At this point we spent some time focussing on whole class reading. The teacher had written short sentences, which started with a verb and then the class read through these together. Time was spent identifying the verbs, capitals, full stops, as well as looking at sentence order. Once again, the whiteboard proved to be useful. The text was typed into a Word file whilst the children watched. Pupils watched intently as the words appeared on screen and the teacher was able to point out the left-right nature of the written sentences simultaneously. Each child had a turn reading a sentence to the group and then was asked to highlight various features of the text with the coloured pens.

Such an activity is carried out using the traditional pen and paper everyday as well, but using the whiteboard brought an added dimension to the lesson. It was highly interactive and the pupils respond well to this. Also, because mistakes could be easily rectified, then less confident children felt happy to have a go. Words could be highlighted, links throughout the text could be made using the pen facility. The pace of the lesson is quickened and all the children in the group were able to keep on task because of the motivation factor. I don't believe that this could be achieved with pen and paper or even a projected image of the computer screen.