I teach at a school with a high percentage of nontraditional learners. So I have to be creative with my teaching strategies. My SmartBoard allows me to be "flexible."
First, I use either Notebook or PowerPoint to outline my daily lessons. I prefer using PowerPoint because of the advance animation features. Animation not only allows me to control when my students see pieces of information but the motion seems to satisfy my ADHD kids need for movement.
Second, I do a lot of video editing. I both download online video clips and use a Dazzle 150 unit to transfer analog video into my computer. These video clips show how math is used in the real world and animated abstract math concepts for my visual learners.
Third, I use Smart Recorder to record my daily lessons as I present then. I then post these videos to our school's website so that my students can watch them anytime anywhere. I have a number of students who miss class for school related activities. This lets them keep up. For students who are in my class, it gives them a second chance to learn . If they have a question on how to work a problem, they call up the video lesson and fast forward to the part where I explain that topic.
It would be easier to answer what I don't do with my whiteboard (Promethean) I like putting the students into all my teaching resources, and its good to do it immediately, during the lesson, so you need to have cameras, scanners etc connected and ready to go. Examples of excellent responses can be immediately scanned in to clarify the kinds of answers your looking for. Goofy stuff like using photos of the students faces as rubber stamp counters is good too. I am talking about 8 year olds, but at any age, using their responses, questions, photos etc is likely to be more engaging than using someone elses.
Permalink Reply by Liz on November 16, 2007 at 5:49pm
I have used my smartboard many times for shared writing activities. We complete the graphic organizer together to plan our writing first. Students dictate to me what I should write while I type. The students are then in charge of using the interactive pens to edit and revise our work.