My post on smartboards

Here are some activities I found online at http://www.bristolvaschools.org/mwarren/SBActivities.htm

·         Digital storytelling

• Brainstorm
• Take notes directly into PowerPoint presentations
• Reinforce skills by using on-line interactive web sites
• Create a project calendar
• Teach editing skills using editing marks
• Use highlighter tool to highlight nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
• Use it with Kidspiration or Inspiration
• Teach students how to navigate the Internet
• Illustrate and write a book as a class. Use the record feature to narrate the text.
• Diagram activities
• Teach steps to a math problem.
• Have students share projects during Parent/Teacher/Student conferences
• Graphics and charts with ESL learners and special ed students.
• Teach vocabulary
• Electronic Word Wall
• End each day by having students write one thing that they learned
• Save lessons to present to students who were absent
• Create video files to teach a software application, a lesson, or as a review to be posted to the server or web. Example: How to create a graph in Excel or how to burn projects to CDs
• Use the built in maps to teach continents, oceans, countries, or states and capitals.
• Present presentations created by student or teacher
• Have students create e-folios including samples of their work and narration

My post on smartboards:

Smart boards are an advanced kind of white board that does quite unique things other than that of a regular white board. The smart board gives one the opportunity to virtually draw on the projected screen with his or her actual hands or even with an electronic pen. Not to mention, it also has many features. Especially with young children; the smart board will help teachers better assess their young students through simple and easy instructions, such as draw or write with your finger the meaning of outrageous. This example can possibly be used as an assessment tool for Language arts. This board can also be used to create interactive activities that would allow students to show and recall their understanding of concepts of almost any subject. And with this being achievable; there won’t be a need for highly developed reading or writing skills, especially in the younger grades. And another way of doing something similar to this would be to probably have the students create a presentation themselves on the smart board and save it onto the computer desktop, so that they may all share and present it to their classmates to showcase what they have learned. This even gives me the opportunity to be familiar with such new technology that seems to be advancing today. A feature on the Smart board is the Smart recorder. The smart recorder records everything that happens on the board. This feature can permit students to view a recorded progression as many times as he or she wants, which can assist the teacher to work with other students in the class. These recordings may be saved and posted online, where students can access it at home for their study. In an article I read, teachers also use this recording feature as an assessment tool. By recording and even saving work that students complete on the SMART board, teachers can then compile a portfolio that reveals a student’s progress during a term. Teachers, administrators, and even parents are able to use the portfolio to compose informed conclusions about a student’s academic progress in school.