SMART Boards: The New Chalkboard

Smart boards!

Smart boards are interactive display boards on which a teacher can both draw and project computer images and presentations.  There are various tools within the workbook program to help the teacher to create dynamic presentations.  These range from varying fonts, colors, clip art, and even an option to animate objects.

The Smart board is considered an interactive white board to further foster technology as an engaging feature in the classroom.  Rather than pull down the projector, the teacher can still write on the board while showing a presentation on the Smart board.

Overall, I found the work book feature very self-explanatory and much like Microsoft Word.  One interesting activity might be to have students create their book report visuals on a document to then display on the Smart board for their presentation.

Poll where? Poll Everywhere!

Poll Everywhere!

https://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/I2uR4JsE939AmHO

This survey tool would be helpful to anonymously poll students in a class.  I found it easy to use and even fun to text my answer and see it come up on the Smart board! If students have a craving to use some kind of technology in the classroom (i.e. smart phones), this tech tool might assuage it.

There are a variety of types of survey one can create: multiple choice, true/false, open-ended, etc.   While this tool seems like it would be a beneficial way to incorporate an engaging technology into the classroom, a downfall is the potential for students to take advantage of their time on the Smart phones.  Even I found myself distracted as texts and emails popped when we tried out the tool.  I suppose it would be fun to at least try out for a classroom or even school-wide survey.  I see potential in it even as a way to brainstorm ideas for writing!

Edmodo

A Digital Classroom Folder: Edmodo
 
Edmodo is structured similar to the social media site, Facebook, so many students and teachers alike would be familiar and able to navigate it with ease.

I have an Edmodo account for another class and although I do not enjoy using it, I can see its potential value to store and share documents, videos, and projects with a class and parents.  A teacher could post homework assignments, video clips of the class, and other class-related items to provide students, parents, and even a review board with a digital documentation of the class's progress throughout the year.