Profile: Rachel Drummond Sardell

Rachel Drummond Sardell has incorporated the McKenzie Collaboration Center’s SMART Boards into her lesson plans. As an English teacher at the American English Institute, she highlights one lesson that involves her students working together to identify incorrect sentences and correct the grammar in a Microsoft Word document.

“[SMART Boards] are extremely effective because students can physically manipulate the text and change it on the screen,” Drummond Sardell said. “And the group work responsibilities can shift easily from one student to another. If one person has the keyboard they know they are not the only person responsible for figuring out the verb tense or how to change an erroneous sentence to make it correct.” She added that pen and paper lack the collaborative element. “With paper, one person takes notes and nobody else can see them,” she said.

Drummond Sardell uses an assortment of technology in her classes, from Blackboard and email to Word, PowerPoint, audio and, of course, the SMART Boards. She was so delighted with her initial SMART Board experimentation that she made an amateur movie of one class as they worked through the assignment. She wanted other faculty and staff to see how the interaction among her students changed when they worked together on an assignment.

When asked what other technology she would like to see in classrooms, Drummond Sardell had a long list: “Basic education technology in all classrooms, like LCD projectors, screens, computers, and audio equipment. Document cameras in every classroom would be useful, too. It would eliminate the need to make wasteful transparencies. And more SMART Boards.”