IWB

Let me start with saying that Interactive White Boards are exactly what they are entitled. However, before my experience with IWB,  I knew of such things like SmartBoard but was not familiar in the least. There was no such thing when I was in grade school. The article about about IWB gave me insight to what is going on in today's classrooms with technology.

I was shocked to see the percentages in test scores and success rates of the interactive white board. This is GREAT news because not only are they becoming readily available, they are so fun for the students. The stats obviously showed that picture and sound engaged the students and participation was much greater. Unfortunately, as I read, some teachers still aren't familiar with the IWB even if they have the privilege of having them in their own classrooms! This is unfortunate as it could be a part of weekly lesson plans for teachers to encourage student participation and a constructive approach in the classroom. If teachers know what they are doing and make their lesson plans fun and engaging, students will WANT to learn which has proven to improve test scores.

The IWB like I mentioned before is very interactive, exactly what it is called. I have been simply amazed with the interaction I have had in the past few classes with just seeing the activities and commands on my computer screen! Once I can fully understand how to utilize and navigate the system, I will undoubtedly use this technology in my music classroom. Students can draw musical notes on the staff, insert music vocab terms to match symbols and respond to listening sample through the system. This can incorporate half if not more of the National Standards for Music Education. How cool! I can't wait to get started and create my own flipchart.