This year, I had the privilege of attending a series of advanced SMARTBoard trainings entitled “Designing an Interactive Classroom” from the Center for 21st Century Classrooms. In these courses, I learned how to use the capabilities of the SMARTBoard to design interactive lessons based on brain research to positively impact my students’ learning.

For the 21st century learner, technology is simply part of home and school life. Most students use computers and other technological devices on a daily basis. Our learners are drawn to vivid images and videos. Correspondingly, the SMARTBoard has amazing visual and interactive capabilities. Large, high quality images can be embedded into lessons for students to view and manipulate. Learning becomes interactive as students sort and sequence pictures, numbers, letters and words on the Board. Teachers and students can write on the Board, convert it to typed text and save it to use in future lessons. With the touch of an icon, an educational video or interactive website opens, allowing students to gain deeper understandings by seeing concepts presented in a different way.

Another way to broaden a student’s understanding is to present lessons in segments with brief reviews built in. There are numerous templates for learning games and activities that can be utilized as reviews. Once children learn to play these games, they can be used to reinforce a variety of subject matter in a short amount of time. These reviews keep children engaged while providing an opportunity to practice concepts in a fun way.

In addition to providing review, games can be designed to introduce new material. In both cases, students receive immediate feedback that serves as an incentive to remain on task and to answer correctly. Students can also answer questions with a SMART response clicker. Clicker responses give the teacher an overview of the class’ understanding. The teacher can then adjust the direction and pace of the lesson.

Research shows that giving children time to discuss subject matter promotes both academic and social learning. The SMARTBoard can be used to randomly assign each student a partner or team. Groups spread out throughout the classroom and are given specific topics to discuss or activities to complete. Such activities promote speaking and listening skills, reinforce subject matters and provide an opportunity for students to move around the classroom.

SMARTBoard lessons are saved on the teacher’s computer. This allows students who are absent or need more repetition to see the lesson at a later time. This ensures that all students receive the same lessons and have the same information necessary to do well on assessments. There is also a SMART recorder that will record a student or teacher’s work that can later be reviewed. This is a great way for students to demonstrate their learning.

I enjoyed learning more about the SMARTBoard and look forward to using these new tools to create exciting lessons for my students!