SMARTboards are just that!

I can still hear the gut wrenching sound of nails against a chalkboard. I remember my teacher having a bag full of Expo markers for the white board. Sometimes, I miss those days. However, I LOVE my SMARTboard.  They make lessons more interactive and fun for students and they feel so good about themselves when they get to come up and actually use it.  I do sometimes still miss those days of getting a chalk board and a piece of chalk or a small wipe off board and a marker.  But SMARTboards sometimes really do enhance the teaching we do today.

Lessons are not much more interactive and students can actually move something on the screen. Online learning games can be played as a class now.  There are fun fonts and colors that can be used in SMARTnotebook that students absolutely love (Magic pen anyone???). 

However, in todays age when everything is at the touch of our fingertips, it is still nice to go "back in time" and use a chalkboard or white board every once in a while.

In the beginning of the year, while reviewing how to correctly write numbers and letters with my students, I handed out mini chalkboards and pieces of chalk and play a little "game" with my class. I call out a number, and they need to write it correctly on the board and hold it up. They love it! They don't get something like this too often and its nice to show that you can have fun without technology. I even got the assistant principal in on the fun- the class loved that!

SMARTboards are a fantastic tool for any teacher to use and have fun with however, sometimes I believe it important to get back to basics and for students to remember learning can take place without the technology.

Then again...SMARTboards are pretty cool...

Don't we all love to watch a great video...

Does anyone remember the days before instant access to videos. I do. I remember the days before SMARTboards and computers in the classroom and when if the teacher wanted to show us a movie, they had to place an order for the TV and VCR (wow! I just dated myself!) and then we would watch the movie.  Now, students only know of YouTube and DVDs and being able to pause simply by a touch. If a teacher wants to show students something, no longer do we need the request of a DVD or VHS or TV--SMARTboards have eliminated the need for that. I have such a mix of feelings towards this change that I can't come to a conclusion on whether or not I like it. I love the fact that I can show students videos about things ranging from the Mayflower to letter sounds to what animals look like in their natural habitats.  I love that I can show students a reading or animated version of a book that we have read and they can see different interpretations of things as well as expand their imagination.  However, I really dislike the fact that students now only know of instant videos and the ads that appear on the sides of EVERYTHING. Students would rather watch video of a book rather than listen to or Gd forbid read the book. Ads are very often inappropriate to show students, other videos listen on the sides distract students, and then there is always "I can't see!!!" Or "I can't hear!!!"
I love the positives, and there may be more of them, but the negatives seem to be worse.