Technology Reflection: Instructional Use of Smartboard

Technology Reflection Assignment

Description/Experience

In last week’s seminar we examined the use of the Smartboard. This is a type of board that allows one to actively participate in an activity that is projected on the board from a projector. I found this to be a great teachers’ aid in developing engaging activities for their students. With this Smartboard the teacher can allow to participate in the lesson or instruction. Also with this board, the presenter showed us accessories that could be purchased that allowed the students to participate and control the Smartboard from their seats/desks. These accessories allowed up to eight students to work on the board at a time.

Application

With the use of the Smartboard, I plan on developing a lesson for my future students. My learners in this lesson will be secondary math students. The age group of my learners will be 9-12 graders. The learners will gain a greater understanding of the mathematical concept of my discretion. Depending on the group of students that I am working with at that time, my lesson will vary accordingly. For this lesson though, I plan on using the Smartboard with a 9^th grade algebra 1 class. I will use the Smartboard to review multiplication tables with my students. At the end of the lesson, students should be able to recite the multiplication tables from 2-25. The form of assessment that I chose for this activity is to use the Smartboard with a quiz projected on to it at the end of instruction. I will determine if my lesson is effective or not if my students all pass the assessment with a 70% or better.

The lesson will start by introducing the students to the uses of the Smartboard and how I plan to use this with the students. This should only take 2-3 minutes because the students have experienced the use of Smartboards before. For the next 8-10 minutes the students will participate in games and activities on multiplication tables that were presented to us in the portapal that the presenter gave us. After this activity the students will be given 5-7 minutes to complete the quiz of randomly selected multiplication problems. The students who complete this assessment early will have work that they can work on individually while the other students finish.

Reflection

--Pedagogical-Content:

For this lesson I plan on using drill-practice and examples to help the students learn their multiplication tables. My strategies will first, show the students the multiplication tables (examples), then the students will be allowed to repeatedly practice the multiplication tables. These strategies will present the students with the best learning opportunity possible because a way to learn multiplication tables is through repetition. In my lesson the students have the opportunity to practice their multiplication tables in the games on the Smartboard.

In this lesson some conceptions that students of different ages will have are that if the students are older they will not be as eager to do this because they should already know how to recite each multiplication table. If the students are younger they will be more eager to learn and participate in this activity because they have not been introduced to this material before. I would be concerned that the students may have not been motivated properly in their previous experiences and may not be eager to participate in my activities. If the students contain the proper prior knowledge and experiences, then my activity should produce an enviroment that fosters student involvement.
--Technological-Pedagogical:

The main instructional strategy that my technology would serve in my activity is that the Smartboard will allow the students to repeatedly practice their multiplication tables and skills (drill-practice). Using this technology will support the way I teach by allowing me to use this activity, in which I can keep the students attention and keep them engaged during my instruction.

For this activity my classroom management strategies would have to include: keeping the students active, orderly, and possibly orienting them to this technology if needed. During this activity I want to produce an active learning environment. This means I have to keep the students attentive and participating in instruction. Also I need to keep the students orderly during this assignment in order to avoid any disruptions.

--Technological Pedagogical Content:

With this technology my activity will be enhanced. This technology will allow the student to be interactive in the lesson, while allowing them to learn their multiplication tables. The students will want to engage in the Smartboard use, which in return will give the students a greater opportunity to learn. If the students are motivated they will want to learn the material I am presenting them with. The Smartboard and its accessory will be a great addition to my lesson. 

Without the use of the Smartboard, the students’ interactive practice of multiplication tables would be impossible. While I am teaching this lesson the students can be engaging with the use of the Smartboard. I feel as if the use of the Smartboard will not only be a great motivational factor but also something that the students will enjoy and have a lot of fun with.