I have recently been given a SmartBoard at school, which is utterly awesome. I was not formally trained, but have been working on understanding its possibilities. I have discovered that it is a wonderful was to allow swift adaptation in Language Arts teaching!
Language Arts can sometimes seem to be technologically stodgy. It still involves a decent amount of paper, reading, writing, etc. The preparation often takes a long time and can be a bit set in stone because of photocopying and materials. However, with a SmartBoard, all of that can change. Students can work on editing and creating at a moment's notice. The class can collaborate without a lot of whiteboard erasing. We can even save notes so that each class has their own differentiated set! Activities like Chalk Talk used to be a pain with 5 classes, because erasing made it difficult to continue discussing the next day, without using a lot of paper.
This has actually caused me to change my practice and I find myself to be more flexible on a daily basis. If I notice a flaw in my student's work, I can create a new note sheet on the SmartBoard immediately, allow students to come up to the board and make changes, then save those changes and add to them the next day. If I decide that the prompt the student are working on is not what http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifI want to do at the last minute, I can change it and just pop it up on the smart board. If I want to just take two minutes out http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifof my day to illustrate something on the wiki, it doesn't involve any set up, so why not? In this way, the students are getting their little questions answered, as well as their big questions.
Having this kind of tool at your fingertips allows the exact kind of teacher responsiveness that Schrum and Levin indicate is possibile with technology in general. I feel that I am better addressing the needs of my students because I feel that I can address it right in the moment. If teachers are willing to adapt to using this kind of technology, then it will allow for a lot more adaptation to our students needs!
Check it this YouTube Channel devoted to Smart classrooms :
http://www.youtube.com/user/SMARTClassrooms/featured
I really find my LCD projector to be my most prized possession. The other day the bulb wouldn't turn on for the first school day in five years and I was beside myself because I couldn't use my Smartboard or my Elmo Document camera. I haven't used an overhead projector in a decade. Thanks for sharing all of these videos on your blog spot.
ReplyDeleteI really LOVE Smart Boards. I was fortunate to be able to use one in my two student teaching placements as well as my teaching position right now. I love it! I really love the capture feature of it (you can click on the capture feature and then go to something else- like notes on a Word Doc- take a picture of it, "capture it", and put it on the Smart Board). Also, if that doesn't work, I just scan notes right onto the Smart Board blank page. It is really a wonderful tool! The students love coming up to the board too. It is a little rough with graphing for math, but other than that I really think it is terrific. I like to print out notes, too, for each class (it is especially helpful for those who miss class because they can use that set of notes). I also take full advantage of the different colors- I like to use different colors when talking about different topics so they know that they are either related or unrelated. Good luck using it and definitely try to take PD workshops for the Smart Board if you are offered them!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to hear that you enjoy using the SMARTboard in your classroom. There are many beneficial outcomes regarding the use of technology in classrooms, especially with the SMARTboard. The SMART board is an interactive whiteboard. The SMARTboard helps accommodates all learners, especially visual, audio and kinesthetic learners. For example, kinesthetic learners can get up and touch the board. The students are allowed to highlight and bold fonts. For visually impaired learners, the fonts and board both can be changed. The SMARTboard helps promote class collaboration. There are activities that are easily adaptable to the needs of your students. The SMARTboard can be used in all subjects. I had a chance to use the SMARTboard in a math class and it was great. I was able to highlight important parts of the word problems. Students were able to come up and write down their answers and their work. The board was visible to the whole class and most students seemed to be focused and engaged.
DeleteJennifer H.
Kash- I had the opportunity to use SMARTboards in both of my student teaching placements and I highly suggest looking into a professional development course so you can utilize all the tools it offers. A lot of the time I found myself using it only as a projector, whiteboard, and to play videos. After looking online I saw many more uses within the tools that you can use to enhance lessons, such as make games, slideshows, interactive presentations, ect. Here is a website that provides many resources that you may be able to utilize in your classroom that I found helpful - http://exchange.smarttech.com/#tab=0 . Just a caution- always be prepare for technical difficulties because during my student teaching placement the bulb blew on the SMARTboard projector on the day I was getting observed and I had to last minute improvise to complete my math lesson without the online interactive learning bridge and the guided practice questions right on the board so students don't need to use their books.
ReplyDelete-Lisa
Kash-
ReplyDeleteI had my first exposure to SMART Boards during my student teaching. I was very lucky because my cooperating teacher was very skilled at using it and was more than willing to show me the ropes. I used the SMART Board at least twice everyday! I especially loved it for Reading Workshop. I was able to model how I wanted the students to fill out their graphic organizers by putting it on the SMART Board. Also, the SMART Board is great for grammar lessons because the students can get up and correct mistakes.
Have you been using the SMART Board for any Math lessons? I found that the interactive component of the SMART Board works well with Math. Students can get up and solve problems. It gets them out of their seats and gets their brains working!
-Kristin
You are so lucky to have a smart board in a LAL classroom! At my school they are reserved for science and math classrooms only. I asked for one - to no avail. I agree with you that sometimes writing instruction is 'stodgy' - and that making a million photocopies is both not good for the environment and a pain in the butt! Sometimes to get around your 'chalk talk' problem I will put up poster paper or chart paper and do the writing on there so it can be returned to the next day, but a smart board would be a much better solution! A smart board would also be a great tool for breaking down difficult texts as well, because you could model talking to the text and different reading strategies. Have fun with it!
ReplyDeleteKash,
ReplyDeleteI have had a smart board for seven years and love it. I can think of endless uses for using a smart board for mathematics. I know you teach lal and a few ideas on some uses are for your writer's workshop. It is easy to place a passage or an essay on the board and highlight the important facts. You can place words from a sentence out of order and have the students move them into the correct order. You can even do this for sentences in a paragraph. Most importantly, do not forget about the smart hub to find premade smart lesson. The gallery has endless tools too. I am excited for you and if you ever have any questions about the smart board please email me and I will assist you.
Robert
Hi Kash,
ReplyDeleteI had my first experience with the Smart Board during my student teaching experience. I did not have formal training either nor did my teacher, but I experimented a lot with it. Just like Lisa mentioned, I also used the exchange website, and found it really helpful. I am glad you are enjoying it. I hope to be lucky enough to have one once I begin teaching.