Jason+Huber

Assignment:

1. Create a page on this wiki with your name. To do this, click New Page, Type in your name and click save. Your new page will then open and that is what you will add your information to. 

2. Describe 4 lessons that you currently teach without using the Smartboard. If you want to upload anything from your lessons, click the icon that looks like a photo frame and then you will attach it just like you would an attachment to an email. My Basic Electronics lessons tend to be the most abstract for students and have proven to be more challenging for students when only a white board versus a SMART board was used to enhance the lecture/discussions. The lessons of how Resistance is affected in Series circuits, Parallel circuits and Series-Parallel circuits are good examples. Up to this point any lesson I taught without a smart board was limited to, two copies of notes (one in a lesson plan book (as a backup) and the other on an over head transparency to use for lectures). Besides the additional overhead sheets of notes/sketching that I cannot recall their purpose for, for the life of me, from past years. Either I have to write notes on the board and not erase them for weeks (as we recap various lessons) (or to refer back to for content building purpose). These overheads get smeared, torn and lost as students copy notes from days they have missed.

3. Describe how the lesson changed when using the board. The lesson has become for interesting for me to teach since all my resources are at my finger tips if students are looking for more in-depth examples that I might only be able to recall tid bits about. This helps me draw more complex examples for lecture/discussion to meet the varying abilities of the class. I keep links, audio, video, pictures, hand written notes, class examples and a culmination of resources that allow me to keep the content I teach consistent. When lecturing, I use the tools such as the shade tool, to keep the students on the topic we are discussing instead of moving ahead and missing some of the valuable discussion information. The spot light tool helps to keep students attention. The Technology Ed department has purchased the tablet in addition to the SMART board for students to input their knowledge on the board without leaving their seat. This saves class time and keeps the class attention instead of a having the students getting up and down. With all of these factors in place, the covering of notes in class lecture/discussion has become faster and has encouraged students to ask more in-depth questions, to promote their diagnostic skills in problem solving situations.  4. Describe Student Outcomes. I think student outcomes have increased due to the ability to reference notes that they many have missed, covered earlier in the week. I require students to take notes consistent to what I write on the SMART board, for reference later, on assignments. By having the SMART board, I only write down the specific information that the students will need to know and leave discussion comments and content on the white board or framed in on the SMART board for recollection purposes only. This helps students when they are reviewing for exams, knowing that examples are in framed areas of their notes and the main content of their notes address the objectives of the course and the content used for measurable outcomes. By, providing students with a more memorable way of presenting information it helps to keep their attention and interest of those that might otherwise have fallen off task. Videos, pictures and any media that are directly at your finger tips as a teacher can only make the teacher more efficient and the content more significant for recall. 

5. Reflect on how lesson was different when using the board. Up until this time I have taught all my classes at South Milwaukee without a working SMART board. This has provided many challenges in being consistent from year to year in the content I cover and explain to the class. I reference many resources (Magazines, Text books (4+), Journals, Websites, College workshop handouts) when teaching my classes. Being a teacher of 3 preps, when I come upon helpful information, I cover the content in class and on many occasions, cannot keep my lesson plans up to date with the new information I discover, so it can be referenced again in years to come. The students seemed to be more involved with the notes, because they knew once we covered more information; the previous notes would not be visible. The notes were more dynamic and allowed me to insert photos where definitions were presented so students didn’t have to “imagine” objects/applications or how things looked and the class did not need to rely on my artistic skills to convene information, as they had to do in the past as I scribbled things on the board.