An IWB is an invaluable tool within the classroom. I’m firmly of the opinion that the most important part of the name is “Interactive”. Gone are the days when a teacher held up a tiny picture at the front of the room for explanation – the IWB can blow this up so that the whole class can see; gone is the teacher having to wipe and write over and over while the children slowly nod off to sleep … Hello multimedia; hello rich tasks; hello classroom games; hello engaged and enthused learners.
My top tips for IWB use:
- Put up your learning objective so that the class understand the point of the lesson
- Use colour and clip art to illustrate a point
- Include pictures, video or music to give the children a “hook” for the learning
- Make a plenary fun with a game played on the IWB – kids love to get involved and write on the board
- And finally … don’t be a smarty pants and show off – there is such a thing as too much IWB content in a lesson