Xs and Os to Engage Students

I have found that the way to engage students is through technology. It is my experience that this is the means in which students learn and retain the most knowledge from their teacher.  One has to use any technology at their disposal to encourage students learning but also to make it fun.  In a dynamic where the class is fun and learning project is fun you can bring out the creativity in students and also social enact where they learn to work with others and solve problems faster.  A class like Tech for Teachers has given me ideas on how I would use technology to help with lesson planing.  In this class we were able to really explore ways to use learning programs to help us find ways to teach.  I also usually enjoy just being able to "play around" with the different programs to see how they worked and have a little fun with it. The use of the Smartboard, which is something I have used very little of, will be incorporated into any classroom teaching I get to do in the future.

Whiteboards!!! Helpful learning tool.

     Whiteboards, a electronic white board vertically mounted on a wall, are becoming a tool in which the teacher can seize upon opportunities to help their students become more knowledgeable about a subject.  A study showed that students who are using whiteboards showed a 16 point gain in student achievement.  As the study explain if a student was in the 50th percentile, they now would be in the 66th percentile.  The three features the whiteboards have are hand held voting devices, visual graphic, reinforcer app, allowing the teacher to signal which answer is correct.  Using these devices have a 26 to 31 percentile gain in students. In order to have effective whiteboard lessons one must be organized, make sure that time is given to students to absorb visual information and students must be engaged with information supplied.  Being organized is the fact that you have the information on the whiteboard detail and understandable for students.  You have to give students time to understand the visuals they are seeing.  flipping through pictures does not help.  Most of all students must fell enagaged in the process.  If it is not fun and active you will lose them.  In conclusion the whiteboards if used correctly can be helpful to teach and help students grow.