Have you ever had to clear the whiteboard after a bunch of kids, new to Pink Floyd, scribbled the words 'we don't need no edjukation' all over?
Having spent a little over 15 years in the classroom, I can assure you that kids will be kids and 'training' them is not possible. As a matter of fact, it should not be allowed!!
All that energy, freshness and originality will be destroyed if we try to impose our old boring selves on them.
You work for hours chalking out lesson plans to make things interesting for the kids, but very rarely do you reap the desired result. It gets frustrating and at times it Gets Harder Not To Throw In The Towel And Give Up.
WAIT JUST A MINUTE!
If you want children to listen, hear & pay attention, you need to know how kids think! You need to know what teaching tools capture their attention and what tools just don't do anything at all.
Multimedia projectors, overhead slides and computer-aided visuals seem to have been tried and tested and are just a catalyst, nothing more.
You're looking for a solution! We all are!
Technology has come a long way since we were kids. There was a time when a pre-requisite for being a teacher did not involve computer skills. In today's technology era interactive classrooms have become a requirement and not a necessity.
A 'solution' to your problem would have to be the interactive whiteboard!
Like Xerox, smart board has become a household name for interactive whiteboards.
The introduction of smart boards in classrooms has equipped teachers with the Excalibur of teaching tools!
A few pointers for those truly interested in this technology:
1. Smart boards give the teacher instant access to a vast array of electronic resources. This makes learning much more exciting and breathes new life into old fashioned chalk-and-talk.
2. It enables seamless links to be made between the smart board technology and the subject material.
3. The Interactive whiteboard is controlled by the teacher from the front of the classroom using an easy-to-use electronic pen. Teachers are rethinking their approach to teaching and having fun doing so.
4. Using electronic ink, the teacher can write over any image shown on the smart board screen. These annotations can then be captured on an electronic flipchart. The flexibility and the scope for imaginative lesson planning are huge.
5. At the end of the lesson, flipchart pages can automatically be saved and can be printed, emailed or even pasted onto a website. This opens up possibilities for pupils to access lesson materials out of the lesson itself and for teachers to share lesson resources.
6. The flipchart files can be updated or merged with other Windows applications, which enables the teachers to save the best lessons and improve on them in their own time.
We, as humans have come a long way, from the school masters holding canes and sticks to discipline kids to our modern day teachers; smart pen in hand and a prayer on their sleeve, molding the leaders of tomorrow in the best ways possible.
