Robertson, C., & Green, T. (2012). Interactive whiteboards on the move!. Techtrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning, 56(6), 15-17. doi:10.1007/s11528-012-0607-z

Journal Response: Interactive Whiteboards on the Move!

             Interactive whiteboards have become very popular in the last ten years and can now be found on the walls of many classrooms. In this article, Robertson and Green claim that although it seems that interactive whiteboards are regarded as a valuable teaching tool, they aren't without their drawbacks. Because traditional interactive whiteboards are quite large and are typically mounted to the wall, teaching and learning are limited to one area of the room. Teachers are unable to provide support or review student work without leaving the front of the room where these devices are located. Not to mention that the cost to outfit a classroom with one of these devices is typically around $1,000 to $2,000! 
              This article considered another type of device designed to help with the shortcomings of the traditional interactive whiteboards. Mobile interactive whiteboards are devices about the size of a tablet that allow the teacher to move anywhere in the classroom while still maintaining control of their classroom computer and their projected lessons. Teachers can use these mobile interactive whiteboards to add notes, model strategies and show student work in real time. Another benefit of these devices is that the cost, typically $250-$400, is much more affordable than a typical stationary interactive whiteboard. 
               This article went on to list some of the additional benefits of using mobile interactive whiteboards based on reports from teachers that have used them in their classrooms. The first major benefit that was reported was instructional pacing and time management. Rather than having students move to the interactive whiteboard at the front of the room, the teacher can allow students to work independently at their desks and bring the mobile whiteboard to the students to show their work. Another benefit that many teachers reported was the ability to maintain handwritten notes on their lessons. One teacher reported that she valued being able to look at notes that she had included with her lessons a full year later allowing her to quickly remember which parts of her lessons were successful and which parts needed some fine tuning. Finally, many teachers reported that they had to take far less time creating lessons with SMART Notebook or other interactive whiteboard programs. Instead, they allowed their observations of student work and questions from their students to guide their instruction and add slides, websites, and demonstrations based on student need as their lessons progress.
                
                As I was reading this article, I kept thinking that I had to have one of these devices. The traditional interactive whiteboard is used for instruction for most of the day in my first grade classroom. Primary students, who haven't had much experience with the interactive whiteboards, are extremely motivated and excited to use these devices throughout the entire school year. Whenever the interactive whiteboard is used for instruction students are engaged and jump at the chance to model their thinking or answer questions using the SMART Board. That being said, bringing the whole class to the front of the room for instruction on the whiteboard creates some problems in regards to space (27 squirming bodies on a small carpet is never easy to manage) and pacing (only one student can answer or demonstrate their thinking at a time). At times, especially when teaching math, I try to allow the students to remain at their seats to work independently with materials while we post questions and show work on the interactive whiteboard. This provides the opportunity for all students to remain engaged while still allowing students to go to the interactive whiteboard to demonstrate their strategies and thinking. Unfortunately, this trip to the front of the room takes time and frequently kills any instructional momentum that we had before stopping for the demonstration. I also use the whiteboard a lot to model strategies and procedures while my students try them at their desks. The only issue with this is that the teacher has to remain at the front of the room with the whiteboard rather than providing support for students who need it, checking student work and providing feedback to individual students. 
                 This article does a fantastic job of making these mobile interactive whiteboards seem like the answer to all of the issues that I have with the interactive whiteboard in my classroom. These small tablets would certainly provide the students with the same exciting and engaging instruction as a typical interactive whiteboard. The mobile interactive whiteboard would allow students to remain in their seats to work with materials while still allowing the students to demonstrate their thinking on the projected lesson for their peers to see. However, rather than having to stop instruction to allow students to approach the interactive whiteboard, the mobile interactive whiteboard can be brought to the student allowing for better pacing and more purposeful use of student demonstration. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of using these mobile interactive whiteboards for instruction would be that the teacher would be allowed to maintain proximity to the students when they are working. This allows the teacher to provide timely feedback to individual students and would allow the teacher to adjust instruction, demonstrate strategies, and correct misconceptions for the students all while still interacting with the students rather than returning to the front of the room to manipulate the typical stationary interactive whiteboard. 
                 Alas, it seems that these devices are too good to be true. I talked with the technology specialist at our school and evidently, we already have two of these devices! How is it that I had no idea about them? According to our tech specialist, these interactive whiteboards are extremely "finicky" and would be very difficult for my younger students to manipulate (the slate remains blank meaning the operator has to track their work on the projected lesson rather than on the interactive whiteboard that they are writing on). He did say that our devices were purchased many years ago and the technology may have improved. However, I did a quick search for the devices and didn't see many companies who offered the mobile interactive whiteboards as they are described in this journal. 

         To my EDU2610 peers, if you have any suggestions for programs/devices that could help with the mobility issues that come with instruction using a typical interactive whiteboard, please help!    

The Future Ready Framework: Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

Of the seven gears of the Future Ready Framework, the Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment gear is the gear that currently receives most of my attention and effort. This gear calls for curriculum and instruction to be standards-aligned. In an effort to provide and education aligned to the Common Core standards, my district has made several curricular changes recently including the purchase of new instructional programs. Unfortunately, with a surplus of new programs being adopted, it's been very difficult for the teachers to deliver the high-quality instruction that we strive to provide while we're trying to learn the nuances of these new programs.

This gear also calls for assessment that drives instruction which is something that I hold near and dear to my heart. Sometimes I feel that typical paper and pencil assessments are used as the only means of assessment at the end of every unit. The data from these assessments is entered into a grade book, but little else is done with it. With first graders, I feel that small "temperature checks" used throughout instruction is a much more purposeful and meaningful way to assess. This way you can continuously adjust your instruction depending on the results of assessments; pushing forward when students show mastery and slowing instruction or reteaching when students show a lack of understanding. Purposeful assessment leads to more meaningful instruction. 

Journal Response: Clickers to the Rescue 

Moratelli, K., & DeJarnette, N. K. (2014). Clickers to the rescue. Reading Teacher, 67(8), 586-593. doi:10.1002/trtr.1261

In this journal, Clickers to the Rescue, a fifth grade teacher tried to use technology to help improve her students' low literacy achievement scores. Each week, as part of the group's literacy instruction, they read a series of stories and were tested on their comprehension of the stories along with vocabulary and grammar skills. Almost all students, regardless of their academic abilities, were failing these weekly tests. In order to improve student engagement and the quality of the lessons, Classroom Response Systems or "clickers" were used as part of the instruction and review process for four weeks.

Clickers are hand-held devices that can be used to answer multiple-choice, true/false, or yes/no questions. Each student's response is then compiled and displayed anonymously in a graph providing students with immediate feedback on areas of good comprehension and which concepts they need to focus on. The data is also available to the teacher which allows them to see where more attention needs to be spent during instruction and allows them to track each individual's comprehension and progress over time.

For this case study, rather than relying on whole group discussion as the only means of review for their weekly assessments, clickers were used to answer questions during class discussions. Each student was expected to answer every question, which in turn improved class participation and engagement. Students who typically were off-task or reluctant to participate were able to participate in a risk-free, anonymous way while still receiving feedback about their understanding of concepts. At the end of the case study, the majority of the students had improved their scores on their weekly literacy tests.

I have been intrigued by clickers since our class discussions about the positive uses of cell phones in the classroom. I really like the idea of having the ability to quickly and accurately collect data from every student. My first grade students, however,  don't own cell phones. We have a set of clickers at my school and I've always been reluctant to use them with first graders. After reading this journal and learning about all of the educational benefits of Classroom Response Systems, I think I may give them a try.

Elementary classroom lessons and discussions can sometimes be dominated by the more confident, high achieving students making it extremely difficult to gauge the rest of the students' understanding. The clickers would be a good way to provide a risk-free way for all of my students to respond and get feedback during class discussions. I also think the clickers would be new and exciting for the first graders and would help improve engagement in lessons. Our SMART board is already used for the majority of our lessons which would make integrating the use of clickers very easy as well.

My Time Saving Tech - Nique

First, I must admit (embarrassingly enough) that I only knew half of David Pogue's time saving tech-niques and had to try all of those that I didn't know immediately after watching the video. This man literally shaved SECONDS off of my future tech tasks with these time savers!

My personal favorite tech time saver is "Alt + Tab" ("command + tab" for Mac users). This gem allows you to switch between two windows or apps. For instance, if you are working on your lesson plans using Microsoft Word and you are using Chrome to reference something for your plans, simply press "command + tab" to switch between the Word and Chrome windows rather than navigating between them by using your mousepad.

Another keyboard shortcut that I like using on the Mac is by pressing "shift + command + 3" to take a screenshot. I don't have a meaningful scenario for when you would use this, but I find myself using it quite a bit and thought I'd share for all of you Mac users. Enjoy!