Who puts the "smart" in Smart Boards?

As I was droning on in a meeting the other day about what we are doing in technology, one parent stopped me and said: “I don’t want to appear uninformed, but what are these “smart” boards that you keep talking about?”
It was a great question, and the kind of one that educators need to hear more often. We tend to get so immersed in our own world of jargon that we sometimes forget to stop and make sure that our intended audience knows what on earth we are talking about!
SMART Boards (actually a brand name that has become synonymous with the product - like we used to always say “xerox machine”) are interactive digital whiteboards that work in concert with the teacher’s computer to run simulations, store written discussions, and provide a myriad of hands-on learning experiences for students. Over the past year, with the support of a local reinsurance company and our PTA, we have installed eleven of these electronic marvels in our P5/6 and MYP classrooms.

But, does the addition of these kinds of resources guarantee a better educational experience? The answer is, “not necessarily.” As one of our teachers has said: “it’s not about technology, it’s about learning.” This should be the mantra of every classroom in every school. There is no point in investing in interactive digital “smart” boards or LCD projectors if they are only going to be used as 21st century blackboards and overheads. That is not good enough. What needs to be happening, has to begin with our academic vision of the school. We have to ask the questions: “How can we enhance student learning and academic performance with the aid of technology? What could we do more effectively with technological support than we could do without it?” and, “How do we make students and teachers see the available technology not as a gimmick, but rather as a stepping-stone to take learning to the next level?”
We have recently seen the provision of teacher and student workstations in every classroom in our school; the installation of LCD projectors in most rooms; the beginnings of an interactive digital board initiative; and, with the support of our corporate partners at KPMG we have been able to establish two mobile computer lab “laptop carts” to provide greater flexibility to teachers.
However, the point of all this innovation is not to simply “decorate” the school with technology, but rather to continue to use it to make us a better school. Many schools pride themselves on having a smart board in every room, or requiring every family to buy their child a laptop. They might make for great marketing, but ineffective use of those resources – while good visual p.r. when prospective parents or visitors glance in the class – can impede rather than enhance the learning process. There is no practical reason for stretching limited technological resources to ensure that every teacher in every class has her or his students sitting at a keyboard. What makes more sense is to focus our resources where they will have the greatest impact. In the best schools, students excel in the use of technology because teachers who “get it” are given the support and the infrastructure they need to push forward the frontiers of learning. It would appear to be far more effective to guarantee that every student has at least one exceptional on-going experience with technology in her or his timetable rather that to try to provide a series of mediocre ones.

Teaching and learning is the ultimate interactive experience. Whether or not it involves the use of technology is far less important than the extent to which it engages, challenges, and meets the needs of our kids.

That is why, as much as we have invested in technology in our classrooms, our real priority is to continue to staff them with “state of the art” teachers. They’re the “smart” in smart boards!

Back to School

Summer always seemed so much longer when I was a child. The days were endless, the weeks seemed to stretch out forever and I really cannot remember a time that wasn’t sunny!
I have always loved summer.

This July my family took a few weeks away from our home in Bermuda to spend at our cottage on Georgian Bay. Between swimming and sunning and climbing rocks with the boys, I spent a good deal of my time rebuilding a major section of our docks. The job involved prying up old planks, hauling rocks and timber, and sawing and levelling and shimming to give at the least the illusion of being square. But, as with every job like this, most of all, I hammered.

I have to admit, there is something intrinsically satisfying about pounding nails. Unlike people, they generally go where they are needed, stay where they are put and, even when they get a bit rusty, continue to do the job that you ask them to!
Definitely good for the soul!

Aside from this therapeutic hammering, I was faced with an interesting engineering challenge of tearing out an aging infrastructure that had been in place since the cottage was built in 1945 and starting from scratch with a new design, updated materials, and a clean slate. That is not to say that I didn’t have various generations of family critics who lamented the changes and ached for the “good old days” of stepping through rotten boards or tripping on uneven joints. But even they appreciated the eventual outcome which was a blend of the old and the new and provided the opportunity to stand on what was firm and had stood the test of time while appreciating the value of change and growth.

Schools are a bit like my dock. Once in a while you have to tear things out and start over, but for the most part, each school year sees a new and unique blend of the traditional and the innovative, skilled experience and energetic learning on the job and the amazing dynamic that is created when differing approaches combine to create a wonderful learning experience for each child and young adult.

This September was my first back in a school in over 10 years. As the hot and humid days of August wound down, things cranked up in every corner of the campus. Repairs and renovations which had proceeded at a languid pace for the previous month, quickly ramped up with the iminent arrival back of staff and students. Garbage was carted away, floors were stripped and refinished, lawns and fields were mown, the gardens tended and bit by bit the place began to shine in anticipation of the year to come. Late in the month, the faculty began to trickle back in. A hour or two here, a morning there, full days for others and soon the place was humming with the sound of productive effort in each and every classroom.

Schools like to pretend that that first week back of professional activity days and meetings are what starts the school year off on the right foot. But as I stood up at our opening staff meeting and pontificated on my lofty goals for the year, I knew that I was following, not leading, the pack. Ideas had already been shooting around - by email, over drinks on the beach, and even through Facebook - and most of the staff arrived back that Monday morning prepared to hit the ground running. My real role was to keep myself and my leadership team out of the way!

Oh, I held a staff breakfast, and hosted afterschool drinks at our house, but for the most part I became a voyeur as the real work of preparing for our students got underway. The end of the week saw a few teasers for what was to come - an open house for the 3 year olds; a first half-day for the P1s; and a stream of parents and kids parading through to purchase uniforms, check on first day details, and generally try to get a glimpse of their new teachers and classrooms.

Then came Tuesday, the day after Labour Day, when the floodgates openned and a sea of shining faces streamed in. The energy level was palpable; the excitement - electric! Teachers and students alike were genuinely thrilled to see one another after two long months apart.

And so it begins. You know, I have always loved summer - but this year I remembered that I love September even more!