Smartboards in the Classroom

Keynote Speaker

Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D

 

Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources and a New York Times Best-selling author. He works with governments in Europe, Asia and the USA, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations. In 1998, he led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government.   All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education? (The Robinson Report) was published to wide acclaim in 1999.   He was been honored with the Athena Award of the Rhode Island School of Design for services to the arts and education; the Peabody Medal for contributions to the arts and culture in the United States, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for outstanding contributions to cultural relations between the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2005 he was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s Principal Voices. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts and education. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies.

 

Technorati Tags: NYSCATE, Robinson, "The Element", Creativity

 

Attachment(s): http://www.nyscate.org/conferences.cfm?subpage=361

The NYSCATE (New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education) Metro Conference in Rye Brook, NY was excellent.  This was the second "downstate" conference at this location and drew educators from all over metropolitan New York.  I've attached the final program in case you couldn't get to the conference.

 

Highlights:

Keynote Address: "The Way Forward"

See page 5 of the attached pdf for more details.

 

 Presentations: So many choices -- so little time!

"Using Interactive Whiteboards to Reach the Kinesthetic Learner" brought together Special Education teachers, coaches and administrators.  Our collaborative learning community explored the IWB together, shared common experiences and distributed resources. We all walked away with that ..."I've got to try that"... response!

 

"Title IID T4 Grant: Using Interactive Whiteboards in Social Studies" was co-presented by two Title IID T4 teachers (Ms. Bailey and Ms. Widen  of the NYCDOE) who had been trained in the second cohort of this grant.  They modeled a Social Studies lesson they both had written for their Special Education/CTT third grade class, describing how they used the IWB to explore last year's Presidential Election.  Their description of the Electoral College and interactive map really helped cement understanding for both their students and the participants of the workshop, myself included!  Well done!

 

Title 2D Grant - Transforming Teaching Through Technology with Early Childhood Podcasting.  Ms. O'Neill, Ms. Reilly and Ms. Comperiati (NYCDOE) did an excellent job of describing their training, design and implementation of podcasting as literacy instruction in their Special Education/CTT first grade class.  Yes, first graders can podcast!  Wonderful!

 

"Senteo for Beginners" - Ms. Bolmarcich, New Hyde Park - Garden City Park Union Free School District.   This very talented technology coach walked us through the basics of using a student response system (formerly called SENTEO -  see smarttech.com for product information).  Ms. Bolmarcich demonstated how to build a test from scratch, insert an existing test and use the SENTEO without the SMARTBoard to allow greater time to special needs students.  Very well done

Vendor News:

SMARTBoard Table:  I was finally able to literally "get my hands on" the new SMARTBoard table and play with it.  Think of a SMARTBoard made much smaller and on legs so that children can reach it!  Wonderful.  I was most concerned about how a teacher would design lessons using the device and my questions were answered most astutely.  Here's my understanding of the process:  A teacher designed a regular SMARTBoard lesson using the SMARTBoard Notebook software.  She/He then saves the lesson to a thumb drive which is inserted in a USB port on the side of the table.  The table's software then converts the lesson so that it is reflected onto the table surface.  THEN up to 40 fingers can touch the lessons. 

The device is designed for early childhood and I can't wait to see how Kindergarten students react to it.  I know they're going to be thrilled.

 

Be sure to explore the NYSCATE.com website for future conferences.  

 

Attachment(s): Final Book 1 UP.pdf

Now that the luggage has been unpacked and the journey home completed, I've had a chance to reflect on the people and experiences I've had at NYSCATE.  The three hour workshop I presented introduced me to many fascinating NY State  educators who are facing some of the same challenges we do in New York City. The primary question was "How do we prepare our students to succeed in the 21st Century?  It was gratifying to hear the many voices discussing this issue.

 

I was also delighted to see how commonplace interactive whiteboards, be they SMARTBoards, Prometheans, MIMIOs or any of the other competitotrs, have become in all school districts.  This is such a far cry since I began this blog in 2007 when I was a "solitary voice calling out in the wilderness"!  I'm so pleased that students are getting the benefits of working with this most engaging technology.

 

I had the opportunity of attending several workshops between presentations. "Collecting Podcasts for the Classroom", "The Reading Brain" and "The Almost Entirely Paperless ELA HS Classroom" were highlights.  Materials on these workshops can be found on the NYSCATE.wikispace. Be sure to explore them if you get a chance.

 

 

 

 

The NYSCATE Rochester 2008 conference was a wonderful teaching and learning experience, where educators and administrators from around New York State could meet and discuss new ideas on integrating technology into 21st Century classrooms.  For those of us who were lucky enough to attend and for those who were unable to make the journey, I've attached the NYSCATE wikispace that contains information on all the presentations and exhibits.  Note that podcasts of all presentations will be on the site within the next few weeks.

Technorati Tags: NYSCATE; SmartBoard

Attachment(s): http://nyscate.wikispaces.com/

One - Hour Session - Podcast

On Monday, 11/24/08, I gave a one hour presentation at the NYSCATE Rochester 2008 conference entitled "Using Interactive Whiteboards to Reach the Kinesthetic Learner".  This presentation focused on examining current learning theories (Gardner: Multiple Intelligences; Dunn & Dunn: Learning Preferences), exploring a 7th grade Social Studies/Science lesson from the learner's perspective of a lesson designed to reach kinesthetic/tactile learners.

 

A podcast of the presentation can be found at the NYSCATE wikispace attached.  The wikispace should be complete by 11/26/08.  Be sure to listen in.

Attachment(s): http://www.nyscate.org/podcasts/NYSCATE2008/index.html