Interactive whiteboards

[twinsetandpearls]

Having got my teaching post I am now beginning to feel very old as everything seems to have moved on in the five years I ahve been at home with dd.

My greatest fear is the interactive whiteboard, my IT skills are very good so I know in time I will be fine and I ahve been told that I will pick it up as I go along.

However IME if one thing is sure to send a lesson off track it is a teacher trying and failing to work technology.

Am I right in thinking that I just need to prepare powerpoint presentations and that will get me started.

Yeah MB the cleaners wud go mad for a start! I have a fixed projector and screen in my room with a desktop and a laptop but i know I havn't fully exploited ICT resources.

I also think some staff in our school have simply substituted chalk n talk for type n talk, which you know with a difficult topic or class an increase in presentation standards won't cut it! At the end of term they always ask if they can watch DVD's! -like I wud ever do that??

I'm not anit IT or anything in fact i have teach a little bit! I just think there is too much fuss made sometimes its not a cure all for issues relating to the classroom I still think somethings can just as easily be achieved on paper quicker with less fuss (know this latter comment is off the topic of this thread)

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Twinset - powerpoint is a gud place to start i find it useful for playing true or false - put Q first students respond then click to nxt slide which has true/false - very simple dud for starter/plenmary activites and you can also ask development Q's based on student reponses or take whole class votes to include all.

I also like to use PPT at the start of a topic I simply put a series of images up on a continuous loop that students see as they walk in - gets there interest and then ask Q's relating to images.

With older students ask them to prepare presentations after sharing topics out (younger ones can spend ages planning these on slide boards first) they can then self/peer assess each other. - See you've covered key skills, assessment for learning and mixed ability groups in one failsafe sweep !!!! LOL

HTH as i don't know wot age grp you teach or subject - so forgive me of I have patronised you in anyway!!!!

wow I thought everyone had them! Guess we are really lucky as all classrooms have them, we have Promethem (sp) with Activ Primary. You can work it with a special pen or from the computer keyboard, all interlinked. Also all computers are networked so we can share what we saved between classes in the same year group.
so only one of us needs to prepare the pages needed.... Marvellous.. how did I ever cope before, and I used to hate computers

We do the same thing with the network Santabops - it saves hours doesn't it! Have you discovered the "Lighthouse" website - it has lots of pre-made ActivPrimary flipcharts.

ActivPrimary flipcharts

I loved my interactive whiteboard and ran the majoirty of my lessons (ICT teacher) through it. I prepared PowerPoint presentations for the whole lesson, starting and ending with my lesson aims/objectives, etc. I had links tto other things we were doing - demos, sample work, internet, etc.

That part of the lesson wasn't really using it as an IW though - more as a projector.

Then the interacive bit kicked in for the start/plenary tasks - group tasks round the board, games, etc.

Was excellent for giving whole class demos of things.

littlefish

thanks will try it tomorrow morning on my work computer.

I am teaching 11 -16.

I went in today to ask about the IW, they have Promethaen and Smart boards in the school and I will be using both as I will be teaching ICT as well as my own subject of RE and as a part timer I don;t ahve a dediacted room.

I was mentioning my concerns today at my other job and they ahve said I can go in to the primary school to play around with their IW tomorrow afternoon.

My Ds' school have these, new in sept. They llok great, haven't seen them in action, but loved the way all the teachers used them on the first day to write 'welcome to yr X' on them

TSAP - on the website link I made for Santabops there were a few RE flipcharts for Promethean. I know that you're teaching secondary, and these are primary, but it might be worth having a look at them just to see the sort of things you can do.

Just to echo what a few others have said. In order to prepare your work in advance, it would be worth finding out whether you can install the software for ActivPrimary on your home PC/laptop. You can then download pre-made flipcharts from educational websites, or make your own. If you have a flashpen, you can then just take your prepared work with you to school and load it onto whatever machine you're working on that day. Alternatively, you can prepare powerpoint presentations and take them in on disk or flashpen.

Just a thought - what union do you belong to? NASUWT were offering courses on Smartboards a little while ago. Alternatively, is there a county training provider? Your ICT co-ordinator or professional development co-ordinator should know.

THanks, I have a list of new questions to ask when I go in next week!