I would like to tell you about digital whiteboard and how I use it at my work. My school has invested in digital whiteboards in all classrooms. It works by connecting a lap top to the whiteboard and turning on something that is called a light canon, that is installed in the ceiling. When I have done this, the computer works as usual and everything that I have on my computer is available for everybody in the classroom to look at on the whiteboard.
I teach several different subjects and can use the digital whiteboard in all subjects and on a daily basis.
I often make exercises and games on my computer at home, that I use in my lessons. So when I teach the students how the exercise or game works, I can watch it on the whiteboard while I, at the same time verbally explain it for the students. It allows me to reach both the auditory and the visual children.
Another advantage is that it is nice to prepare the most part at home and then just turning on the digital whiteboard and it is all there and I don´t have to write everything by hand, when I am in front of the class.
That, which I also use very often and which is very popular with the students, is that I can get on the internet and show which page I want. A very popular page for the students is of course YouTube.
On that page we usually look at various short clips. The students can also give suggestions to which pages they would like us to look at. This makes them more involved in the lesson and it makes it easier for me to take part in their interests and I can use it to continue planning lesson by using their interests and what they think is fun.
Before my students were allowed to wish clips of their own, we had a discussion about what is appropriate or not to look at. So far they have been very good in choosing things that is relevant to what we are currently working with or things that we can be able to work with in the near future. It also happens that we look at clips only for the fun of it, without having any higher educational purpose.
YouTube has also been a source to find English movies, songs and rhymes. I have found a lot of different songs that are written in English.
A last use of the digital whiteboard that I would like to write about, is that the students can make their own PowerPoint’s as a way of reporting their work and demonstrating it to the whole class on the whiteboard.
As a conclusion I would like to mention that the only negative thing about the digital whiteboard is when it is not working as it should. I have experienced a few times when the sound wasn´t working when I had planned to see a movie or when the Internet did not work at all. You just have to have a backup plan if it were to occur.
