This is my first year with an interactive white board. I teach 2nd grade at a small school in northern NH. I have found the board more engaging for students and a fabulous way to record and save student thinking. As students explain and diagram how they figure out a math program, their writings/drawings and even voice can be captured and referred to at a later time or even uploaded to the web. In this way lessons that are missed by absent students or need to be reviewed by others are easily accessible if saved by the teacher. Additionally, I have been able to gain valuable "real estate" in my classroom by removing my overhead projector, video projector, and easel whiteboard I had previously used for Morning Messages. This was particularly important this year as I needed to add 10 extra desks to my room due to a "bubble" of students enrolled in my 2nd grade class.
 

More than teaching tools, whiteboards may have the ability to shape public policy. How can whiteboards be used to determine the efficacy of NCLB mandates? Collecting qualitative and quantitative data in the use of critical thinking skills is difficult due to the nuances of teacher's knowledge of learning. Pedagogy required to instruct students in content knowledge and having insight in the art of developing critical thinking skills do not go hand in hand. Will collecting anecdotal evidence via a whiteboard and comparing this evidence to student measures of progress be a valuable tool to use in our national effort to provide equity in public education?