I wrote a post w few weeks ago about getting an IWB and my obsession to make it “interactive”, not an expensive screen. Part of the PD, I had to come up with 2 ways to use it and/or it’s software and actually do it. SO I decided to share with you all my ways.
1. I used the screen capture tool to show my students how to change privacy settings and delete friends on social networking sites. The sites are blocked and I could not show them how to do these things at school! Hard to just tell someone how to use a website!
2. While I will be out this week (going to PD that goes with the grant for the IWB -no comment) I am putting together a presentation using the flipchart program for sub to run for the kids. It will have a video on holocaust and a slide before and after explaining the video then their assignment. (YES I know you can do that in ppt, thanks, but I HATE ppt and I have to use this program! lol)
3. I am putting together a weather presentation video for the students. It will look like what is on the green screen during a weather report. The students will write the script, have to understand what each part means, and “do” the report. They will use the IWB to present this.
Still not using the actual board as something other than screen, but I am using the software that came with it. I guess that is a start.
Still obsessing…
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You are finding what I discovered several years ago, IWB’s are just a big screen that can be manipulated by touch. I never did find a truly interactive device (unless you consider one student at a time using it while the others watched.)
This is not to say it can’t be a valuable tool. It does garner much more attention than a smaller television. It is easier to manipulate a computer with than just a projector. Unfortunately it doesn’t really do what we want; engage all children in active learning.
Think of it as a great tool to help the audio/video learners get a boost they didn’t have before and stop worrying so much.
Sounds like a great start, Amanda! If you try to do everything at once you will only end up frustrated. Looks like you are “getting your head wrapped around it” and as you continue with training/PD more of it will make sense and you’ll get more ideas for how to integrate. Keep us posted on what you learn!
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