Intro to IWB Activity- Chapter 1 iBooks

After reading the chapters about IWBs, I felt enlightened and really excited about creating my own interactive white board activity. In a classroom, the management of the room can be attributed to interactions between the students and teachers or students with other students, and participation that is done by the students. The interactive white board activities make the students have a want for learning and volunteering in class. The activities can be made hard or easily mastered and look fun, and entertaining so the students are willing to engage. Growing up I never was taught with an IWB system. My teachers used transparencies and overheads, or just the simple white board and dry erase marker, however, after being in many classrooms this semester I can honestly see how beneficial these IWB resources truly can be in a general or special education classroom. When used appropriately the IWBs can give all students the chance to learn and thrive in their learning environment. For example, in one of the classrooms I am present all of the students are not on the same reading level, so the teacher is able to pull up the book on her IWB and there is an actual option where the book can be read aloud to the students. Instead of the student who can not read individually falling behind the IWB system allows the student to thrive without his peers really observing his difficulties. The board also gives the teacher and students a chance to discuss different topics and all be on the same page, literally. If all the students are having to look at the same thing then they all have to stay together and are able to help each other.

I just had no idea how many things could be done with the board, before reading the iBook. The resources and settings that are provided by the program are truly universal and can be used in all different ways to influence all different types of learners. The fact that our generations are younger generations are fully engrossed in the technology era also gives motivation to students to participate with this resources and engage in activities, because it gets students thinking, out of their seats, and steers away from just a pencil and notebook paper. The only downside, just like any technology, is dependability. If a teacher plans on using a IWB activity, but her board is not working or having difficulties that could influence a whole day's lesson. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to use this technology in my future, but being old fashion there's never too little time for a back up plan.

TPTE Midterm Reflection

After completing the first couple of weeks of my TPTE course, I feel confident about my path to understanding technology inside and outside of the classroom. I feel like I am obtaining a good understanding of everything we are learning, and following along a lot better than I expected from the beginning of the course. I have really enjoyed the activities that we have experienced and accomplished in the class and appreciate how understanding and helpful my professor is. The activities have been beneficial in assisting my comprehension of the newly acquired material on technology and how I can implement the resources in my classroom. I have especially like learning about Wikis, how they work, and how they can be implemented in the classroom or just working on a project with fellow classmates. I especially like how all of the assignments that we do are based on future curriculum and learning about resources that we can use in the future with our future students, parents, and colleagues. I'm looking forward to learning more on my technology trek through this course!