Integrating Technology in a Social Studies Classroom

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

For the past couple of years, I have taught in a classroom with a blackboard that I converted in a whiteboard using whiteboard contact paper. I find the method better for students and myself. Students can read off of whiteboards better, and I can easily use my overhead to project images, and lessons on transparencies on a whiteboard surface. I find this method very innovative and useful. I also use whiteboard for viewing media. For example, as a social studies teacher, I enjoy making lessons for my eighth grade students that are engaging, creative, and fun. I often would use PBS.org Video on Demand streaming to download and share clippings of content related videos, interviews, and plays. The students really enjoy watching the videos because it allows me to present information that go beyond the four walls of my classroom. I use these videos as well as websites to support my lessons and not as my lesson. However, at times this is difficult. For example, I always begin my lessons using an overhead projector to set the stage of the lesson planned, by providing students with the focus, purpose of the lesson, and reflection questions. When using other technology, I would turn off the projector, unplug it, take it off of the table I placed it on, then place my laptop, and school LCD projector on top of the table, attached the speakers, and finally load the video. Although, I love using technology to support my lessons, I find that this can be very time consuming and distracting for my students moving from the overhead to the laptop and LCD projector. However, at a recent social studies technology conference, I came across a piece of equipment that would enhance my students learning with little effort and ease. I was introduced to SMARTboards. The instructor demonstrated how to use multimedia on a SMARTboard to enhance the social studies curriculum. I sat and watched in amazement and dreamt of the possibilities of using this equipment in my 8th grade social studies classroom in a school located in the Bronx. SMARTboards offer the possibilities of using many forms of multimedia with clear, and bright colors. One can imagine how helpful this addition might be in a social studies classroom. I could engage students in the an interactive path of the Underground Railroad, have them hear narratives of Fredrick Douglas, and read the United States Constitution online, and see video clips on the branches of government. Students can also use it to present PowerPoint presentations and iMovies to demonstrate their understanding of various American history topics. Students will be able to experience history in a way never before as they are introduced to different historical perspectives that stem beyond classroom textbooks. Wealthy public and private schools across the country have easy access to SMARTboards. People are increasingly using them as a preferred type of presentation device. Please support me in bringing this useful piece of equipment to my students -- it makes a substantial difference in the type of learning and teaching that takes place.