----- Original Message ----- From: Linda Kuras Mizrahi - lindakm09@xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: re: Researcher: Computers in schools do not improve students' results Wow, do I feel jealous; in my school, I'm grateful when we have electricity to play the old fashioned cassettes and CDs we have! I don't even have access to an overhead projector. Enjoy spicing up your lessons and being able to teach in a school that is in sync with the 21st Century! Linda Kuras Mizrahi Adele wrote: >The main "problem" , as I see it, with the Smartboards (or IWB: Interactive WhiteBoards) arises when the teacher training process is lacking -either in amount or subject-specific focus. We have IWBs in the school where I teach, and I would not give it up for anything. Yes- there ARE a lot of things I could do just with a projector, however showing YouTube with a song clip (instead of just bringing a tape to teach the song) or using a movie excerpt to drive home a point (ok - I COULD do that with DVD but how accessible is that? Until the IWB I would have to order the equipment ahead of time - the fact that it is now SO accessible to me is an incentive to take advantage of it more often). Or showing a site with pictures and sounds and clips that enrich the subject matter from the textbooks. I have been teaching teachers in the Clore project to use the IWB for the past 3 years, but it was not until I actually got it in MY classroom that I was REALLY able to start discovering the potentials of this tool ( and I STILL feel I have only scratched the surface!) So it's not enough to have these new fangled bells and whistles for it to make an impact on our teaching - hence on the students' learning. So I agree with what Laurie writes: "the teacher behind the tool is what counts ", and a good teacher never stops learning! Teachers need to learn how, and why and when to use this tool efficiently, and then , EVERYONE (teachers AND students) can benefit greatly. Let me end with this: after 30 years in the classroom (OY! That makes me feel old!) having this IWB in my "toolbox" has added for me a new challenge and inspiration: to learn how to take advantage of it for my educational purposes.. and to be able to say that, after so many years, is pretty amazing, I think. I can honestly say that I feel it has improved the way I do my job. Laurie wrote: > Subject: Researcher: Computers in schools do not improve > students' results > It reinforces my own beliefs that good teaching is what counts and neither > computers nor smart classrooms will raise educational levels. They're > good tools but the teacher behind the tool is what counts! ----------------------------------------------- ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org or - http://www.etni.org.il ** ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx ** ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** -----------------------------------------------