By Katie Dasher
The purpose of this study was to identify and research the effectiveness that interactive whiteboard lessons can have during whole-class writing lessons. I created a four week unit’s worth of Smart Board lessons that followed directly with the Being a Writer curriculum. This action research strived to analyze my personal teaching practices in regards to integrating interactive whiteboards into my lessons. From the data gathered, I hoped to identify areas of growth in my instruction and evaluate my current use of interactive whiteboards during my writing instruction. This information will show trends in my own teaching and allow me to reflect and grow as an educator in order to strengthen my pedagogical practices as a 21st Century Educator.
Data was gathered through writing samples and student surveys. I gathered data through writing samples at the beginning and end of the unit and graded them with a rubric that aligned with the unit goals. A student survey was completed by a random sampling of ten students. Students rated their feelings on a linear scale to answer questions about general motivation.
The major conclusion of this study was that the results did not show any significant increase in the overall improvement of student writing. Additionally, there was no significant increase in student motivation or engagement.
Interactive Whiteboard Use Within Writing Instruction at the Primary Level