Smart Board-Interactive
Whiteboard
Wejdan Ibrahim
Shahrani
2014
Introduction
In order to write a report about the technology used in the
classroom, I went three times to Bany Mazen school, in Abha. It was a quite
long journey for me since I live in Khamis Mushait. When I entered the school,
I met the principal who welcomed me and introduced me to Zana Saeed Asiri an
English teacher. I sat with her and asked some questions related to the
technology used in the classrooms. She told me there is an overhead projector
in each and every class. Besides, they have two Smart boards, one of them is
old and the other one is developed. They also have the interactive CD book.
Actually, I went there on the 30th
of October, the 2nd of November,
and the 3rd of November. The first time, I attended a class where a
Smart board (SB) was used as a teaching tool. In the second session, the
teacher used the Advanced Smart Board (ASB which is pretty much similar to the
smart board but it contains some developed features). In the third session, the
teacher used Interactive CD Book (ICDB). In each lesson I took some notes that
I have observed during the lessons.
Class Information
I observed classroom technology of the 3rd grade high school.
The class included twelve students. The students were divided into groups and
they were very active in the class. Zana has been teaching for about nine
years. I asked her what does she think about the old curriculum and the new
one? She said that she prefers the new curriculum because it provides the
needed items of language for the students. And when she was asked whether she
uses the technology in every lesson or not? She said that it depends on the
lesson it self. Because sometimes the lesson does not require her to use
technology. And sometimes, she faces some difficulties which prevent her from
using technology. Due to such problems, power outage or technical obstruct.
Class Content and Organization
The students' book was Mega GOAL.
In the first session the lesson was about writing a dialog about certain
situations. The teacher has presented some pictures by using the SB. The
students were looking at the pictures to write conversations for each picture.
The teacher was using the pen to change the pictures. After that, Zana opened a
page for the students to write their answers on the board. She has divided them
into three groups. Each group will choose a picture to write the dialog. Then,
she opened a PDF file to show the girls some activities from their books. She
gave them five minutes to think about the questions presented and find answers
for them. When the girls were answering the activity questions the teacher
changed the color of the font and attracted the student's attention to a new
grammar used in the lesson.
The
second lesson included several activities. The first one was reading and the
second one was grammar. Zana has started her lesson with a general review of
the previous lesson using the ASB. Then, she showed the girls the reading
passage and started asking some questions. The students pointed at the answers
on the Advanced Smart Board using their fingers. To write on the advanced smart
board the teacher and the students can use either the pen or their fingers. Zana
did the same thing she did in the first session. She opened a page for each
group, has changed the font color and she has given the girls a chance to use the
ASB. Some students were able to apply the grammatical rule by forming some
examples.The other students were correcting their friends' mistakes on the ASB.
The third session was a conversational
lesson. The content of the book was very good and clear. Zana used The
interactive CD book. This CD gives the students the opportunity to instruct
themselves by their own. The teacher has used the computer to open that CD and
the SB and overhead projector to present the content. Zana has played the
Interactive CD Book and has presented the lesson. The lesson started with a
conversation followed by some activities. The students were able to replay the
conversation many times, until they get the accurate pronunceation of the
words. They were also able to repeat after the native speakers' dialog. The answers for the activities were hidden.
They answered the questions first. Then, they were able to touch the questions
to reveal the model answers and compared them to their answers.
Students Response
Generally, the students were attentive and
alert. They were active and they tried to respond to every question. By looking
at their faces, anyone can tell how excited they were. They used the technology
very easily that they were able to change the font color and size. Moreover, they
opened new pages to write down their answers. They used the eraser to delete their mistakes. However, before I
left the class I asked the students the following questions;
How
do you feel after this lesson?
Do
you think it would be better if you take the lesson in the traditional way?
Which
technology do you prefer (SB, ASB, or ICDB)?
All the girls were happy about using the
technology and they thought it was much better than the traditional way of teaching.
For the last question the girls preferred the (ICDB) because it provides an
opportienty for them to apply autonomy
learning because they felt free while learning the lesson by themselves.
Use of Technology
In each class Zana has chosen certain
technology and when I asked here about the reason, she said that each lesson
needs an appropriate method. So, in the first and the second lessons she used
the SB and ASB to enhance the students writing and reading skills. And in the
third one she used the interactive CD book to develop the students listening,
writing and speaking skills. In spite of that, I think that the technology was
not used effectively. Although the teacher and the students were able to use it
very easily. Yet they were not able to use all the other good features of these
technologies. For example, the teacher did not use the puzzle icon, although it
was available.
Overall Reflections
Each class was unique and different from
the other one. They were interesting and exciting. In fact, using technology in
the classroom is fruitful. Students in primary level can learn better through
these kinds of technology. Another point is that two teachers can work together
in one class. Also, the teacher and the students can use the pen to write on
the board or if needed they can use the keyboard. However, with all the
benefits these technology can offer there are unavoidable flaws which might
stop the teacher from achieving the goals of the lessons. First of all, if the
teachers are not well trained in using these technologies they will not be able
to use the best of them. Secondly, the smart board takes more time to be
operated and that could waste the time of the class. Thirdly, it will not work
if there is no electricity. Finally, it jams sometimes during the lesson. So,
in my opinion I think using technology in the classroom to teach English
language is very useful, interesting and funny. However, every teacher should
train her self on using all the positive features of that technology and
prepare her self for any possible problem. For example, if the electricity is
off then she should use other prepared aids for teaching.
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