HOW TO TEACH A LESSON USING INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD

HOW TO TEACH A LESSON USING  INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD

Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) have held a prominent place in conversations about technology integration in the American schoolhouse for nearly a decade. Teachers see IWBs as motivating gadgets that can capture the attention of students. School leaders see IWBs as tangible symbols of innovation and reform that can be touted on parent nights, and policymakers see IWBs as the key to preparing students for the 21st Century. Even Barack Obama believes that IWBs should play an important role in tomorrow’s classrooms, writing during his 2008 presidential campaign:

Imagine a future where our children are more motivated because they aren’t just learning on blackboards, but on new whiteboards with digital touch screens; where every student in a classroom has a laptop at [his or her] desk; where [students] don’t just do book reports but design PowerPoint presentations; where they don’t just write papers, but they build web sites; where research isn’t done just by taking a book out of the library, but by emailing experts in the field; and where teachers are less a source of knowledge than a coach for how best to use it and obtain knowledge. By fostering innovation, we can help make sure every school in America is a school of the future.¹

The challenge with IWBs is a simple one, however: They are costly investments that do little to automatically encourage innovative teaching. Described by honest companies as a bridging technology designed to bring digital tools into traditional classrooms, they do more to facilitate existing practices — whole class lectures and presentations, independent work by individual students at “the board” — than they do to transform learning. Sadly, this pattern has become all too common — and comfortable — in digital integration efforts. As Clayton Christensen, Curtis Johnson, and Michael Horn demonstrate in Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, most teachers use new technologies like IWBs to simply “sustain their existing practices and pedagogies.” ²

STRATEGIES FOR INNOVATION

That doesn’t mean that the Interactive Whiteboard in your classroom — especially if it is paired with sets of student responders and/or wireless slates — can’t be used to innovate. Like any tool in the hands of a talented teacher, careful decisions and systematic efforts can help to ensure that your IWB doesn’t go to waste. If you’re lucky enough to work in a school or a district that has outfitted classrooms with IWBs, consider the following strategies for making the most of this digital investment.

ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS WITH RESPONDERS

For many teachers, the immediate feedback offered by the sets of student responders often paired with IWBs is invaluable. With little effort, teachers can collect formative assessment information that can be used to inform practice “in the moment.” And while this kind of work is responsible and intelligent, it can lead to an over-reliance on lower-level multiple choice questioning techniques.

To avoid this trap, begin using your student response systems to ask open-ended Likert scale style questions in your classroom — How much should the world care about global warming? What responsibility do wealthy countries have to support development in poor countries? How important is freedom of speech? Then, give your students a range of common perspectives to choose from. After you’ve initially surveyed your class, encourage students to share their perspective and deliver a lesson connected to the content that you are studying. When your lesson is finished, resurvey your class and see whether or not student perspectives have changed. Encourage students who revised their original thinking to explain the reason for their revisions. By doing so, you can ensure that your IWB promotes higher-order thinking in your classroom.

GET YOUR WIRELESS SLATES IN THE HANDS OF YOUR STUDENTS

One of the most valuable tools often bundled with Interactive Whiteboards are wireless slates or tablets that can be used to control the IWB from anywhere in a room. Slates unchain teachers from the front of the class and allow them to move freely throughout their room to monitor and manage the progress of their students while continuing to present key concepts.

Slates become even more valuable, however, when they are put into the hands of students. Consider having students use slates to work out different solutions to a common problem. Ask your class to watch for mistakes or misconceptions as a peer completes a task transparently. Create comparison/contrast activities that allow groups to consider the common characteristics of a concept that you are studying in class by manipulating a collection of important vocabulary words. Whatever you do, recognize that student-centered IWB activities depend on your willingness to put IWB hardware into the hands of your students.

RECORD YOUR LESSONS AND POST THEM AS TUTORIALS

In a world where the range of abilities within each classroom is becoming increasingly diverse, creating opportunities for remediation is nothing short of essential. Unfortunately, structuring targeted remediation efforts can be overwhelming for already overworked educators.

That’s why innovative teachers have started to use the screen-capturing software packaged with IWBs to record full-length lessons and mini-tutorials for their students. After each lesson is recorded, it can be posted online in a remediation warehouse. Students who fail to demonstrate mastery can be pointed to specific tutorials designed to reinforce classroom teaching. What’s more, parents can visit tutorial collections and learn to provide more effective support for their children at home.

REQUIRE STUDENTS TO WORK THROUGH “ENHANCED PRESENTATIONS” WHILE WORKING TO PERSUADE

With the explosion of visual content available online, the very nature of persuasion is changing. No longer are the most influential ideas communicated in text-based presentations. Unfortunately, however, text-based presentations remain the norm in most school classrooms.

To better prepare your students for the multimedia world that they will inherit, require that presentations in your classroom draw from the full range of interesting content available online. Have your students integrate short video clips and websites that can be used to influence their audience into their final products. Instead of creating simple slide decks with static content, insist that presentations utilize the full range of tools offered by your IWB. While initial efforts are likely to be balky, your students will eventually learn to toggle between the content and tools that are the most effective at communicating key points.

LET YOUR STUDENTS IMAGINE USES FOR YOUR IWB

For whatever reason, schools have been notoriously bad at seeking feedback from their primary customers — the students sitting in their classrooms. Instead of co-creating motivating learning environments together, teachers generally continue to struggle when asked to relinquish authority over instructional decisions.

This hesitance carries great consequences — especially in an environment where students are far more comfortable with imagining new uses for digital tools than their teachers. That’s why the most progressive teachers turn control over their IWBs to their classes. By asking your students to reflect on the kinds of learning experiences that they find the most motivating and then giving permission for free exploration with your IWB, you’ll not only be surprised by the quality of the discoveries that they make, you’ll also convince your students that they are capable thinkers and learners — and equal partners in the cycle of instruction.

VISIT THE LESSON LIBRARIES CREATED BY THE MAJOR IWB COMPANIES

As skeptical as some critics are about the impact that Interactive Whiteboards can have on classroom teaching, there are some truly remarkable educators that are using their IWBs to effectively change their classrooms. Many of these educators freely share what they are learning in lesson libraries maintained by the major IWB companies.

After signing up for free accounts at Promethean Planet or the Smart Training Center, you’ll gain access to lesson collections sorted by content area and grade level. You’ll also see streaming video of teachers using their IWBs in their classrooms. All of these opportunities can help you to think through the kind of teaching and learning that IWBs make possible.

Sharing best practices

As you begin to design lessons and activities with your Interactive Whiteboard, be sure to share everything that you learn with your peers! While good applications of IWB technology exist, they can often be time consuming to imagine and to create. Working together over time, your faculty can document the kinds of practices that are the most effective at delivering content and engaging your student population. Doing so will ensure that your IWB becomes something more than a tool that simply sustains existing pedagogies.