Beth Rogers
I am analyzing the use of a SMART Board in a fourth grade classroom.
Problem of Practice
There are multiple educational needs and opportunities that cab be met and explored through the use of a SMART Board in the classroom. For purposes of this paper, I am going to address the problem of math instruction in a fourth grade classroom that has students with a wide spectrum of mathematical abilities, including one autistic learner, one ADHD and two who receive support from our Special Ed department. In addition, there are six other students who have been identified at –risk and are monitored by an aide from the math department.
The problems that I am specifically targeting are: increasing attention during whole group instruction, increasing student participation during collaborative work, and increasing student mastery of concepts taught. I will assess the success of these goals through observation and anecdotal records, pre and post-testing, and from student responses to a constructed response question.
The setting
Teacher – In this project, the teacher will transition from the “sage on the stage” (in initial phase of introduction and set-up) to “guide on the side” (as students do collaborative work and demonstration on the SMART Board).
Learner – The learners will be actively engaged in the lesson through hands-on work with manipulatives, as well as constructing responses to problems using first paper and pencil, then icons on the SMART Board.
Subject –Math is the ideal subject to begin SMART Board work; the students will be able to see a concrete representation of the problems, and will have an immediate opportunity to interact with the technology.
Setting – The setting will shift from whole group instruction, to collaborative work, and finally to independent practice.
Technology-Integrated Solution
The problem of practice in a traditional setting, using overheads, whiteboards, or chalkboards, is lack of student engagement, and visual impairment caused by the teacher or students physically standing in front of the material being presented. In addition, any work is typically lost when the session is over, due to the necessity of erasing to move on to other subjects. This technology solves this issue because the teacher can work from the computer, and when students are interacting with the board, it is large enough to be seen without concern of visual obstructions. The work on a SMART Board can be saved and printed later, which allows students to have examples for their folders, and not to lose focus by having to attend to note-taking during the instructional/demonstration time.
I believe that the SMART Board will work in this setting based upon the research I have found, and my own experiences using the SMART Board in the classroom. Student interest and confidence in using computers and technology is high; they are excited about having this innovation in the classroom and eager to explore it. In a fourth grade classroom where it was used first for language arts, then for math, the students would “explain their thought process by drawing or writing…the students took immediate ownership and began constructing their own learning.” (Bobbi F. Adrain, techLearning)
Use of this technology would make a meaningful difference in my classroom because it would allow me to save and print samples of student solutions done in co-operative groups. The students would be more engaged in completing their tasks because presenting on the SMART Board would be viewed as a reward, and any group member could be called on to present. This fits with Brophy’s assertion that co-operative learning works best when the teacher “combines group goals with individual accountability.”
Ideally, having the SMART Board as a regular component in the classroom would be best. Due to financial constraints in the district, this is not possible. However, having it for a week-long unit during math is a reasonable expectation. Initially, the teacher would use the SMART Board, eventually segueing to a shared teacher-learner use of the innovation. This would require teacher preparation time to become familiar with the innovation, and able to use it with ease during instruction. In addition, issues of connection, cord placement, and security of the board would need to be considered beforehand, as would student use. This would likely take an entire instructional period to work through with students, so the teacher would need to plan and adjust accordingly.
Benefits of this Solution
The benefits of using this innovation would be that instruction and learning would improve. In the classroom study done by Bobbi Adrain, she found “increasing student participation in class” and “a new sense of comradeship.” In addition, her students reported that her instruction was “more organized,” and they felt that they “received more attention from the instructor during technology integrated lessons.” Parent feedback confirmed the teacher’s observations. One parent reported that their child said he “tends to pay more attention and is able to stay on task more often.”
I believe that anyone using this innovation would find similar results. Use of the SMART Board allows teachers to give students support with many of the nine strategies identified by Brabec, Fisher, and Pitler. This technology is applicable across the curriculum, and lends itself to a variety of tasks. In the example of math, it can be used in the following areas: identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and note taking, reinforcing effort and providing recognition, nonlinguistic representations, cooperative learning, generating and testing hypothesis, and cues, questions, and advance organizers.
Implications
We can learn many lessons from this project. Simply doing the research has exposed me to many innovations that I did not know existed. This research proves that students learn better, are more confident and attentive when using applied technology. In addition, teachers who use technology seem to plan better and are more organized and available to students as a result of using technology in the classroom. Use of technology can make it easier for teachers to apply formative evaluation and adjust accordingly, rather than simply reacting after summative evaluations have been done.
I plan to use the SMART Board in my classroom as soon as our building has the necessary equipment available to connect it in my room. I will vary the project according to what we are teaching at the time. In my classroom, I will need to take it very slowly. I know the students will be eager to interact, but we will need to take time to set rules and guidelines, particularly since our SMART Board is free-standing, and thus when it is bumped, needs to be frequently “reoriented.” I would ideally like to use it for math, writing, and science instruction. It would be particularly effective for science investigations, if we could connect to the internet and access other technologies such as United Streaming, and learning sites such as www.reachtheworld.org
I am analyzing the use of a SMART Board in a fourth grade classroom.
Problem of Practice
There are multiple educational needs and opportunities that cab be met and explored through the use of a SMART Board in the classroom. For purposes of this paper, I am going to address the problem of math instruction in a fourth grade classroom that has students with a wide spectrum of mathematical abilities, including one autistic learner, one ADHD and two who receive support from our Special Ed department. In addition, there are six other students who have been identified at –risk and are monitored by an aide from the math department.
The problems that I am specifically targeting are: increasing attention during whole group instruction, increasing student participation during collaborative work, and increasing student mastery of concepts taught. I will assess the success of these goals through observation and anecdotal records, pre and post-testing, and from student responses to a constructed response question.
The setting
Teacher – In this project, the teacher will transition from the “sage on the stage” (in initial phase of introduction and set-up) to “guide on the side” (as students do collaborative work and demonstration on the SMART Board).
Learner – The learners will be actively engaged in the lesson through hands-on work with manipulatives, as well as constructing responses to problems using first paper and pencil, then icons on the SMART Board.
Subject –Math is the ideal subject to begin SMART Board work; the students will be able to see a concrete representation of the problems, and will have an immediate opportunity to interact with the technology.
Setting – The setting will shift from whole group instruction, to collaborative work, and finally to independent practice.
Technology-Integrated Solution
The problem of practice in a traditional setting, using overheads, whiteboards, or chalkboards, is lack of student engagement, and visual impairment caused by the teacher or students physically standing in front of the material being presented. In addition, any work is typically lost when the session is over, due to the necessity of erasing to move on to other subjects. This technology solves this issue because the teacher can work from the computer, and when students are interacting with the board, it is large enough to be seen without concern of visual obstructions. The work on a SMART Board can be saved and printed later, which allows students to have examples for their folders, and not to lose focus by having to attend to note-taking during the instructional/demonstration time.
I believe that the SMART Board will work in this setting based upon the research I have found, and my own experiences using the SMART Board in the classroom. Student interest and confidence in using computers and technology is high; they are excited about having this innovation in the classroom and eager to explore it. In a fourth grade classroom where it was used first for language arts, then for math, the students would “explain their thought process by drawing or writing…the students took immediate ownership and began constructing their own learning.” (Bobbi F. Adrain, techLearning)
Use of this technology would make a meaningful difference in my classroom because it would allow me to save and print samples of student solutions done in co-operative groups. The students would be more engaged in completing their tasks because presenting on the SMART Board would be viewed as a reward, and any group member could be called on to present. This fits with Brophy’s assertion that co-operative learning works best when the teacher “combines group goals with individual accountability.”
Ideally, having the SMART Board as a regular component in the classroom would be best. Due to financial constraints in the district, this is not possible. However, having it for a week-long unit during math is a reasonable expectation. Initially, the teacher would use the SMART Board, eventually segueing to a shared teacher-learner use of the innovation. This would require teacher preparation time to become familiar with the innovation, and able to use it with ease during instruction. In addition, issues of connection, cord placement, and security of the board would need to be considered beforehand, as would student use. This would likely take an entire instructional period to work through with students, so the teacher would need to plan and adjust accordingly.
Benefits of this Solution
The benefits of using this innovation would be that instruction and learning would improve. In the classroom study done by Bobbi Adrain, she found “increasing student participation in class” and “a new sense of comradeship.” In addition, her students reported that her instruction was “more organized,” and they felt that they “received more attention from the instructor during technology integrated lessons.” Parent feedback confirmed the teacher’s observations. One parent reported that their child said he “tends to pay more attention and is able to stay on task more often.”
I believe that anyone using this innovation would find similar results. Use of the SMART Board allows teachers to give students support with many of the nine strategies identified by Brabec, Fisher, and Pitler. This technology is applicable across the curriculum, and lends itself to a variety of tasks. In the example of math, it can be used in the following areas: identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and note taking, reinforcing effort and providing recognition, nonlinguistic representations, cooperative learning, generating and testing hypothesis, and cues, questions, and advance organizers.
Implications
We can learn many lessons from this project. Simply doing the research has exposed me to many innovations that I did not know existed. This research proves that students learn better, are more confident and attentive when using applied technology. In addition, teachers who use technology seem to plan better and are more organized and available to students as a result of using technology in the classroom. Use of technology can make it easier for teachers to apply formative evaluation and adjust accordingly, rather than simply reacting after summative evaluations have been done.
I plan to use the SMART Board in my classroom as soon as our building has the necessary equipment available to connect it in my room. I will vary the project according to what we are teaching at the time. In my classroom, I will need to take it very slowly. I know the students will be eager to interact, but we will need to take time to set rules and guidelines, particularly since our SMART Board is free-standing, and thus when it is bumped, needs to be frequently “reoriented.” I would ideally like to use it for math, writing, and science instruction. It would be particularly effective for science investigations, if we could connect to the internet and access other technologies such as United Streaming, and learning sites such as www.reachtheworld.org