| 
View
 

Smart Alex:  Interactive Whiteboard Resources

Page history last edited by Ellen Maddin 11 years, 4 months ago

 

Interactive white boards allow teachers to transition to transition to student-centered instruction in a whole group setting.  Simply stated, an interactive white board allows  teachers and students to write with their hands or the SMART board pen directly onto images on the screen. These images can be saved, including the added annotations, and stored for later instruction or review sessions.  Beyond that, the SMART board allows teachers to create interactive hands-on activities--and to invite students to lead and challenge their classmates.  To learn more about how the SMART board, when used well, can change the dynamics of a classroom read Reasons Schools Use Smart Boards.

 When you're just getting started, it's pretty easy to fall into the trap of using the interactive whiteboard as a fancy screen/projector combination.  It takes time to experiment with the tools and to think about how/where they might fit in your curriculum.  An article by David Wetzel, "Why Interactive White Boards are Used Ineffectively in Classrooms," will help you to transition to "smarter" uses of the tool.

 

 The Smart Exchange is a really useful resource.  You'll need to create an account  (membership is free)  to access the online community.  Once there, you can quickly access subject-specific, standards-correlated content that can be modified to suit the needs of any classroom. You’ll also be able to connect with colleagues locally or around the world to exchange lessons, ideas, insights and classroom success stories.

 

The Teachers Love SmartBoards website is a great place to go to get inspired.  Developing an excellent interactive presentation takes time--but you don't have to start from scratch.  Look at what other teachers have created.  The activity may not be a perfect fit, but you can edit or repurpose the material to meet your students' needs.  The menu on the left side of the page will direct you to ideas in your teaching area.

 

21 Ways to Use a Smart Board in the Elementary Classroom provides easy-to-implement ideas for using a Smart Board.  You don't have to be an "expert" to get started!

 

Useful Resources

 

Cathy Metzger's Smart Resources handout is a weath of information to guide you as you design activities and notebook files.  Along with an overview of key features, this Word document has embedded hyperlinks to Internet resources that demonstrate how to use the tools.

 

Getting Started with Smart Notebook is a quick video to introduce the basics.

 

With so many tools and resources, you need a Quick Reference Guide.  This two-page illustration shows you all the important tools and resources--with a "cheat sheet" to help you remember what they do.

 

Ink Aware is a feature that allows you to create a layer of ink over a document.  In other words, you can draw or annotate a document with the smart pen and then save your "ink" into a new version of the document.  The Ink Aware with Office file will show you have to use Smart tools with your Microsoft Office files.

 

The magic pen is a great tool that allows you to spotlight or magnify images on your screen.  Here's a magic pen video to help you review how to open and use the tool.

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.