Both Melissa and Trevor have made great use of the Smartboards which are new this year. Melissa has found the board to be useful when working with Geometers Sketchpad. Using Sketchpad and the help of her class, she is able to construct triangles then dynamically manipulate the them demonstrating principles of geometry. The dynamic nature of the board and software combine to make a powerful tool of understanding.
She has found however, that she is not able to cover as much material in a given class period as some of the time is used to construct the problem. This seems to be offset however, by a new level of understanding. She feels the trick is understanding when to use the technology and when to use more traditional methods. Students deepen their understanding by observing and assisting in constructing the problems on the board. After the concepts have been introduced, it seems to be more efficient to work multiple practice problems on whiteboard and paper. There is a balance between the two methods.
An interesting observation made by Melissa during the first trimester was that her students took fewer notes when the Smartboard was used. Speculation is that the students had difficulty translating the dynamic aspect of the board and software to the static nature of pencil and paper. Where you could draw one triangle on the board and manipulate it as a unit, you would have to draw several triangles on paper to illustrate the same concept. Melissa has identified several areas in Geometry where the technology would be particularly effective in helping students grasp abstract concepts and deepen their understanding.
Trevor uses the Smartboard regularly in his advanced Latin electives. He has found the Smart Notebook a powerful tool for the presentation of daily material. This tool allows him to prepare documents in advance and then manipulate them using the Smartboard’s array of pens, colors and line types.
I had the pleasure of observing one of his lessons on Caesar and found myself drawn into the lesson as he presented a Latin text for translation on the Smartboard while referring to a map projected on the neighboring whiteboard. He masterfully moved around the board as he changed colors, line types and pen sizes while marking up the translation with traditional notation techniques. While I did not understand the Latin, I was intrigued at the level of engagement by the students. The lesson was then captured at the end of class and was posted on his web site for future review. He has found this method of working highly efficient as students can then go back and compare their translations with the one worked in class.
When a student is absent, they are expected to go to their class site for notes of the missed lesson. After comparing their translation against the class translation, they can approach with specific questions for clarification. It places the responsibility of learning in the hands of his students. He is currently using this same technology in the second trimester elective on Cicero.
Both Melissa and Trevor continue to develop portions of their courses utilizing the powerful possibilities offered by computers in education. Neither would say that using technology saves time. In fact, it usually takes more time to prepare a lesson with technology. Therefore, balance is important. Don’t try to convert an entire course to harness the power of technology as a learning tool. Work with one lesson at a time and alternate with more traditional methods. Use the technology as a cognitive tool as that is where the power of understanding can be found.
In future issues, we will look at many other practitioners of the craft as they work to effectively tap into the cognitive possibilities of technology in education.
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