Smartboards in the Classroom

Our friends at the Whiteboard Blog have passed along an amazing Science resource on Evolution.  It traces the earth's development from the Big Bang through present day.  It's interactive and absolutely fascinating. 

  Technorati Tags: Science; Evolution

Here's a website from our fellow educators across the pond at the Birmingham City Council.  Very interesting use of "twout".

BGfL - Whiteboards - Foundation Communicating via kwout

Technorati Tags: SMARTBoard, Resources

Another possible Inauguration lesson could focus on your visual/auditory learners with elements to engage tactile/kinesthetic learners.  If some of your students' learning preference is for small group presentations, this lesson is for them!

Inaugural Addresses:

Andrew Jackson's Inaugural Address (Transcript)

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr075a.html

More research:

http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/factsandfirsts/

Learning Objective: To Develop a Greater Understanding of Power of the Spoken Word

• Organization and Research:  Form teams of three students and determine presidents.
• Present: As a team, create a slide of the Inaugural speeches of three Presidents. Project them on the SmartBoard. Cite all sources.
• Research and Write: Each team member will write a brief one paragraph biography of his/her President and then present the biography to the class.
• Vocabulary:  Each team member will (1) read the President's Inaugural address in advance and identify new key words, (2) create a vocabulary slide with the new word in one box and the definition in another, (3) present the slide, defining each word, (4) scramble the words and definitions and (5) have a student come up and unscramble the words and definitions.  Team will move on when everybody knows the meanings of the new words.
• Presentation: Each team member will then present their President's Inaugural Address using the split screen window on the SmartBoard.  The presenter will read the speech aloud to the class, highlighting key words and phrases.  On the second split screen, the class will rewrite the beginning of the speech together. All handwriting will be converted to text using the inking function.
  
• Reflection and Analysis:  Each student in the class will choose a Presidential Inaugural Address and rewrite in his/her own words.
  
• Publish:  Each student will copy/paste their rewrite to the class blog in the comment section for review and publication.
  

Learning Modalities Addressed: Auditory/Visual, Tactile/Kinesthetic

Content Areas Addressed: Social Studies, English Language Arts

Standards Addressed: see "Standards" category to right for pdf

ISTE - 1. Creativity; 2. Communication/Collaboration, 3. Research and Information Fluency, 4. Critical Thinking, 5. Digital Citizenship, 6. Technology Operations and Concepts. 

NYSED ELA - 1. Language for Information & Understanding, 2. Language for Literary Response & Expression, 3. Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation, 4. Language for Social Interaction

Please give us your thoughts on this lesson in the comment box below.  If you use this lesson with your students, please let us know how they liked it.  Were they engaged?  Did they absorb the content?  Did their response surprise you?  Together we learn! 

Technorati Tags: Inauguration, SMARTBoard, SMARTBoard Lesson Plans

It is always gratifying to see how teachers have learned to use their SmartBoards and then run with the software to create their own lessons for their own students. Here's a link to such a resource that includes a wonderful idea - How to record a SmartBoard lesson, burn it to a CD and have it ready for a substitute teacher when you know you'll be out of the classroom.  Now isn't that a practical idea?!

Enjoy!

Fran