Smartboards in the Classroom

     Today is the Inauguration of the President of the United States.  It is a historic day for all of us.  May Barack Obama lead us to a more peaceful world.

     Change can happen.  Click on the link below to see the YouTube video "From George Washington to Barack Obama - A Long Way". 

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

In researching through the Library of Congress's new exhibition on the Inauguration materials of eighteen US Presidents (see attached link), I came upon this image from 1848 and thought the following lesson I've just written might be useful for you as we get closer to Inauguration 2009.

Zachary Taylor, US President (1784-1850) Image by Thomas W. Strong, engraver,  Union. New York: Ackerman, ca. 1848, Woodcut on wove paper,  Prints & Photographs Division (17A), LC-USZC4-2713 [cph 3g02713] 

  Go to the attached link for better image clarity.

Learning Objective: To Develop a Greater Understanding of US Political History

• Compare and contrast the campaign posters of three previous Presidents and project them on the SmartBoard. Cite all sources.
  
• Describe each poster in detail, project them one at a time, draw an arrow to an item on the poster and write a sentence using the pens describing that item. Convert handwriting to text using the inking function.
  
• Write a brief biography of the President portrayed in the poster and project your essay on the SmartBoard. Present your biography.
  
• Research and make a chart of voting statistics using spreadsheet software.  Project your chart and present your findings.
  
• Write an opinion paper on what the poster tells us about US society at that time. Project your paper and present.

Learning Modalities Addressed: Visual, Tactile/Kinesthetic

Content Areas Addressed: Art, 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, Smartboard

Exciting News!  In anticipation of Barack Obama's Inauguration in Jan. 20, 2009, the Library of Congress has begun a new exhibit of Inaugural materials from eighteen previous US presidents.  Here are the presidents whose materials will be showcased:

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, William Harrison, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. 

Technorati Tags: Inauguration, Inauguration Lesson Plans, SMARTBoard, SMARTBoard Lesson Plans, Smartboard, Lesson Plans

Here's a K-6 SmartBoard lesson I've written for the upcoming Inauguration Day!