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February 2008

February 29, 2008

SMART Boards and Interactive Grammar Lessons

I had a request from a HS English teacher to post some resources that would help with her students' writing skills and could be used on the SMART Board.

I found a pretty good site from Red River College in Winnipeg Canada called Online Writing Resources that contains a wealth of great PowerPoint and Microsoft Word downloads as well as interactive exercises that work well with the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. In addition, it contains a lot of great links to other writing resources.

Here is their list of resources for Encyclopedias and References (you can click on the links):


If you know of any good resources for SMART Board users teaching High School English, please share them by posting a comment.

Thanks!

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February 28, 2008

What is the SMART Board?

I need your help!

Could you answer the following question as honestly as possible?

Thank you. I will post the results tomorrow.

February 27, 2008

Funny Teacher Videos

It's been a long time since I've added to the Laugh Break category so I went searching my network of blogs to see if I could find anything fun to share with my readers. It took me less than a minute to find this video on one of my favorite blogs called Cool Cat Teacher.


Please check out Vicki's blog post Funday Monday: A Few videos to make you smile for more fun videos. Thanks for sharing Vicki

February 26, 2008

SMART Board and Mathcasts - Step 2

I hope many of my readers had time to review the Math247 wiki and take a look at some of the screencasts that are being made by teachers and students.

Since my readers are users of SMART Boards, my solution for creating Mathcasts quickly and easily is to use your SMART Board and the Sketchcast website. Sketchcast will allow you to create, store, and share your Mathcasts. You don't need any other tools other than a SMART Board and a microphone (if you want to include audio).

Let's take a look at my Mathcast for using the distributive method of multiplication and then I'll show you the video of how I did it.

Mathcast: Distributive Method of Multiplication

Here is the video of me creating the Mathcast you just watched:



Go ahead and check out the Sketchcast site, I know you'll love it!

If you browse the Math 247 wiki, you'll find instructions for creating Mathcasts that include using various tools such as a writing tablet, a headset microphone, Camtasia Studio, Smart Notebook, VoiceThread, Jing, and/or Screencast. I think the advice is good and I especially like the VoiceThread application. However, writing tablets cost money, Camtasia Studio costs money ($179), Jing and Screencast are good but they have limitations. I also found it interesting that they recommend using the Notebook software without the purchase of Smart hardware. If you do not have a SMART Board or an Airliner tablet, you may be in violation of the software licensing agreement so be careful.

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February 23, 2008

SMART Boards and Mathcasts - Step 1

So much to share, so much to learn!

I have a wonderful wiki site for Math teachers (or any teacher interested in innovative teaching and learning methods). The site is called Math247 Wiki and it contains an extensive library of Mathcasts and instructions for creating your own Mathcast with your students.

What is a Mathcast? Simply put, a Mathcast is a video demonstration containing audio of how a Math problem is solved. Mathcasts are great supplements for learning Mathematic techniques and they can also be a wonderful learning tool as well. I encourage teachers in all subject areas to investigate the concept of creating and sharing this type of learning resource. If you have a SMART Board, creating Mathcasts is easy and fun. Here's an example of a Mathcast:



The Math247 Wiki describes how to make your own Mathcast using various tools. We'll investigate how to make a Mathcast and what tools are required in my next blog post about Mathcasts. In the meantime, please take some time to investigate these great learning resources by going to the Math247 Wiki.

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February 21, 2008

SMART Board Article: What is A Smartboard Or Electronic Whiteboard?

<p>eArticles | What Is A Smartboard Or Electronic Whiteboard?</p>

What Is A Smartboard Or Electronic Whiteboard?

By: Ruca Martin

The SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard that turns your computer and data projector into a powerful tool for teaching and presenting. With the computer image projected on the Board, simply use your finger and press on the large touchsensitive surface to control the computer. This allows your students or employee's to do presentations from the front of the room instead of having to be at the computer.

Using one of the pens from the SMART Pen Tray, you just write on the board and the touch-sensitive screen tells the computer what color pen you are using and your notes are projected onto the screen in the correct color. You can save these notes on the computer or send them to your printer to be given out as a study aid. These are just a couple of the many uses for this wonderful tool.

The SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard. Using the SMART Board, you can:

• Save notes written on the Board to a computer file

• Use your finger to press on the Board to control Windows and Macintosh applications and other multimedia materials projected onto the Board’s touch-sensitive surface. You can then write over top of your applications and save the annotations to a computer file.

The notes and annotated images can be printed from a computer printer, e-mailed, posted to a network, copied and pasted into other applications or saved as an HTML file. SMART Board Software, included with every SMART Board, dramatically enhances group collaboration. Smartbaords are perfect for schools and meeting rooms or any application that needs visual communication or collaboration over the internet. Imagine a workspace where communication flows freely between individuals and groups – whether you’re in the office or thousands of miles away. Collaborate with colleagues or clients by creating a conference session that takes seconds to set up – and you can do it all from your own office, saving valuable travel costs and time.

How does the SMART Board work?

It uses resistive technology, which means there is a small air gap between two sheets of resistive material inside the Board. When you press on the Board with your finger or an ordinary dry-erase marker, a contact point is registered and its coordinates correspond to the same area on the computer screen. Because the SMART Board is based on resistive technology, it does not require a special stylus or pen to perform mouse or pen functions at the Board, only pressure on the Board's surface.

Electronic whiteboards allow users to interact and ouch the Board to control any computer application, create and write notes, draw diagrams and illustrate ideas. One can focus by highlighting key information with electronic ink and also capture images, notes or updates and save, print or e-mail notes. Using an interactive whiteboard helps you to simplify and work naturally at the Board with familiar, easy-to-use tools.

People choose the SMART Board interactive whiteboard because it helps energize presentations and motivate learners. In 1991, it was the world's first interactive whiteboard. Today, it is the world's leading interactive whiteboard. Combining the simplicity of a whiteboard with the power of a computer, the SMART Board interactive whiteboard engages students and audiences around the world.

The touch-sensitive display connects to your computer and digital projector to show your computer image. You can then control computer applications directly from the display, write notes in digital ink and save your work to share later.

Best of all, the full-featured SMART Board interactive whiteboard is incredibly easy to use. If you can use a computer, you can use a SMART Board interactive whiteboard.

Author Resource:->  Adam Webster is author of numerous articles and books in the technology field. His latest project can be found at http://www.TampaSmartboards.com

Article From eArticles

February 20, 2008

SMARTBoard and The Brainbox Challenge

While reading through my twitter messages this morning I ran across a fun website that was shared by my good friend Danny from across the pond.

It appears the BBC will be broadcasting a new show called The Brainbox Challenge. To help promote the show, the BBC has a website that has some great interactive brain challenges. The games Shaping Up and Total Recall are perfect games for the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. The other games are okay but they require you to use a keyboard.

Smartboards004

Danny runs a great blog called The Whiteboard Blog that is not to be missed. It is such a great website for interactive whiteboard resources; his last post describes a quick lesson starter idea that uses a countdown clock. While you're there, check out his Think Bank site. You'll be glad you did!

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February 19, 2008

SMART Boards and Finding Resources

I love searching for resources to use on the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. That's probably why I enjoy maintaining this blog so much. Since I have a 7 year old daughter, a lot of the resources I post here are for primary-aged children. My task this morning was to find an interactive game that will help my daughter find compliments of 10. She's in the first grade and she's doing quite well with her numbers but I really want her to know the compliments of ten because that can help in so many different areas with our base ten system of numbers.

The first thing I did was to search my blog to see if I already posted about any sites that had what I was looking for. I used the search box on the right-hand side of my blog to locate posts on my blog. I found the ICT games site that I posted on October 21, 2007. It has some really fun games for kids but it didn't have any games that helped children add up to ten.

I then searched Google using the key words (interactive "add up to ten"). Notice that I put the add up to ten phrase in quotations. This ensures that Google will find pages that has these four words grouped together. I used "interactive" because this helps find resources that work with the SMART Board. I didn't see many good results so I added the word "math" to make my results more specific. Here are my results:

Smartboards001_2

I actually checked all of the first three results and I found exactly what I was looking for on the third result "Math Games." The list of games on this site was extensive and I found the game "Compliments of 10" which does exactly what I want. Here's a screen shot of the game:

Smartboards002

This game works perfect with the SMART Board since all you have to do is touch on the number that is a complement of ten. I can't wait until my daughter gets home from school!

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February 18, 2008

SMARTBoard and The Art Zone

Worldmap001

Are you an art teacher looking for a fun resource for your SMART Board interactive whiteboard? Even if you're not, this amazing website is sure to impress you. The site is from the National Gallery of Art and is called NGA Kids The Art Zone. My 7 year old is home from school today and she is memorized by this site. Currently she's playing around with the interactive Jungle activity making her own jungle scene. I can tell I'll have to replace my color print cartridge before the day is done.

This site has more resources than can be mentioned here and you'll love exploring the site to find your favorite resource. My favorite activity on this site is "Flow." It's way cool.

PLEASE pass this on to your fellow teachers. This is one of the absolute best resources I've ever seen for the SMART Board.

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February 17, 2008

SMARTBoards and Zentation

I'm reviewing an interesting site called Zentation which allows you to combine a video with a PowerPoint presentation. I believe this to be such a powerful way of communicating that I will be working on creating a few instructional videos for use inside the classroom. This is obviously a great tool for the SMART Board since teachers and students can use the SMART Board to write notes, capture screens, and share what is being presented. Since I haven't created any videos on this site yet, I thought I would show you a fun example of this technology. Here is a short "Zentation" that's sure to make you smile. As you watch the video on the left, pay attention to the PowerPoint on the right.

What old people do for fun
0:40
A comical how-to-guide for drivers

Here is what the website says about this new service:

What is Zentation?

Zentation offers the richest media on the web for video and presentations. Zentation provides a way to synchronize video uploaded to Google Video with your PowerPoint. Zentation's patent pending technology allows for the easy synchronization of your video and graphics without any technical knowledge.

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