Knowledge Lair

LESSON 14.

"Indeed, in no... country have I ever seen a good school without a blackboard, or a successful teacher who did not use it frequently." -Horace Mann, noted American educator

The chalkboard or blackboard has been used starting from nursery. Even in offices, chalkboards are used. It is a very helpful tool especially in schools that do not have computers, televisions and the like. There are tips on using the chalkboard to make it and effective learning tool.

Tips in Using the Chalkboard Effectively:

Writing clearly and legibly can allow students including those sitting in the last rows to decipher clearly. Enough preparation on what to write on the board is systematic or organized and saves much time. Use of colored chalk to highlight key points can be very helpful for students to remember. Legibility of one’s board work could be checked by walking around while students are copying their notes from the board so as to see its visibility from all corners of the classroom. Glares from fluorescent bulbs and windows should be checked. 

The Overhead Projector. (OHP) 

OHPs are used in classroom setting where computers and televisions among others are part of the Multi-Media.

Advantages of OHP: 

It is simple to operate. The instructor can face the class while operating the OHP. Creating the materials for the OHP is easy and fun. Graphs, charts, diagrams and other visual symbols can be shown using the OHP. Overlay transparencies can be shown for after-effects of a certain process. There’s a good side to the OHP. When you use a computer, you usually store your presentation in a flash drive. The downside to this is when it has a virus or your flash drive is not detected by the computer. With the overhead projector, you don’t have to worry about these things. Just turn it on, put your transparencies on you get a presentation.” With all these tools that can be used in the classroom, the teacher must be skillful enough to maximize these in order to deliver effectively. In any way you see it, teaching is not all about the medium of your instruction but how you deliver our lesson. The teacher itself is the primary instructional material. It is a must that the teacher is always ready to go with whatever thing she/ he might have and maximize it in any ways she/he can to affect effective learning. 

REFLECTION: 

We all know that there are schools that not reached by electricity and no computer especially in the remote places . Few schools may be bountifully blessed with computers and computer-literate teachers. But most several schools are not as blessed. There may be at least one computer but teachers may have not been trained to use it. As a result, they resort to the chalkboard which is the most available classroom equipment and the OHP become quit we popular in schools. We need to learn how to use it properly so we can able to realize our instructional objectives. The IM's are only aids for visual but it could not replace the teacher.