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_In class we collected some ideas, when it is useful to use a Smartboard or Interactive-Whiteboard (IWB).
1. vocabulary and grammar work
2. collecting presentation results
3. catchy introductions
4. to watch short films/videos
5. to save the notes on the board and distribute them
6. hide elements, check results, gradual development
7. visualization (e.g. mind-maps, pictionary)
8. save results (for next lesson)
9. text analysis
The IWB is such a good device in terms of creating a better learning space because it enables the teacher to include and combine all 4 learning skills (reading,writing,listening,speaking). With the opportunities listed above the teacher can fully focus on the idea to mediate between the students and the substance or educational material. The teacher can involve the students more in to the lesson and the students are able to try more themselves. It gives more value to the saying “learning by doing”. Every teacher can create more cornerstones for the students. He or she can combine visual, auditory and haptic elements into every task, though the students will be provided with as many learning opportunities as possible.
I want to give a short example to every point. The following points are not ranked by their importance, just by the way we wrote them down.
1. vocabulary and grammar work
Every vocab, which is to be learned, can be emphasized by an auditory device, which says the word out loud and gives a picture to it. That gives the students the opportunity to connect all these impressions and link them to the new word.
In terms of grammar there can be fill in tasks or connecting exercises, where students have to connect the right tenses to each other, for example.
2. collecting presentation results
One is able to collect all important facts of a presentation given by a student or teacher on the smartboard and link them to each other. So no fact of a presentation gets lost.
3. catchy introductions
A catchy introduction is so important. It gives directions to where the lesson is heading. It inspires and motivates the students or not. That is why a good introduction is so important. With the smartboard one is able to show a picture, a short video or song to the class easily as a small input for the beginning.
4. to watch short films/videos
As it is already mentioned in the example above, a smartboard can be helpful in order to show a short film that emphasizes a point or gives the student a hint or input for the topic. It also can be used to analyze songs or speeches, because one can see the text and hear the voice at the same time.
5. to save the notes on the board and distribute them
At first one just collects notes on the board and is able to rearrange them later on. That makes structuring a good panel or image, students are supposed to copy into their books, easier.
6. hide elements, check results, gradual development
The ability to hide elements is useful, because the teacher is able to prepare the lesson at home and just reveal the correct answer in class or check back with the students if a mentioned result is correct. Fill in the blank text can be setup this way, so that students can even check themselves if the given answer is correct by removing a box, which is placed over the correct answer.
7. visualization (e.g. mind-maps, pictionary)
The teacher can create mind-maps and is not limited to the space of a blackboard, he or she can scroll up and down and rearrange the topic and mentioned word as they whish. The teacher can visualize topics and problems by drawing helpful hints, for example in physics, the way of the force it is pointing to.
8. save results (for next lesson)
I cannot stress this point strong enough. It is so helpful to save the result and being able to work on in the next lesson. One does not have to write “Bitte stehen lassen” on the blackboard, which makes your fellow teachers angry, because they cannot use the whole blackboard. And another very good possibility is that the teacher can provide every student with the class-results of the lesson via sending them the image.
9. text analysis
The last point we found was being able to visualize text analysis. Now a student or the teacher is able to work on the text, which is dealt with directly. He can point out certain words and explain the structure of a text better. This can be very helpful for literature and language lessons in general.
1. vocabulary and grammar work
2. collecting presentation results
3. catchy introductions
4. to watch short films/videos
5. to save the notes on the board and distribute them
6. hide elements, check results, gradual development
7. visualization (e.g. mind-maps, pictionary)
8. save results (for next lesson)
9. text analysis
The IWB is such a good device in terms of creating a better learning space because it enables the teacher to include and combine all 4 learning skills (reading,writing,listening,speaking). With the opportunities listed above the teacher can fully focus on the idea to mediate between the students and the substance or educational material. The teacher can involve the students more in to the lesson and the students are able to try more themselves. It gives more value to the saying “learning by doing”. Every teacher can create more cornerstones for the students. He or she can combine visual, auditory and haptic elements into every task, though the students will be provided with as many learning opportunities as possible.
I want to give a short example to every point. The following points are not ranked by their importance, just by the way we wrote them down.
1. vocabulary and grammar work
Every vocab, which is to be learned, can be emphasized by an auditory device, which says the word out loud and gives a picture to it. That gives the students the opportunity to connect all these impressions and link them to the new word.
In terms of grammar there can be fill in tasks or connecting exercises, where students have to connect the right tenses to each other, for example.
2. collecting presentation results
One is able to collect all important facts of a presentation given by a student or teacher on the smartboard and link them to each other. So no fact of a presentation gets lost.
3. catchy introductions
A catchy introduction is so important. It gives directions to where the lesson is heading. It inspires and motivates the students or not. That is why a good introduction is so important. With the smartboard one is able to show a picture, a short video or song to the class easily as a small input for the beginning.
4. to watch short films/videos
As it is already mentioned in the example above, a smartboard can be helpful in order to show a short film that emphasizes a point or gives the student a hint or input for the topic. It also can be used to analyze songs or speeches, because one can see the text and hear the voice at the same time.
5. to save the notes on the board and distribute them
At first one just collects notes on the board and is able to rearrange them later on. That makes structuring a good panel or image, students are supposed to copy into their books, easier.
6. hide elements, check results, gradual development
The ability to hide elements is useful, because the teacher is able to prepare the lesson at home and just reveal the correct answer in class or check back with the students if a mentioned result is correct. Fill in the blank text can be setup this way, so that students can even check themselves if the given answer is correct by removing a box, which is placed over the correct answer.
7. visualization (e.g. mind-maps, pictionary)
The teacher can create mind-maps and is not limited to the space of a blackboard, he or she can scroll up and down and rearrange the topic and mentioned word as they whish. The teacher can visualize topics and problems by drawing helpful hints, for example in physics, the way of the force it is pointing to.
8. save results (for next lesson)
I cannot stress this point strong enough. It is so helpful to save the result and being able to work on in the next lesson. One does not have to write “Bitte stehen lassen” on the blackboard, which makes your fellow teachers angry, because they cannot use the whole blackboard. And another very good possibility is that the teacher can provide every student with the class-results of the lesson via sending them the image.
9. text analysis
The last point we found was being able to visualize text analysis. Now a student or the teacher is able to work on the text, which is dealt with directly. He can point out certain words and explain the structure of a text better. This can be very helpful for literature and language lessons in general.