Active Boards {Blog Four}

As technology advances we as teachers have been given more options to create new and exciting lessons for students. One of these technical tools is Interactive White Boards or Active Boards. The power of an Active Board depends largely on the teacher’s own knowledge and creativity. Some creative possibilities for lessons include the following: highlighting or coloring important text, hiding and revealing items, importing pictures, shared reading or peer teaching, providing feedback, and using student response systems. All of these will help take a simple lesson to the next level and really engage your class. Along with active learning white board activates will also aid in classroom management, lesson organization, and add variation to lesson content.

While Active Boards have many different applications available I have found Student Response Systems to be one of the best. Student Response Systems allow everyone in the classroom to submit answers to questions posted on the board. Displaying answers in graph, charts, or even in short sentences. Most response systems are anonymous, but some systems show names or ID numbers. These systems are wonderful tools for teachers because it allows teachers to quickly asses the classes understanding i.e. if 100% of students answer a history question correctly you can move on to new material, but if a large number of students answer incorrectly a review or elaboration may be needed. These response students keep even the most distracted students involved in the lesson with constant learning checks.

Proper teacher training is vital when incorporating Active Boards into instruction. Teachers mush have the ability to troubleshoot when technical issues arise. Students can easily become frustrated and lose confidence when teachers struggle to properly teach lessons. When starting out keep your lessons simple and practice going through interactive elements before presenting to your class. The more proficient you become with the Active Board the more advanced techniques and lessons you will implement.