Lesson Two

Beginners

Touch and Straighten. Your board is meant for touching and the sooner you jump in the faster you will acclimate.

1. At the southeast corner of your computer screen you will find a little smartboard icon that looks to me like a white square with a red paintbrush. Click on that. You will get a drop down (actually drop-up) menu of board options. Choose the orient option and then touch the red dots on the smartboard as they appear. This is how you make sure the board is communicating properly with your projector and computer. If ever it seems your board is not working just right--try following these directions and orienting the screen again.


2. Go to the southeast corner with the smartboard icon again, and this time choose "notebook."

---When the notebook opens, try writing on the whitespace with your finger or one of the markers. If you use the marker on the toolbar--you will be able to play with all kinds of settings.

---The tool bar across the top will give you writing options like color, width, and even shapes. Play with them. Practice to see how much pressure to use and how easily you can write.

---Notice that if you open the notebook software up to full screen it is just like writing on any whiteboard;

---except that you can erase in an instant by pressing the big green plus sign for a new screen (try it)

---Try making three different screens with the green plus sign. If you hit the page sorter tab (tabs on the side) you can then jump between the three screens you just made (try it out).

---Finally, when you close/exit this software it will ask if you want to save your work. When you have boardwork that you want to save (math problems for tomorrow? DOL? Review of notes?) Simply select yes and save as you would anything else you make on your computer.

Advanced

Advanced users, you will begin to notice a pattern in this blog. Once I know that you are comfortable with the basics of the board, I would rather teach you to fish than give you a fish. Last time I taught you where to find excellent board tutorials at Smarttech.com. Click on the training menu. Hopefully, whenever you want to learn any aspect of your board more thoroughly, you will refer to these tutorials. They will teach you all the intricacies of using your board and its software.

Lesson two is to encourage you to consider the uses of the board as it interacts with various useful webpages. I am going to give you three different websites. One website is filled with math applets on all sorts of math--fun, fun, fun to use with your board and these applets cover many, many aspects of math instruction. Just click anywhere on the table and you will discover a host of applets for that grade level and math topic. You do not need to download the software--just enjoy online.
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html

The next webpage is filled with applets for wonderful writing and language arts tools. Use these tools as fun ways to start a writing unit, as places to do class writing, or as independent and small group activities for your students.
http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp

The last is a site where you can try out virtual field trips. Virtual field trips can be organized by a site, like a science museum, or created by teachers around a specific topic. Enjoy finding that perfect site.
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/

Cheers,
Bonita