I am in a kindergarten class and there are about 22 kids. Something we do every few days is use the Smartboard for interactive activities. The kindergarteners love it. Some of the activities include creating sentences using sight words we are learning, grouping letter sounds, and learning about word families (-it, sit, lit, etc.) The students are always very involved in the activities. I feel like they really benefit from the Smartboard actives because it’s something different and more fun than the stations they do daily. The students usually get randomly chosen to go up and do part of whatever activity they are doing that day, and the students who are not called on are always attentive. They like to help their fellow classmates who may need some guidance, and they also really enjoy being able to something they see the teachers doing.
I always knew technology plays a huge part in the classroom, but this makes me really excited to see how I can integrate it in my future classroom.
Also being in a Kindergarten classroom, I was expecting to see technology used frequently for different lessons and activities. To my surprise, my cooperating teacher does not use technology often in the classroom. Since we started our field experience, the Smartboard has been used twice for student interaction on literacy lessons. The teacher has used the board to play songs for the students, but when a song is being played, they usually have a dance so they are not actually being interactive with the Smartboard.
ReplyDeleteIt surprises me then to hear how frequently the Smartboard in your Kindergarten classroom gets used. It puts in into perspective on how differently the same lesson can be taught. Does your teacher use the Smartboard because they have to? Is it because they know the students like it?
I know in my school the Smartboard does not have to be used. The teachers have the option to use it as frequently or less often as they would like. It does spark interest though knowing the students like to use to the Smartboard as to why my cooperating teacher does not use it frequently.
Glad to hear though that you are seeing what can be done with the Smartboard to gain some insight for your future classroom!