SUBSCRIBE | SUBMIT
January 2009
Vol 6 No 1
BACK ISSUES

Current Issue » Cover Page Cover Story Harry & Rosemary Wong Columns Articles Features
Back Issues
Teachers.Net Gazette Vol.6 No.1 January 2009

Cover Story by Alfie Kohn
It’s Not What We Teach;
It’s What They Learn
"I taught a good lesson even though the students didn't learn it,” makes no more sense than "I had a big dinner even though I didn't eat anything.”


Harry & Rosemary Wong: Effective Teaching
The Sounds of Students
Learning and Performing

Columns
»Six Easy Resolutions for 2009Sue Gruber
»Learning the Value of DiversityLeah Davies
»Flash Nebula is in the house! Will standardized tests detect him?Todd R. Nelson
»Teaching is an art, not a science.Marvin Marshall
»The Busy Educator's Monthly FiveMarjan Glavac
»Dear Barbara - Advice for SubsBarbara Pressman
»5 Ways to Activate Your Natural Teacher CoachKioni Carter
»Global Travel GuruJosette Bonafino

Articles
»PRINTABLE 2009 Multilingual, Multinational Calendar Tim Newlin
»Thoughts on the Use of Failure as a Teaching Technique Bill Page
»Traits of a Good TeacherAlan Haskvitz
»January 2009 Writing PromptsJames Wayne
»Let's Get Started with SmartboardMarjan Glavac
»Using Photographs To Inspire Writing IIIHank Kellner
»Phonemic Awareness: Letting The Horse Pull The CartGrace Vyduna Haskins
»Reading Strategies: Teaching Students to VisualizeLisa Frase
»Teaching the Alphabet to Diverse LearnersHeidi Butkus
»The Metaphor Of Collaboration - What's missing from group work?Ambreen Ahmed
»A Taste of InspirationSteven Kushner
»Activities & Games for Foreign and First Language ClassesRebecca Klamert
»Four Years of High School Math and Science Should be a National PolicyStewart Brekke

Features
»Apple Seeds: Inspiring QuotesBarb Stutesman
»Today Is... Daily CommemorationRon Victoria
»The Lighter Side of Teaching
»Some Rooms
»Printable Worksheets & Teaching Aids
»Lessons, Resources and Theme Activities: January 2009
»January Lesson Plans Especially for Preschool, Kindergarten & Early Primary
»Video Bytes: Dr. Martin Luther King, One Minute “I have a dream” speech by Daniel Stringer, Crystal Photography – Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, FDR Fireside Chat on the Banking Crisis – March 1933, President Elect Barack Obama Reassures Americans – Thanksgiving 2008, T-Netter ron nj aka “Man of Steel” plays Sleepwalk, Big Dog Robot
»Live on Teachers.Net: January 2009
»T-Net chefs share their favorite warm-up-winter recipes
»Newsdesk: Events & Opportunities for Teachers


Advertisement

The Teachers.Net Gazette is a collaborative project
published by the Teachers.Net community
Editor in Chief: Kathleen Alape Carpenter
Layout Editor: Mary Miehl


Cover Story by Alfie Kohn

Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong

Contributors this month: Alfie Kohn, Sue Gruber, Kioni Carter, Marvin Marshall, , Marjan Glavac, Todd R. Nelson, Leah Davies, Barbara Pressman, Tim Newlin, Bill Page, James Wayne, Hank Kellner, Josette Bonafino, Grace Vyduna Haskins, Barb Stutesman, Ron Victoria, Lisa Frase, Alan Haskvitz, Heidi Butkus, Ambreen Ahmed, Steven Kushner, Rebecca Klamert, Stewart Brekke, Artie Knapp, and YENDOR.

Submissions: click for Submission Guidelines

Advertising: contact Bob Reap


Subscribe for free home delivery


Marjan Glavac

The Busy Educator
Archive | Biography | Resources | Discussion

Let’s Get Started with Smartboard

Five great tips every new Smartboard user needs
by Marjan Glavac
Regular contributor to the Gazette
January 1, 2009
Way back in 2001, I attended an educational conference in Buffalo, New York. It was there that I first saw a presentation of a Smartboard. My jaw dropped when I saw all the classroom possibilities. However, the price was beyond what my District would spend and I promptly forgot all about the Smartboard technology.

Fast forward to 2008 and the technology is being used in many districts around the world. I’m patiently waiting for my district’s technicians to connect my recently installed Smartboard to a computer and projector.

As I’m getting ready to use my Smartboard, I scoured the Internet searching for a Smartboard expert. I came across David Sladkey.

David is a Mathematics Teacher 4/5 and Math Department Technology Specialist 1/5 at Naperville Central High School. He has been teaching High School Math for 22 years and a Smartboard user since 2003. Check out his School Website: dsladkey.googlepages.com and Teaching with Smartboard Website: www.ncusd203.org/central/html/what/math/smartboard

I asked David to tell me what a teacher new to Smartboard technology would need to know. Here’s his advice:

  1. Let’s Get Connected
    Hooking up Smartboard
    • Connect the power to the SMARTBoard (if needed)
    • Connect the USB from the SMARTBoard to the computer
    Get the Data projector set up
    • Make sure the Data Projector’s image is just within the borders of the SMARTBoard frame
    • Make sure the Data Projector cable is plugged into the back of your computer
  2. Use the Smartboard like a Whiteboard
    Open Smartboard
    • Turn on your computer and turn on the Data Projector
    • Go to the Smartboard Notebook Software and open it.
    Orient the board
    • On the Smartboard click on the two buttons that are on the pen tray at the same time
    • Click the spots consecutively until they are all gone (Usually nine spots)
    Write/Erase on the Board
    • Pick up a pen and write as if you were using a whiteboard
    • Use the eraser as you would on a whiteboard
    Become familiar with the Smartboard Toolbar
    • Right click anywhere on the toolbar to know the names of all the toolbar option.
    • Become especially familiar with the new page button, as well as the undo and redo buttons.
  3. Try a Pre-Made Lesson Structure
    Get a pre-made lesson shell at the Lesson Activity Toolkit
    • In Smartboard, find the tabs on the left or right of the screen.Find the Gallery Tab and click on it (picture frame).Now click on the plus sign for the Lesson Activity Toolkit.Now click on the plus sign for Activities.Now click on examples.Lastly click on “notebook files and pages”.Drag one out and take look at it.
    • There are a lot of excellent examples, so spend some time looking at some of the things you can do with a smartboard.
    Fill it in with your own material
    • Once you have chosen one you like, fill it in with your own material.Click on edit and then change it as you please.
    • Once you have edited this make sure you save your file as you would a Word Document.
    Use the Activity to get your students to the board
    • Show the slide to your students.Have the students talk with each other about what they might do if they were called.
    • Pick a student at random to come to the board and answer the question.Have them give reasoning for why they did what they did.Continue this with other random students until the slide is solved.
    • As always, if a student does not know what to do, they can ask another student to help walk them through the answer.
  4. Make your own Lesson Structure
    Search for some premade lessons
    • Google “Smartboard Lessons Math” or any subject area you want
    • Download a variety of lessons.
    • Google “Smartboard Lesson Podcast” or “Teaching with Smartboard” to get some lesson ideas
    • Google “Teachers Love Smartboards”to subscribe to this blog and get a great Smartboard resource
    • Remember to look for lessons that will get the students up to the board.Not just fancy things that the teacher can do.
    Modify a lesson to fit your needs
    • Find a lesson that looks interesting to you and modify it.
    • Once you have seen a number of lessons, it will better prepare you to make a lesson on your own.
  5. Change your written lesson plans to Smartboard Shell Lessons
    Plan out your lesson slide by slide for your classes
    • Make your whole lesson from beginning to end using the slides on your SMARTBOARD
    • Print Capture any handout given in class.
    • Put in reminders and directions.
    • Put in any interactive lesson slides.
    Save lessons each day as a record of your class
    • “SAVE AS” at the end of any lesson. This way you can save it as a different name and have a record of what you did in class that day.
    • Keeping a record of all that you do is a great way to keep absent students up to date by sending them a PDF of the lesson.
    • Since you have a record of what you are doing in class you can go back and look again at some material from a previous day.

I’d like to thank David for taking the time out of his busy schedule to share some of his tips for the Smartboard.

If you have any favorite Smartboard sites, just send them to me at: marjan@glavac.com and check back next month to see if I post them here or on my website at: www.TheBusyEducator.com

P.S. To learn more about Marjan Glavac's
The Busy Educator's Newsletter, go to:
www.thebusyeducator.com OR e-mail at:
marjan@glavac.com



» More Gazette articles...




About Marjan Glavac...

Marjan Glavac (BA, BEd, MA) is a professional speaker, teacher and author. He is a full time classroom teacher with 25 years teaching experience. He has taught and continues to teach students from the inner city, students with emotional/behavioral disorders, ESL, and IEP students. He is an international speaker and workshop presenter.

Marjan is the author of 3 books: The Busy Educator’s Guide To The World Wide Web 1st Edition, and 2nd Edition, and How To Make A Difference: Inspiring Students To Do Their Best, the creator of one of the Internet’s longest running free teacher monthly newsletters: The Busy Educator’s Newsletter (1998) and co-author of "How To Thrive And Survive In Your Classroom".

Since 1993, Marjan has been involved in dozens of telecommunications projects involving students from K-University on every continent of the world. His K-8 students have also participated in e-mail, travel buddy, research projects and polishing mirrors for the NASA Starshine project. He and his classes have been filmed by TVO and Global's Kids-TV; featured in all local media - newspapers, TV, radio, as well as nationally in Reader's Digest, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, Today's Parent, Home and Educational Computing and internationally on WGN and NPR radio, websites and dozens of student newspapers worldwide.

Marjan is currently a gr.6 home room teacher at Wilfrid Jury Public School in London, Ontario, Canada where he resides with his wife and two children. For more information about Marjan Glavac, his books, keynotes, training and seminars, visit him at his site at http://www.thebusyeducator.com


Marjan Glavac Columns on Teachers.Net...
Related Resources & Discussions on Teachers.Net...

#