SMART Board Interactive Whiteboards are a fun and engaging way for students to interact with technology in the classroom. They can serve many purposes during everyday instruction as opposed to using a chalkboard or whiteboard. Because they connect directly to a computer and project the computer screen onto the Interactive Whiteboard, teachers can pre-plan instruction and save lessons that students have completed, which allows for easy storage on the computer. SMART Boards not only save teachers time by allowing lessons to be pre-planned in the computer, but there is also no mess involved. There are no dry erase markers or chalk necessary and your hand can serve as an eraser to quickly and easily erase any mistakes.

The most exciting thing about using SMART Board Interactive Whiteboards is that there are plenty of interactive websites teachers can use as a part of their instruction. This allows students to work in groups using technology as opposed to with computers that often can only accommodate one or two students at a time. Interactive educational games are a great resource to use during group stations and teachers have created and shared all kinds of lesson plans that are available online and incorporate the use of SMART Board Interactive Whiteboards into classroom curriculum.

This lesson plan includes a wonderful series of activities for primary elementary students to improve their letter knowledge. These lessons allow them opportunities to play interactive games while learning letter recognition and letter sounds. Students will use the SMART Board for portions of the lesson that involve websites because they are very kid-friendly. Namely, the ABC Match,KiddoNet Alphabet, and Poisson Rouge Alphabet websites are great resources for students to use on the SMART Board because they have fun graphics and sounds, and will entertain students while they are learning. This lesson has components that can be used for whole group instruction as well as small group instruction so it would be easy to make adaptations for students who excel at letter concepts and students who need more help. It would be helpful for students to work in pairs or groups and turn these activities into games. At the end of this lesson, students will have a tangible product that is evidence of the time they spent practicing their letters and using the SMART Board. Finally, this lesson plan is useful because it includes suggestions for parents or family members to become involved in students’ learning at home, ways for teachers to extend the lesson and methods for assessment, and IRA/NCTE Standards the lesson addresses.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=132

This kindergarten teacher presents some wonderful examples of how SMART Boards can be used with young students. Her class uses the SMART Boards in various activities throughout the school day. In her examples, multiple students practice their reading and writing skills during the morning message. Students’ daily journals are also transferred to word documents so everyone can read along when a student is selected to read their journal entry aloud to the class. During literacy work stations, the SMART Board can be used for students to practice a specific skill—in this example, students are practicing the lifecycle of a butterfly. I like that this teacher suggests the use of the SMART Board during transition times. When some students are still finishing up their work, other students can go to the board and practice their interactive learning activities. It is a great way to check for individual comprehension. The teacher recommends scanning in pictures from books and having students order the pictures according to what they remember from the story. For math lessons, it is useful to conduct a demonstration using the SMART Board in a whole group setting before allowing students to sit down and do the lesson on their own. This technology can also be used to make editing easier for students than it may be on a computer. This example also provides student feedback, which is a good way to assess how students feel about using this technology in their classroom. It was helpful to see the SMART Board in action in this video and to get a good understanding of the many different ways it can be integrated into various aspects of the curriculum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NzL1NYi3Y8

This lesson demonstrates the use of the SMART Board for a 3^rd grade science lesson on symmetry. First the teacher uses a website with interactive symmetry lessons, then she uses the Notebook software to allow students to demonstrate their understanding of symmetry with various objects.

This lesson plan is very clear and provides an interactive introduction followed by hands-on demonstrations of symmetry. The teacher also demonstrates how students can be quickly taught how to utilize SMART Board functions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAp54PTJHe4&feature=related

This lesson demonstrates the use of the SMART Board for a kindergarten math lesson in addition and sum comparison. Students get to “roll” a dice on the board and then write their answers for the two rolls to compare which roll had the larger sum.

The lesson is used as an introduction to the activity for the mathematical lesson, in which the students will use their own manipulatives at their desk to do a similar activity. Utilizing the SMART Board makes the introductory process more visually stimulating, while demonstrating the proper process to the students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ijlmQwswco&feature=related

Manipulation. SMART Boards are a fun way for students to interact with technology and and simultaneously learn essential concepts. For students in primary grades, SMART Boards provide a helpful way to practice writing letters and numbers. They can trace letters or numbers on the SMART Board in large print in order to gain a concrete understanding of how letters and numbers should look, as opposed to writing in small print using pencil and paper.

Saving student work. SMART Board activities can be saved on the computer, whether it is a student practicing a simple letter writing task or a whole group shared writing activity. This provides easy access for teachers to assess how students have progressed throughout the year. It is also an easy way for teachers to bring up previous activities for students to reference if necessary.

Whole group technology instruction. SMART Boards allow teachers to integrate technology into whole-group instruction, whereas computers are only practical for use with one student at a time. The SMART Boards are also easy for students to use so they do not simply observe the teacher using technology, but they get to experience it on their own.

Time management. Teachers can have lessons pre-planned and saved on the computer to pull up on the SMART Board when ready to use them in class. This can be very effective when the lesson is something as simple as vocabulary or grammar because instead of having to write out sentences on the board teachers can save them on the computer and use them when it is time to complete the lesson.

Expense. SMART Board Interactive Whiteboards are not cheap, so accessibility may be limited to the school districts budget. Costs are more effective if the school already has projectors and Mac or PCs within the school. Grants are available for some expenses.

Distraction. The SMART Board is still relatively new technology so, it can cause more distraction than enhancement within a lesson. Students who are unfamiliar with the interactive whiteboard maybe more focused on playing with the resource, than being engaged in the lesson. With regular use and time set aside for learning how to use the interactive whiteboard, such distractions may be minimalized.

Space & Technology Glitches. SMART Boards take up a lot of space, so schools already facing issues of limited wall space have to realize the sacrifice of such technology. Additionly, depending on the method of set-up a school chooses to use, the projector can be easily bumped if not ceiling mounted. Time is then needed to reset the sensors within the interactive whiteboard, so that it recognizes touch commands.

Training Required. Although the SMART Board Interactive Whiteboards are not difficult to use, training is required. Teachers must be efficient at using the technology prior to using the resource in class. Students must also be shown how to operate the interactive whiteboard. Such training requires time and time is already limited within the school day.