SMART User Conference - April 2011

Bradfield's next SMART user conference will be Saturday, April 2, 2011. It will be held at Bloomington Junior High school and the day will be filled with fun and engaging SMART sessions. I am currently recruiting teachers who would like to be presenters on that day. I am looking for a wide variety of backgrounds that will cater to the hundreds of teachers that we expect to be there. We will be charging $24.99 for participants to attend and if you present one session, you will be able to attend for free. The fee will cover four 50 minute sessions, breakfast, lunch and access to the handouts of every session. It will definitely be a great learning environment for everyone. Email me at shawns@bradfields.com if you are interested in being a part of this event. Open registration for participants will begin after January 1st.

SMART wireless slate

Do you have a slate, but need to have more info? Below is the address for the slate's user guide. One of the things that most teachers forget is that you can customize your slate. Check out pages 19-28 to find out all the ways that you can customize your slate to fit your needs.

http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/sitecore/en/support/product/smartslate/ws200/guides/140795guidesmartslatews200v23nov09.pdf

Data driven instruction

If you are writing a grant for clickers and need some quick information about data driven instruction, check out this power point. It clearly lists the advantages (as well as disadvantages). If you are new to data driven instruction it will also help you understand the why and how of implementing it in your classroom.

Data Driven Instruction

View more presentations from Tman.

Video - New SMART board

http://vault.smarttech.com/demos/885ix/800series.html

check out the new board in action - super cool!

New SMART board!

A new board is being introduced by SMART this week. Here are its features:

Multitouch experience – Enables two users to interact with the interactive whiteboard simultaneously with no special tools or multitouch mode selection required

Freestyle interaction* – Enables two users to work together, performing different tasks, anywhere on the board

Smart ink – Ink-smoothing algorithms make handwritten annotations look smother and more refined

Touch gestures* – Accepts common multitouch gestures currently recognized in Microsoft Windows 7 and Mac Snow Leopard, including one- and two-finger gestures, such as pinching, zooming and tossing. Gestures will be available for use in SMART Notebook lesson activities after the release of SMART Notebook 10.7 software

Object awareness – Distinguishes between a finger, pen or other object to recognize what action the user is taking

Multiuser Pen Tray – Enables two users to pick up and use a pen tool and begin writing. Easy-to-use buttons on the Pen Tray make switching ink color, right-mouse clicks and accessing the on-screen keyboard effortless

Durable surface – Surface is optimized for projection, producing no hot spots, and is compatible with dry-erase markers

Modular design – Pen Tray enables the quick and easy integration of accessories, such as the extended control panel

Locking pen mode – Locks the SMART Board interactive whiteboard in pen mode so students can write, draw and make annotations with a finger, pen tool or other object

Warranty – Includes two-year standard warranty and five-year warranty with product registration

SMART product integration – Seamless integration with the full range of SMART hardware and software products, including SMART Notebook software version 10.6 or later. Full gesture recognition and multiuser functionality is available using SMART Notebook 10.7 software, expected by March 2011.

I can't wait to experience one! It sounds great.

http://smarttech.com/us/About+SMART/About+SMART/Newsroom/Media+releases/Recent+Releases/October+19+2010

High School Math Blog

While teaching a group of teachers at Lincoln in Davenport, I came across a math high school teacher's blog. There are great resources for teaching math mentioned as well as things that will work well if you have a SMART board. If you teach math at the secondary level, you will definitely want to check out his blog. Many great teaching ideas.

David Sladkey's blog
teachhighschoolmath.blogspot.com

Lucky Star- FREE download for SMART Notebook

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/whiteboard/

This PBS game is specifically made for smart notebook and FREE. Specific directions on how to download and load into the gallery is included on the website. This is primarily meant for grades 3-5. The download took awhile on my laptop, BUT I was using free wifi from my hotel room. I'm sure it would have been better if I was home using my comcast wifi.

Easy Table Reveal

If you've tried the table trick that I posted about a few days ago, you might be leery of trying another. That one is a little complicated and has quite a few steps. However, this is a super easy trick that will allow students to check their answers on their own.

Create a table and have one column be the "reveal" column where the answer or hidden message is revealed. Highlight the column, click on the properties tab and fill with a color that contrasts with your background color. For instance, if your background is white, make the color a dark color that a white font will show up well on.

Select an object or graphic that will be linked with the correct answer. Type the correct answer or reveal message and place it next to the object/graphic. Change the font color to the color of your background and group the two together. Now when the object is selected and moved into the colored cell, the font will be visible.

A very quick and easy way to create a reveal. Good luck!

Checker Tool - LAT

I was reminded today of a tool in the Lesson Activity Toolkit that I had completely forgotten about. Thank you Shannon for helping me check it out. I haven't had the chance to use this as a classroom teacher, but know that when I head back into the classroom that this is one that I will try.

The "checker tool" is located in the lesson activity toolkit and can easily be found by using the search engine in the gallery. Click on the edit arrows and type in the correct answer. This can be a number or word(s). Click on the edit arrows again. The front of the tool says, "Drag text here." Students can drag in a word or number and if it doesn't match what you typed in as the correct response, it will show a red X - if it is matches, it gives you a green check mark. A great way to have your board be a center that students can use on their own.

Free Stuff!

Are you looking for free resources to use with SMART notebook software? Check out tequipment's Educator Resource Center. You can purchase some great gallery items that are less than $2, but also enjoy some freebies. Check out what it is available and spread the word!

http://community.teqsmart.org/download.php?list.60

Cool Table Tool trick!

Do you want to create a cool game that can be used with your students? I wasn't aware that you could fill a cell in a table with an image (just hadn't thought of it) and loved that you can use this ability to create a background for students to match something to in the table.

Create your table and resize your cells to fit your needs. Right click on a cell and choose properties, fill effects and then image fill. Fill the cell with a picture that you have previously saved. This could be a picture of an animal if you want students to match the sound with the pic for instance. You may have to resize your cell since the image may become tiled. This allows for just one image to be highlighted. Continue doing this for each cell until you have created your "game board."

Choose objects that need to be matched with the image filled cells or you can create a shape with a number that is linked to a sound (such as the sound of the animal pictured in one of the cells). Choose sound from the pull down and attach the sound that you have saved to the object/picture. Students can play the sound and then click and drag it into the cell with the matching picture.

Do you want to create a simple answer key? Pull the correct answers into the table and capture the table. Using the tool in the gallery called, "question flipper image," drag the image of the table into the tool. Edit the front with text and write "click here for answer." The tool along with the choices and table will all be one one page.

Need an example to follow? Email me and I will be happy to share one with you.
shawns@bradfields.com

SMART Table for special needs students

http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/video/table/texas_july10/table_video.html

Learn how Alvarado, Texas' speech pathologists use the multitouch, multiuser capabilities of the SMART Table to help students build language, communication and social skills. It is amazing to see how engaged students are when using the table with their peers. If you are interested in more info on obtaining your own SMART table, email me.

Kerpoof!

http://www.kerpoof.com/#

Check out this interactive and multimedia web application that will help you use your board to keep students engaged. You can create story books, doodle or spell words to create a background. It is FREE and a good tool to use with your students.