Interactive Whiteboards

Interactive whiteboards are a great benefit to the classroom in many ways. I believe they enhance teaching and learning in numerous way. Here are some of the following ways they enhance it:

• collaborative way for all students to participate
• It is an active way for students to learn and generate ideas.
• Its a new way to present material to the class
• its a tool that can be integrated into any subject material
• It is great for visual learning and tactile learning
• Teachers can get very creative with communicating the material

I did not think the technology was very difficult to use. I was quite intimidated in the beginning when we were first introduced to it, but then i realized how easy it really was to use. I think it was easy to use because it reminded a lot of something familiar I've used which is  power point, but its a step up from it and a lot more fun to use. There are so many creative ways the interactive whiteboard can communicate and present lessons.
There are many benefits to having the interactive whiteboard installed in the classroom:

•  lessons could include something to hear and see using videos and listening graphics
• go on  field trips around the world by viewing documentaries
•  geographical maps can be zoomed in
• internet interaction can also be used while using the whiteboard
•  student projects can be displayed on the whiteboard.
• substitute teachers can just open it up and see what the lesson will be on for that day

The benefits are numerous and this list can go on and on and on, but there are also a few disadvantages or not so favorable things:

• quite costly for many schools
• a takes a bit of training for teachers and others to learn the different aspects of it
• it requires a bit of maintenance 
• doesn't accommodate well to individual needs of some students
• Some teachers like to move around the classroom and might find it distracting
• It can create a glare for students.

The Smartboard could have also have been used on some of the lessons i previously taught, but since I didn't know how to use a Smartboard at that time I didn't use it. Here are some of the lessons I had and how I could have incorporated Smartboard in the lesson:

• I taught a lesson on the phases of the moon- i could have used a matching game for them to link the name of the phase with the picture and also use the shadow slide to cover and reveal the answers.
• I taught a lesson on right, acute, and obtuse angles- I could have the students move the line to form each angles, I could also have them make one on their own
• I had a lesson on Chinese watercolor lanterns- I could have them watch a small documentary on lanterns and then try drawing the chinese symbols on the smartboard.

There are so many benefits to the interactive Smartboard, but there are very few disadvantages because for the most part the benefits outweigh the cons. 

Software Skills

• The software skills we learned in class were awesome tricks to create great layouts to appeal in terms of organization and to catch the eye. There were many things that I did not know before and learned that software skill in class. There were a few things i did know like using a table and the formatting, but even with the tables i never thought of using one to format a quiz or test. Using a table to format a quiz or test makes the organization so much easier.  I loved all 4 projects we had to work on. The one project I did have a bit difficulty with was the concept map. With the concept map i had to constantly adjust the sizing and spacing because when I exported it to Word it was too big to fit on the whole page in the landscape form. I really enjoyed making the newsletter on Publisher because they already had the format ready I just filled in the information and added a few clip art pictures. The flyer and the quiz were pretty easy to make. 
• Taking the time to learn all the software skills was very beneficial, I wish I had learned them before because they could have aided me with my prior projects I had done. I think for the future in my career as a teacher the skills will definitely help a lot. It will help save a lot of time and just make each handout a lot more professional looking. 
• The one most beneficial for me as an art teacher would probably be  Publisher and all of its features and sometimes a concept map could help with my lessons. They could help me as an art teacher in numerous ways:

-publisher to make newsletters and flyers]
-publisher could also be used to make calender art projects
-concept maps to learn a new procedure for cleanup
-concept to learn a new lesson
-concept map to study for a quiz
- i could use a concept map as the quiz