SMART Class

Today, we worked on having our students use our digital cameras to make PowerPoint presentations. After school during our study group, we had some great discussions about how this lesson could be adapted for all grade levels. We spent some time learning how to add sound to PowerPoint. Here is what you do: Plug in a microphone to your computer. Click on record narration under slide show. Check the microphone level and then click on okay. You can change the quality if need be. Choose the slide and start talking, you can click on different slides as you continue to talk through the slide show. When finished click on save, it takes a little time. When you play the slide show the voice will go along with the show. WOO HOO!

smart board class

Today we explored a variety of tools that could be very useful in the classroom. To get to the new tools you need to have installed smart board 10. Click on the gallery (the little picture), scroll down to tools. I used the word generator program. I entered words with short vowel sound. When the frog spits the word I am going to have my class sort the words for which vowel sound each had.

Study Group

November 20, 2008

In order to print out or send a smart document to a student:
Click on File
Go to Export
Save as PDF
Attach as an email

This would be helpful for students who are absent but need to have the curriculum that was taught in class.

Erase and Reveal Helps with Higher Order Thinking

Teacher Tube: Erase and Reveal Smart Board Tip

Best Practices in Action!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Click here .....SMARTBoard! Enjoy a series of videos on interactive SMARTBoard lessons and tips.

Allen Swanson's Words of Wisdom

Allen Swanson's concluding remarks in a report, "Transforming High Schools with Interactive White Boards" makes the following points about BEST PRACTICES.



...Good installation followed by adequate training focused on student-centered teaching with supporting interactive activities will lead to successful effects on student interaction. Student interaction is a sign of engagement, which leads to higher student achievement. And this is the GOAL OF EDUCATION.

More Useful SMARTboard Tips

Follow the link for tips and ideas. It is organized and easy to navigate. Find SMARTboard lessons aligned with standards.


"With younger children who have trouble dragging items, some teachers have provided students with a small mallet (with a soft end such as one used with a xylophone) and found it to work successfully. It also helps with the shadow problem, allowing the students to better see what they're doing. Also, they can better reach the top area of boards with the extended length.
Alternatively, Q-Tips work well to assist dragging!

Another technique that works well with younger children who have trouble dragging is to use the two-finger method. Put one finger on the object you want to move. Keep that finger on the object and touch the whiteboard with the other hand in the location you want to move the object. Then, remove the finger that was originally touching the object. You should see the object zoom to where the other finger is placed! (Left hand touch object, right hand touch destination, left hand let go, right hand let go.) "

For more great ideas, click on the following link.

http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/resources/elementary/soltechintegration.htm

50 Ways to Integrate Technology

1. Assist students in organizing information
2. Assist teachers in planning lessons/units/themes
3. Illustrate school's goals or plan for Parent-Teacher Organization
4. Illustrate instructional goal links to testing expectations
5. To show what each grade will be teaching and how units fit into the larger picture of curriculum for the whole school
6. Assess student learning
7. Show integration of different topics across the curriculum for a unit, lesson, or long-range plan
8. Present difficult material in a step by step manner
9. Plot summaries
10. Create cause/effect/solution diagrams to resolve social issues within the classroom
11. Book design elements
12. Illustrate digestive system
13. Local government diagram
14. Defining new terms
15. Introducing a new concept
16. Note-taking organizer
17. Detailed processes (how to add polynomials etc.)
18. Creating storyboards for Powerpoint presentations
19. Comparison activities
20. Historical cause and effect
21. Cycles (recycle, weather, etc.)
22. To construct a food chain
23. Map of where items are stored in desk, trapper, or locker
24. Library orientation
25. Language Arts - character descriptions, plot movement, action that leads to the climax
26. Math-to teach algorithms (especially division)
27. Math-problem solving because it is non-linear
28. Create instructions for games
29. Create picture charts that students can follow if they are communication impaired. Kids can follow picture symbols such as the symbols found on the Mayer-Johnson Boardmaker software.
30. Help study for a test.
31. Classroom organization chart with associated responsibilities
32. How to/step by step for learning new software
33. Developing a course or workshop
34. Planning a WebQuest
35. Documenting job responsibilities
36. Planning a Web site
37. Personal professional goals
38. Concept maps to send home to parents to help explain a unit so they can help their children study/review
39. Assist cooperative groups in defining projects and dividing job responsibilities.
40. Faculty/district - responsibilities of committees
41. Flow charts for behavior plans for either the classroom or a specific student
42. Similarities between different units through the use of the same structure in the graphic organizer.
43. A tool for students to identify when they do not understand information and identify the where the breakdown is in their comprehension.
44. To add more depth in a compare/contrast lesson, for example, identifying the important variables by color-coding or other visual element, and then deciding if the variable is the same or different in the two objects of study.
45. Showing relationships.
46. Procedures to follow during an emergency drill such as a fire or storm drill;
47. Lab procedure explanation
48. To present lab conclusions and highlight important concepts (especially prior to completing a written explanation)
49. In foreign language classes create an organizer that shows the English word on one side and the foreign language word equivalent on the other side with pictures as hints.
50. When studying a poem, in the center concept list the name of the poem and the connecting lines contain phrases from the poem. The sub concept explains the words in the phrase and the literary technique used such as personification.

Teaching Through Technology

http://www.ecb.org/ttt/index.php

This Web site provides a database of ideas for curriculum-based technology use in the classroom. Access to information about the teachers and projects that have been featured in the series is provided by grade level, subject, or the type of technology used.
To view the video clips, you need QuickTime Player, a free application.

Podcasting Tips

http://engage.wisc.edu/podcasting/teaching/index.html

Instructional Goal /Podcast focus
Prepare or motivate learners for learning new content
1. Arouse interest and curiosity about a new topic to increase learner motivation
2. Inform students of the learning outcomes or benefits of learning new content
3. Influence feelings and attitudes about a topic prior to a lecture or reading assignment
Recall and integrate previously learned material with new content
1. Explain the connection between what students have previously learned with new content to be presented in a lecture or reading assignment
Provide high-level overviews
1. Prior to presenting a new topic, provide a general overview as an advanced organizer
2. Before teaching a complex skill or procedure provide a mental framework from which to approach it
Provide a lead-in to an assignment or learning activity
1. Discuss in more detail what you expect of students from an assignment and how you suggest they best approach it
Elaborate on and further explain a complex concept
1. Explain nuances and intricacies of a difficult concept, principle or abstract process
Provide learning guidance and strategies for understanding new content or solving problems
1. Provide coaching and advice on learning strategies or approaching certain problem solving tasks
Provide content to encourage analysis
1. Provide a stimulus for students to react to or reflect upon for deeper analysis
Provide some variety in the learning environment
1. Bring in other people’s viewpoints
Student projects & assignments
1. Students create their own podcasts


Coming up with a good message design strategy for a podcast requires creativity. The approach you use to communicate your message is what makes or breaks your podcast from a listener perspective. Monologues, interviews, dialogues and other approaches used in radio broadcasting are all examples of design strategies. A few message design principles are provided below.
Frame your content into a problem or challenge and explain how that problem or challenge can be addressed.
Obtain voices of other experts you've interviewed about specific topics of interest to students in the course.
Use a case story that illustrates a key topic or learning goal.
Share a personal story. You’re an expert in the field and likely have a wealth of experiences that may not fit into a lecture.
Capture dialogs with opposing viewpoints. This is often done on radio and television talk shows.
Keep the length of a podcast short. Most experienced podcasters recommend a program length anywhere between 3 and 15 minutes.

Tech and Take - Grade Level Ideas

Kindergarten - Uses Kidpix to make stamp books, introduces letters with pictures that the letter does/doesn't start with, vowel sounds - short and long

First - ABC order moving words, Venn diagrams, science, making compound words, story mapping, word art, and guided writing

Second - Venn diagrams, prefix/suffix, root words

Third - Scans in art transparencies, editing, geometry, guided classwork, reviews homework

Fourth - Venn diagrams, webs, gallery for maps and regions, interactive math, research, examples of art, kids make own PowerPoint's

Fifth - Math - fractions, graphing, geometry, speeches

Tech and Take - Guest Allen Swanson

Allen shared some websites with us to help with reading and writing strategies. The sites are http://www.readwritethink.org and http://thinkfinity.org
Thinkfinity.org gets you the same result as readwritethink.org plus more ideas.

Allen Swanson
Technology Integration SpecialistRegional Support CenterPima County School Superintendent's Office6420 E. Broadway Blvd. Suite A100
Tucson Arizona 85710
520-745-4588

Tip of the week 12/12/07

With the updated software we have the ability to scan in documents. Another great way to help our students learn is to use the SMARTboard to teach flips and turns (rotation and reflection). Take a shape and put a dot in the shape. Have one student rotate the shape. Have the class discuss how the shape was moved. Students can check their guesses by rotating the shape so both shapes match.

Here is a helpful hint: In order to save all draw a rectangle around your group. Click on the arrow and then click on save.