Switch from chalk to iPads

ROBYN Robertson has taught nearly 7000 students across the state in the past two decades.

The Bundamba State School Year 7 teacher is one of 900 Queensland teachers celebrating 20 years of teaching in 2012.

For nearly half of that time she has been teaching at Bundamba.

Having started her career as a music teacher on the Gold Coast in 1992, Mrs Robertson has since worked in central Queensland and Ipswich as a classroom teacher and a teacher-librarian.

"It's good when you have a job where you get to deal with the whole school like I did as a teacher-librarian," she said.

"You get to know every student in the school. It's something most teachers don't get the chance to do."

In her 20 years of teaching Mrs Robertson said there had been major changes in the way students were taught.

"There's more of an emphasis today on different ways of learning, rather than just rote learning," she said.

Mrs Robertson said the inclusion of technology into the classroom had been another major change since she started in the early '90s.

She has seen the change from blackboards to interactive electronic whiteboards and the inclusion of laptops and iPads as teaching tools.

"(Technology) helps as a motivational tool for the students," she said.

"And it's something they'll need to know how to use for the rest of their lives. They aren't just toys."