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High school math teacher Trish Moberg flicks off the lights and begins her calculus lesson.

What looks like a large white screen, but is actually a whiteboard, glows in the front of the classroom. It covers up part of the traditional chalkboard, which is used less and less since the new SMART Board has taken its place.

SMART Board is the brand name for an interactive whiteboard, first introduced in 1991, which is a product of SMART Technologies.

Moberg touches the SMART Board and her lesson plan appears in large, bold symbols for every student to see.

The large, touch-controlled screen works with a projector and a computer.

As the teacher goes over the problems, she can draw and write directly on the board and erase what she’s just done with the wave of her hand. She can use a variety of colors and any number of writing styles as she points, clicks and drags items onto and off her lesson just like a mouse would.

By touching another button, Moberg calls up the Internet and shows students a graphic example of a three-dimensional object to drive her point home in a visual fashion.

“The SMART Board literally changed the way I taught within the first 20 minutes of using it,” Moberg said. “It makes things so much easier and it’s great for the kids. It’s brighter to see and easier to explain things to them with the SMART Board.”

The overhead projector mounted on the ceiling projects what is on Moberg’s desktop computer to the SMART Board. She can change the visual on the board with the sweep of the mouse on her desk or the touch of her hand on the actual SMART Board.

A sound system also amplifies Moberg’s voice and allows the SMART Board to “talk” to the students. As a demonstration, she touches a picture of a guitar from the menu on the screen, drags it into the center of the Board and the room is filled with chords of an acoustic guitar.

If Moberg chose to narrate her lessons when she put them on the computer, she could have the SMART Board do all the teaching -- her voice would explain the math problems to students and she technically wouldn’t even have to be in the room. Moberg is not planning to teach from afar, even though she could.

Moberg’s students agreed they love their SMART Board.

Since it is only one of two at the High School, they are occasionally asked to share it with other classes. One student remarked that it was like going back in time without the SMART Board to help them learn math and said she didn’t like to be without it.

Another great thing about the SMART Board, Moberg says, is that once you enter an Internet address, or URL, it will stay there so students can link to that site later if they have questions or want to review that part of a lesson.

The lessons on the Board may also be printed, similar to a PowerPoint presentation, so students can take them home for studying.

Moberg demonstrated that by touching the screen in various places she could highlight and circle items, import film clips from the Internet (at one point we saw and heard John F. Kennedy giving a speech). This was not part of the calculus class, but more for the benefit of showing what the SMART Board’s capabilities are.

The SMART Board can be used for all areas of curriculum and all age levels. Moberg pulled up a lined paper graphic for kindergarten and first graders to practice writing letters. She also pulled up simple words that were spelled out and had a matching picture to illustrate the word. By touching a spot the SMART Board made a sound to demonstrate how the word sounded. A voice from the ceiling said “bee” when Moberg chose that word.

Another thing Moberg likes about the SMART Board is that she can reveal as much or as little on a page as she chooses. That helps keep students focused on the area of the lesson she is discussing. Also, the page can go on and on just like a computer screen can continue scrolling.

According to New Richmond High School Principal Jeff Moberg, each SMART Board costs about $1,500, with the projector costing another $800.

New Richmond High School has two SMART Boards and plans to purchase two more. They are relatively easy to take down and relocate so they will become part of the new high school once it is finished.

According to Trish Moberg, the Middle School currently has four or five SMART Boards and the elementary schools have one in each classroom and a few in the music and art rooms.

It cost the elementary schools less to purchase their SMART Boards because they bought them in bulk, said Jeff Moberg, and the wiring was done all at once for them which was cheaper than having to go in and install them in the High School.

To equip the three elementary schools with 85 SMART Boards, the District paid $1,500 each for the large Boards and $1,100 each for the smaller ones. The projectors were $650 each, according to Michele Wood, assistant principal at New Richmond Middle School and interim technology coordinator for the School District.

“For kids the technology really grabs their attention,” Wood said. “For teachers, the SMART Boards are a tool they can use to have access to an abundance of resources such as lesson plans created by other teachers and tweaked to meet the needs of their own students. Also kids can interact on SMART Boards and become active participants in the classroom.”

-Digital storytelling
-Brainstorm
-Take notes directly into PowerPoint presentations
-Reinforce skills by using on-line interactive web sites
-Create a project calendar
-Teach editing skills using editing marks
-Use highlighter tool to highlight nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.
-Use it with Kidspiration or Inspiration
-Teach students how to navigate the Internet
-Illustrate and write a book as a class. Use the record feature to narrate the text.
-Diagram activities
-Teach steps to a math problem.
-Have students share projects during Parent/Teacher/Student conferences
-Graphics and charts with ESL learners and special ed students.
-Teach vocabulary
-Electronic Word Wall
-End each day by having students write one thing that they learned
-Save lessons to present to students who were absent
-Create video files to teach a software application, a lesson, or as a review to be posted to the
server or web. Example: How to create a graph in Excel or how to burn projects to CDs
-Use the built in maps to teach continents, oceans, countries, or states and capitals.
-Present presentations created by student or teacher
-Have students create e-folios including samples of their work and narration

Retrieved from
http://www.bristolvaschools.org/mwarren/SBActivities.htm, dated 9/8/2008

Below is the link that will lead you to actuvities that can be carried out with SMARTBOARD. So, Get started and get smart With and Without Smartboard!

http://www.bristolvaschools.org/mwarren/SBonline.htm

Convenience and affordability hallmarks of new SMART Board 600i interactive whiteboard system

SMART Technologies announces the new SMART Board™ 600i interactive whiteboard system, SMART’s most convenient and affordable interactive whiteboard system. This second-generation integrated system combines the SMART Board 680 interactive whiteboard with the new Unifi™ 45 projector and will cost 25 percent less than the original system.