Interactive+Whiteboards

__**Interactive Whiteboards**__
I am very familiar with IWBs and the various resources, software & tools available to support them, as I was responsible for training staff in how to use IWBs in a pedagogically sound way during my last employment position. Having said that the software I am most familiar with is eInstruction, which is the Interwrite boards software.
 * Awareness**

As a classroom teacher, I used my IWB daily, but more importantly so did my students. I explored most of the tools in the software more as a refresher than a first time during this task. Using an interactive whiteboard was part of my daily use tools for the past three years of teaching with prep / year 1 classes (4 - 6 year olds).
 * Exploration & Filtration**

The big learning for me was to use the IWB in a pedagogically sound manner. The easy trap to fall into is to use the IWB like a blackboard or whiteboard. The same task just with the expensive board is really just the same task with bling. I had to think of ways that both myself and the students could use the board which was more appropriate considering the financial investment in it. This required a lot more thought and consideration.
 * Learning**

Personally I see the IWB as a great tool for students to engage and share with each other their learning and using the IWB as a group rotation task was a daily agenda for myself. I used websites such as Starfall.com and ictgames.co.uk to engage students in tasks that would support their learning. They also **loved sharing** their ideas on the board with each other. It was great for brainstorming about topics and drawing out your ideas so others could see what you were thinking. A great book I can recommend is written by a friend of mine Chris Betcher and Mal Lee, called The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution: Teaching with IWBs.
 * Personal & Professional Application**

I would say that I am sitting between adaptive and advanced user. I don't believe that currently I would be an advanced user, just because I haven't used an IWB for almost a year as I am no longer based in a class. However, if you asked me this same question a year or two ago I would have quite comfortably sat in the advanced user group. :)
 * Where am I as an interactive whiteboard user?**



The lesson plan that I have submitted is in the eInstruction Interwrite format, and is a series of slides which formed our morning review session each day with my year 1 class in 2011. The first slide the students pick up their grasshopper using the point and grab tool and place in the box once they arrive in the classroom for the day to show who is in attendance. Then we all recite the school pledge together reading off the board. Our morning message is on slide three, and the students had to work together to identify and correct the errors in the message. The word of the day would be written into this slide and it was used to introduce the word to the students for the day.



The bunch of stars we would use with the curtain feature on the software to hide some of the stars and show some of these. This was part of our subitizing learning strategy for students so they could begin to visually see number patterns in their heads.



We would also practice writing our letters, and possibly write a sentence or a couple of words to ponder as a transition to the next experience.



Later in the session we would come back and review money by putting the right amount into the piggy bank. We would add up the amounts as we go.