Chris Leach WB strategies

Fundamental to the success of the sessions has been the introduction of Smartboards into the classroom setting and my ability to individualize software so that it is relevant to the scheme of work and appealing to each student. The software that I’ve developed follows a number of key design rules that I have carefully put together over the last few years from my experiences.Students are happy to wait and take their turn with the activities on the Smartboard. Watching others use the Smartboard is motivating and has become an important part of the session aims. Students become tolerant to others if they make mistakes. They will give advice, applaud other’s success and simply gain a better understanding of the expectations we are placing on them. All of the students work at their individual level.

Many older students, who have very good control with a mouse, will ask if they can use the board. The direct contact with the equipment helps with completing the tasks and gives the students a connection with their working environment.

Students quickly learn about working with the shadows from the projector and this has not been a problem for our students to adapt to. The Smartboards are very motivating to most students at Sutherland House School, and with the introduction of a well constructed scheme of work, underpinned with bespoke software, sessions are inclusive, individual and most importantly interactive.

I have used PowerPoint in many different ways to achieve the desired outcomes. Most people use this application for slideshows but it can be very versatile especially when you use the “trigger” setting linked with an animation. The other aspect of this software that I find very useful is the ability to link to different slides as this can help to develop the activity.