Secrets to attention-grabbing IWB content
A few easy tips can help teachers create engaging lessons for interactive whiteboards
By Laura Devaney, Managing Editor
Curriculum,Technologies,Top News,eClassroom News
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Educators can use several IWB teaching strategies to hold students' attention.
Most educators are thrilled to have interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in their classrooms, but many
wonder how to make the jump from passive teacher lectures to truly interactive and engaging lessons.
Interactive whiteboards are received with enthusiasm, but many educators still hold a traditional view
of what an IWB can bring to the classroom, said Alyssa Porter, leader of product marketing and
content strategy for DYMO/Mimio [2], during a recent webinar on the topic.
“We think we can do better than that,” she said. In fact, Porter and DYMO/Mimio have outlined a few
tips to help educators enhance their IWB content and lesson delivery—and high-quality interactive
lesson content is at the heart of their advice.
Porter said high-quality IWB content has:
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Learning objectives that focus on observable and measurable student behaviors. “We
want our students to be engaged in learning activities rather than merely clicking a button and
watching something animate, or passively watching the teacher,” Porter said. These learning
objectives provide a measure of improvement, communicate expectations clearly, and make it
easier for teachers to select appropriate learning exercises, she said.
Assessment that is appropriate to the learning objectives. Teachers should teach
exactly what they wish their students to learn, and not teach around the topic without
touching on key points that will appear in assessments. Learning objectives and assessments
might include the ability to dissect a frog, spelling words on a spelling list, or identifying
mammals versus reptiles.
As many opportunities for the student to practice the skills as possible. Repetition
builds fluency, Porter said, and student responses must become not only accurate, but fast.
The difficulty level of the response opportunities should be sequenced appropriately, building
from few to many or from easy to difficult. In addition, correct answers should not be “given
away” by cues.
Tracy Tishion, K-12 technology resources instructor with the Brookfield Public Schools in Connecticut,
took webinar attendees through a step-by-step IWB lesson construction and pointed out necessary
and unnecessary lesson components.
Using a title page models good practice for students, she said, but it also helps educators who post
IWB lessons in full on class or teacher websites remain organized.
Lesson objectives should be stated clearly at the beginning of the lesson. Posting daily objectives on a
board or displaying them in a classroom helps students keep their learning goals in mind, Tishion said.
Although using an IWB is a move from passive to interactive learning [11], Tishion said educators can
use lessons they’ve already created and build on them to add interactive elements.
“Map out everything you have that is related to this, and then fill in the pieces with interactive
components that will bring you to the next level of student engagement,” she said. This might include
images, dynamic websites, and videos that relate to the subject matter.
“It really is interactive, and you are building on that, from simple to complex, as you work through
this,” Tishion added.
Interactive lessons should become more challenging as you progress through them. For instance,
during a lesson on plant and animal cells, Tishion might begin with a simple vocabulary list, pairing
words with definitions.
It’s important to keep IWB pages neat, consistent, and free from clutter or distractions such as
unnecessary animations or flashy transitions, she noted.
“Start simple and build; you can tailor specific needs [and interactive elements] to a particular grade
level,” Tishion said.
She then will let students manipulate the IWB to match words and definitions before moving to a Venn
diagram, and then incorporating voting software.
Students are able to download the DYMO/Mimio software on their home computers for free, and
Tishion said they can download the original lesson file from her class website and use it at home for
review or as a study guide.
“It’s a valuable tool for the teacher,” she said. “It engages kids in their own work—they absolutely
love that.”