exciting watching them create on the Smartboard. The Smartboard has become my right hand and I use it all day long when teaching. It is a great tool for teaching and engaging students. It really enhances any lesson. I could go on and on about how wonderful a Smartboard is and this is from someone who never used an overhead.
This was my first full year of teaching since 2000. Last summer, my teaching partner, Lora, encouraged me to go on other teacher blogs where I learned lots of new ideas. Then we tried to incorporate all of the new ideas and the Smartboard into our teaching. Starting with the Daily 5. Then on her insistence I joined Twitter in February. Without her encouragement I don't know if I would have realized the value of Twitter. She also encouraged me to go to Ed Camp with her in February where I met Karen who inspired me to introduce more technology to my students. I saw what grade ones could do with technology and was inspired to give my students the opportunity to use technology more. During Spring Break, Lora and I set our students up with Kidblogs as well as created our own proffessional blogs. Then we headed back to school and jumped full force into learning using technology. It has been a wonderful journey where I have met lots of educators along the way.
This year I learned that:
*the Daily 5 is a good way to introduce students to independent work and choice. Students don't all have to do the same things at the same time.
*students are more engaged when given a choice to use different materials to show their learning such as Smartboard, iPad, laptops, chartpaper, felts, sentence strips or just plain paper.
* students don't have to sit down to work. They can work standing, they can work lying down on the carpet, they can work on the floor in the hall and they can work at a table or desk.
* students know a lot about technology and are not afraid to explore and use technology in their learning.
*it is okay to learn along with the students. I don't have to know everything. Grade ones know a lot and are able to teach me.
*I learned about "wonder charts" and saw the power when the students were able to come up with their own wonders and then figure out how to find the answer to their wonders.
*Twitter is a great way to collaborate with teachers and to open up classrooms to share learning.
This was my first year back to full time teaching in 11 years and it was a wonderful year! I look forward to another exciting year of teaching and learning.
It has been a year with a huge learning curve starting last April when my Smartboard arrived. I was so excited to have it that I started to use it immediately. First I used downloaded lessons from Smart Exchange and showed You Tube clips and DVD's and now I feel confident creating my own lessons. My students, this year, also felt confident using the Smartboard and several even played with the Smart Notebook, creating dice games, flashcards, maps etc. It was exciting watching them create on the Smartboard. The Smartboard has become my right hand and I use it all day long when teaching. It is a great tool for teaching and engaging students. It really enhances any lesson. I could go on and on about how wonderful a Smartboard is and this is from someone who never used an overhead.
This was my first full year of teaching since 2000. Last summer, my teaching partner, Lora, encouraged me to go on other teacher blogs where I learned lots of new ideas. Then we tried to incorporate all of the new ideas and the Smartboard into our teaching. Starting with the Daily 5. Then on her insistence I joined Twitter in February. Without her encouragement I don't know if I would have realized the value of Twitter. She also encouraged me to go to Ed Camp with her in February where I met Karen who inspired me to introduce more technology to my students. I saw what grade ones could do with technology and was inspired to give my students the opportunity to use technology more. During Spring Break, Lora and I set our students up with Kidblogs as well as created our own proffessional blogs. Then we headed back to school and jumped full force into learning using technology. It has been a wonderful journey where I have met lots of educators along the way.
This year I learned that:
*the Daily 5 is a good way to introduce students to independent work and choice. Students don't all have to do the same things at the same time.
*students are more engaged when given a choice to use different materials to show their learning such as Smartboard, iPad, laptops, chartpaper, felts, sentence strips or just plain paper.
* students don't have to sit down to work. They can work standing, they can work lying down on the carpet, they can work on the floor in the hall and they can work at a table or desk.
* students know a lot about technology and are not afraid to explore and use technology in their learning.
*it is okay to learn along with the students. I don't have to know everything. Grade ones know a lot and are able to teach me.
*I learned about "wonder charts" and saw the power when the students were able to come up with their own wonders and then figure out how to find the answer to their wonders.
*Twitter is a great way to collaborate with teachers and to open up classrooms to share learning.
This was my first year back to full time teaching in 11 years and it was a wonderful year! I look forward to another exciting year of teaching and learning.
Saturday, 28 April 2012
Technology in the Classroom
When I first introduced the laptops and iPad into the classroom I was worried that using the technology would take away from my students collaboration skills. I was concerned that the computers would become babysitters and my noisy, active classroom would become a quiet, library. However, this has not been the case. The students eagerly share what they are doing on the computers with their peers. They usually set up the laptops in such a way that they can interact with each other while on the computers. Picture a classroom with laptops and students all around on the floor sharing with and teaching each other the various computer programs. In a few short months, my grade ones can create comics on Comic Life, manouver the Internet independently to access StarFall, Kerpoof, their blogs, ICT games, and explore with Photo Booth and Kids Pix. Through exploration, my students have discovered all kinds of neat things on Kids Pix. Their favourite way to use Kids Pix is on the Smartboard. My students also really enjoy using the iPad and from the minute they arrive at school until 2:34 the iPad is in constant action. We are finding it really difficult to share one iPad but have come up with a schedule so that everyone gets time on it. The students also have found ways to share it, often inviting their friends to listen to stories and work on a story or game together. My dream is to have more iPads so that the students can each have more time with the apps. Everyday my students show me new things that you can do with the technology. This journey with technology has been very exciting and I am excited to see what else they can do and learn!
Students creating a story on Scribble Press with the iPad.
Thursday, 12 April 2012
Team Teaching
This year, is my first year since 2000 that I have worked full time. When my job share partner gave me the news last year that she wanted to go back to full time it was hard at first to wrap my head around it. I had been working 80% for 11 years and the thought of not job sharing anymore was nerve racking. We had worked so well as a team that I knew I wouldn't/couldn't get a new partner. I knew that it was time for me to go back to work full time. In saying this it has been one of the best years! Instead of job sharing we are team teaching right across the hall from each other. Having worked together for so many years we have similar ideas and teaching styles. We also compliment each other well. She has the great ideas and I have good knowledge on the meat and bones of the day.
For example, last week, just before Easter, we decided to focus on eggs. We started with the students writing on yellow paper what they knew about eggs. Then we did a vinegar hard boiled egg experiment. The next day, I walked into Lora's classroom and they were wondering about eggs. Her students were wondering: if they threw an egg across the room would it break and if they could play soccer or hockey with an egg. Wow, I had never thought of having my students wonder about eggs so I went back to my classroom and asked them to write down what they wondered and then the next day we would try to answer their questions through the experiments. I braced myself for egg mess and waited for them to wonder about throwing eggs. Not one wondered about throwing eggs but they did wonder about the following things:
1. would a raw egg break if I dropped it in a bucket of water
2. will a raw egg float in water
3. will a raw egg sink
4. will a raw egg float in Sprite
5. what will happen to a raw egg that sits in Pepsi for over 5 days
6. what will happen to a raw egg in vinegar ( we had already experimented with a hardboiled egg in vinegar)
7. what will happen if I stand on a raw egg
8. what will happen to a hardboiled egg if it sits in Rootbeer for several days (there is a pop theme here)
The next day, the students performed their own experiments. It was chaotic but wonderful at the same time to see them taking ownership over their learning. The student who dropped the egg into the bucket of water was amazed when the egg cracked. The student who stepped on the raw egg enjoyed it so much that he wanted to step on more raw eggs. The eggs in pop and vinegar are still sitting on the table. Every day the students are looking at them amazed that the eggs in Pepsi and Rootbeer are turning brown and the egg in the vinegar is slowly losing its shell and the vinegar is evaporating as one student shared with me today. Thanks to Lora, I was able to come up with the new teaching idea of wondering and solving the wonder through experimenting. A twist to the way that I have always done KWL. Sharing and collaborating makes teaching so much more exciting and refreshing.
For example, last week, just before Easter, we decided to focus on eggs. We started with the students writing on yellow paper what they knew about eggs. Then we did a vinegar hard boiled egg experiment. The next day, I walked into Lora's classroom and they were wondering about eggs. Her students were wondering: if they threw an egg across the room would it break and if they could play soccer or hockey with an egg. Wow, I had never thought of having my students wonder about eggs so I went back to my classroom and asked them to write down what they wondered and then the next day we would try to answer their questions through the experiments. I braced myself for egg mess and waited for them to wonder about throwing eggs. Not one wondered about throwing eggs but they did wonder about the following things:
1. would a raw egg break if I dropped it in a bucket of water
2. will a raw egg float in water
3. will a raw egg sink
4. will a raw egg float in Sprite
5. what will happen to a raw egg that sits in Pepsi for over 5 days
6. what will happen to a raw egg in vinegar ( we had already experimented with a hardboiled egg in vinegar)
7. what will happen if I stand on a raw egg
8. what will happen to a hardboiled egg if it sits in Rootbeer for several days (there is a pop theme here)
The next day, the students performed their own experiments. It was chaotic but wonderful at the same time to see them taking ownership over their learning. The student who dropped the egg into the bucket of water was amazed when the egg cracked. The student who stepped on the raw egg enjoyed it so much that he wanted to step on more raw eggs. The eggs in pop and vinegar are still sitting on the table. Every day the students are looking at them amazed that the eggs in Pepsi and Rootbeer are turning brown and the egg in the vinegar is slowly losing its shell and the vinegar is evaporating as one student shared with me today. Thanks to Lora, I was able to come up with the new teaching idea of wondering and solving the wonder through experimenting. A twist to the way that I have always done KWL. Sharing and collaborating makes teaching so much more exciting and refreshing.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
The Wonders of Technology
As I stare at this computer I am trying to figure out how to start this blog. In the past year, I have been using more and more technology. It all started with the acquisition of a Smart Board. Last April I had a Smart Board installed and have been using ít ever since. I started with using it for lessons that I downloaded from Smart Exchange and by the Fall I was using it the whole day. I am now hoping that my projector bulb doesn't burn out because I rely on my Smart Board for my daily teaching. The students also enjoy using the Smart Board and some of them even asked for one of their own in their Santa letters this year. By playing around with the Smart Notebook, I have learned how to create my own lessons as well as incorporate the web into my lessons. The Smart Board acts as a white board (recognizing my writing as well as the students writing and changing it into type font), an interactive board for lessons, a projector for DVDs,You Tube, Tumble Books, the document camera and the iPad (which I have just started using). When I first started using the Smart Board there was some frustrating times when the screen would turn purple or the board wouldn't orient. For example, the first day of school I planned to show a Tumble Books to the students but up until 10 minutes before the bell rang the screen was purple. I tried everything and finally it worked. Once in awhile, I still have small problems with connections but they are solved easily. As I used the Smart Board more and more my confidence grew and I came to realize what a wonderful tool for learning it is.
My other two favourite pieces of technology are the iPod and the iPad. I only have one of each but they are used constantly throughout the day. The students listen to stories on them, write stories, make puppet shows and practise their sight words and math facts. I have seen reluctant writers flourish and create wonderful stories on the Scribble Press App. The students are excited and engaged when using the i-Pad and i-Pod. I have learned alot this month from playing with these two pieces of technology but it amazes me how much the students know.
I am excited about incorporating technology into my lessons and teaching. I have spent this year reading other great blogs and getting great ideas to improve my own teaching. It is exciting and invigorating to try new things in my teaching. Last Pro-D, I spent the day at Ed Camp, where I met a wonderful teacher from Surrey who has inspired me to use more technology with my students. She told us about how her students blog which really interested my friend Lora and I. This Spring, I am looking forward to having my students blog their own ideas.
This Spring Break, I have spent my days relaxing but also making new lessons for my Smart Board, book marking several You Tube videos, following Twitter and Pinterest and playing with the iPad. I have downloaded many new apps and I am looking forward to seeing what my students can do with them. One of these apps is an animation app called Doink. I also have spent the last couple of days creating this blog. A year ago I could barely text on my phone and now I am fully embracing technology.
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My other two favourite pieces of technology are the iPod and the iPad. I only have one of each but they are used constantly throughout the day. The students listen to stories on them, write stories, make puppet shows and practise their sight words and math facts. I have seen reluctant writers flourish and create wonderful stories on the Scribble Press App. The students are excited and engaged when using the i-Pad and i-Pod. I have learned alot this month from playing with these two pieces of technology but it amazes me how much the students know.
I am excited about incorporating technology into my lessons and teaching. I have spent this year reading other great blogs and getting great ideas to improve my own teaching. It is exciting and invigorating to try new things in my teaching. Last Pro-D, I spent the day at Ed Camp, where I met a wonderful teacher from Surrey who has inspired me to use more technology with my students. She told us about how her students blog which really interested my friend Lora and I. This Spring, I am looking forward to having my students blog their own ideas.
This Spring Break, I have spent my days relaxing but also making new lessons for my Smart Board, book marking several You Tube videos, following Twitter and Pinterest and playing with the iPad. I have downloaded many new apps and I am looking forward to seeing what my students can do with them. One of these apps is an animation app called Doink. I also have spent the last couple of days creating this blog. A year ago I could barely text on my phone and now I am fully embracing technology.
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