2. The Setting:4th Grade Language Arts Elementary Level 30 students ages 9-11 6 African American, 4 Indian, 4 Hispanic, 12 Caucasian, 4 Other 12 FOCUS students (gifted) 3 Special Needs 21 Girls, 9 Boys
4. What is a SMART Board? A SMART board is an interactive whiteboard that uses web and computer generated resources to present material.
5. The materials necessary A computer that is linked to the SMART Board System The SMART Board screen and projector
6. Other Materials Needed: Interactive Markers made specifically for the SMART Board PowerPoint Activities that can be found on the web. Here are a few places to look: http://ismartboard.com http://www.scholastic.com http://http://www.exchange.smarttech.com http://web.archive.org
7. How is the technology used to support the curriculum? In this setting, every lesson incorporates the SMART Board. The teacher uses the board to not only present material but also for “hands-on” activities that pertain to the day’s lesson.For this example, it was a lesson on Fact and Opinion
8. How is the technology used to support the curriculum? Georgia Performance Standard Observed: ELA4R1 The student demonstrates comprehension and shows evidence of a warranted and responsible explanation of a variety of literary and informational texts. For informational texts, the student reads and comprehends in order to develop understanding and expertise and produces evidence of reading that: a. Locates facts that answer the reader’s questions. b. Identifies and uses knowledge of common textual features (e.g., paragraphs, topic sentences, concluding sentences, glossary). c. Identifies and uses knowledge of common graphic features (e.g., charts, maps, diagrams, illustrations). d. Identifies and uses knowledge of common organizational structures (e.g., chronological order, cause and effect). e. Distinguishes cause from effect in context. f. Summarizes main ideas and supporting details. g. Makes perceptive and well-developed connections. h. Distinguishes fact from opinion or fiction.
9. What kind of difference has the SMART Board made to student learning? Students are much more engaged because they can participate in the activity.
13. The other areas of improvement: Student motivation has increased with their being many types of learning styles integrated into each lesson using the SMART Board, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Students seem to be able to see and hear the material better. One student even said, “I used to not be able to keep up, but since I can see and hear what is going on, I am doing much better.” Student participation is up since they are able to interact with the board. The teacher says, “They want me to call on them so that they can have a turn.”
14. Has there been any support issues? This teacher has not had any issues thus far. As tech support goes, the county has a full staff that maintains and troubleshoots when there are issues that arise. There are “How To” classes provided, and there are plenty of resources available through search engines of any kind. Simply by typing in the content area in, the search engines open an endless amount of possibilities. The only problem might be…
