Smartboard

I feel as though through the interactive smartboard activities students are more engaged than just sitting and looking at a chalk board or listening to the teacher lecture. Its a way to get the students out of their seats and actually work with the lesson at hand. At first the technology was difficult to get used to. There is so much that you have to remember while putting the lesson together that can get somewhat frustrating. But as I began to work with the software more and more, I began to get a  better grasp on the small things that needed to be done to be sure the way in which I wanted to execute my lesson worked effectively. At times I could see through the use of the smartboard to cause children to get somewhat out of control and overly excited with the use of the smartboard. Also techological difficulties occur all the time, even when you are well educated and used to using the specific type of technology that your entire lesson could be thrown off. When incorporating any type of technology in a lesson, a back up plan is always necessary which can cause teachers to want to advert from the use of technology because it can in the end cause much more work than necessary. I think smartboard can be incorporated into so many different types of lessons its hard to be specific as to which lesson I would use it for. I wish that I learned to work with the smartboard software before many of my education classes because I think I could have used it effectively in all of them in some way.

Software Skills

I really enjoyed doing the Software Productivity Project. Once I began working with it a little bit it became so easy to me, and actually fun to work with. I really love the newsletter. I think the newsletter would be something that I will most definately use and be the most beneficial. I think its a very organized and appealing way for both parents and students. I did a section for the student of the month and I know students would love to see themselves on there whenever it is sent out. And for those students who dont, I made a section for birthdays. I think they were all beneficial tools to learn how to use in the classroom. I could think of multiple ways to use the Inspiration software, especially since I find I have difficulty being organized. When I used Inspiration the first time last year, I absolutely hated it, but once I was taught the shortcuts and ways in which I could make it more interesting I could see myself wanting to use it again. I think each of the software skills can be used in very effective ways. They were definately tools that make things easier and do not take much time at all.