Hardware in the classroom

In looking at the different hardware technologies that can be used in the classroom I was amazed. I also felt fortunate because at my school every classroom has a SMART Board. We also have clickers for grades 3-5. I was really impressed with the mouse mischief; I have never seen that before. It seems like an inexpensive way to get all of the children working hands on with technology in the classroom. You wouldn’t even have to have one for every student; they could share and work in groups or as partners.  Some of the disadvantages would be first the cost of the hardware. Then comes the responsibility of taking care of it. If you break it or your children do, you are responsible for it. Another disadvantage is that it may take some extra time and effort on your part to get to know how to use the hardware and ways that you can implement them in the classroom. The advantages are far greater than the disadvantages. Lessons that you create for your students do not have to be filed in a cabinet, they can be saved on a disk or a flash drive for the next year or when you want to reference back to them. You can add to them or take information away. The children are interested in technology so it is easier to get them involved. You can easily share videos, music, power points, graphics and other information right then and there when a question or interest arises in your students, by searching the internet via the SMART Board.  I shared the information about taking a virtual field trip with the teacher that I work with and when I walked into the room today the children were viewing a virtual tour of the home of George Washington! It was so exciting, they can actually see what things were like then and it didn’t cost anything.

I would use the SMART Board in my class every day. There are so many possibilities with it. You can do all of your lessons at home on the computer and then just open them up on your computer at school. It is an interactive way for the students to learn. They can actively participate in the lesson by utilizing the SMART Board. You can add pictures and sounds to your lessons. You don’t have to spend time getting hands on materials ready to get ruined or lost before the next school year. I was introduced to something at my school today called a web pen. You can use it with the SMART Board. It records what you do with the writing as well as recording the sound. The teacher that introduced it uses it while they do their lessons in class and then post it on a site where the children and parents can look back at the actual lesson as if they were in the classroom all over again. If the child gets stuck on their homework and they need help they can look back to the lesson. And if the parents want to look back so that they know how to help their child with their homework they can. The world of technology is amazing.