Hey Y'all! Welcome to my blog. (Pardon me while I go pinch myself!!) I never in a million years thought I would be writing a blog. You see, I'm a blog reader, blog stalker, occasional blog commenter, can't-wait-to-open-my-emails-like-it's-Christmas-morning adult blog reader. But I've
Today I want to tell you about this really cool blog I found called The Centered School Library. It is written by Cari Young who seems awesomer than applesauce = awesomesauce! When I first got interested in going back to school I visited a few blogs, and this lady is one of my very, very favorites. She is a K-5 librarian in Texas who posts often and with specific examples of centers, lessons, books, and technology activities she uses in her elementary library. Where else might you find live critters like snakes (MERCY ME, WOMAN!) in a library? I thought librarians were supposed to read a million books, wear glasses, and shush! kids all day. Well...enough with the poms poms and megaphone, go check this out:
http://librarycenters.blogspot.com/2013/04/april-fools-day-in-library.html.
Of course, I'm pretty much tabala rasa, a blank tablet, when it comes to technology especially in the classroom. Based on that small amount of knowledge, the most intriguing piece of technology to me is the promethean board or interactive white board (IWB). For any of you aliens out there ;) who haven't heard of it, here's a simple definition:
white board + computer + projector = Promethean board.
It looks like a huge dry erase board at the front of the classroom, but once it's turned on it looks like an interactive computer screen/ projector. I like to think it is the teacher's most favoritest teaching tools, computer screen, mouse, chalkboard, chalk, dry erase board, and fruit-smelly dry erase markers all rolled into one. The sky seems to be the limit on possibilities for student involvement, not to mention the tools readily available. I mean... Really? Coins that are in color, large enough for the whole class to see, and can be manipulated? Wow! A ruler at the touch of a button so students can see how to measure something as small as an inch? Electronic voting to answer questions? Check out this video, to see the promethean board in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luq7A1LVJNA.
So how does it support learning? The promethean board:
- is interactive, gets the students' attention, and keeps them engaged,
- helps students meet required standards through planned teacher lessons,
- provides opportunities for exploring the world outside the classroom via virtual field trips, skyping other students across the globe, etc.,
- assists the teacher in grading and tracking student progress immediately through use of clickers,
- encourages multiple learning strategies and collaboration such as doing research and making presentations,
- is a happy medium between objectivists' learning theories (drill, drill, drill to acquire knowledge) and constructivists' learning theories (play, play, play to explore and discover information), and
- offers real world examples through the many tools provided (coins, rulers, etc).
Have you used a promethean board? What is your favorite technology tool?
Thanks for stopping by!
I'm off to eat some applesauce,
Dana ;)
I LOVED reading your blog post! I also enjoy my promethium board. It is actually one piece of technology that I feel confident using. I use it everyday in my classroom. My 4K babies love using it as well. We play games on ABCya or Starfall each day during learning centers. They are able to navigate the sites themselves. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteDana,
ReplyDeleteWonderful blog post!!! You did a great job!! When I taught math three years ago, we had an eBeam interactive whiteboard in my classroom. It's much like the promethean board you discussed, but our boards had a magnetic strip on the side (which was the eBeam). I loved, loved, loved using it, too!! It provided so many wonderful teaching opportunities! Thanks for sharing!!!
-Amie