Baseline Classroom

I wanted to give a brief summary of the classroom I observe. The classroom has multiple pieces of technology including a SMART board, an Elmo projector, TurningPoint remotes, 24 netbooks, a DVD/VCR, and calculators. Many of these technologies are integrated into the instruction. My field instructor uses the SMART board to display PowerPoint notes and to add extra notes or emphasis during the lesson with the multicolored pens. The Elmo projector is similar to an overhead projector except it portrays the teacher’s podium. This is mainly used to fill in a worksheet as a class. The TurningPoint remotes are an interactive polling system where the teacher can make questions on an application within PowerPoint and assess the students’ comprehension of the material. Each student gets a remote and can click in their answer. Then the answers are shown along with the percentages of the class whom answered correctly/incorrectly. Recently, I created the Final Exam review questions using this program which served as an interactive multiple-choice for the students. The netbooks are also used regularly in the classroom because my field instructor often assigns web quests to the students. The DVD/VCR player is used sparingly, due to the SMART board. The calculators are used throughout the week to help students solve equations. Overall, this classroom has lots of opportunities for technology to be used with instruction.