Over the summer, six SmartBoards were installed in Lake Drive classrooms, four in the Lake Drive building and two in our Briarcliff classes. SmartBoards are interactive white boards, with touch screen functionality, which have enhanced classroom instruction and student participation.

For the teachers whose classrooms were chosen for SmartBoards, these devices have become indispensable. We asked each of these teachers for feedback about their SmartBoard experiences. Their responses follow.

Mrs. Miller, Briarcliff - "SmartBoard technology has enhanced the opportunity for deaf and hard of hearing students to focus both visually and auditorially to directed lessons without having to look up and down from the printed page. This not only increases the ability for students to attend, but also enhances the "flow" of a directed lesson. It is great to be able to switch between a video clip, an Internet website, and a page of notes in an instant."

Ms. Richter, Lake Drive - "I use the SmartBoard primarily for science and social studies, using PowerPoint to clearly illustrate and organize lessons. Within my presentations, I am able to develop graphic organizers that the students and I fill in during the course of the lesson. I also am able to create picture sorts and word sorts that my students can manipulate on the screen.

The SmartBoard makes watching curriculum videos much easier. The screen is much larger than a typical TV screen, which is better visually. My students are able to see the video and my sign interpretation with greater ease because I am next to the screen, which wasn't the case when I used the wall-mounted TV."

Ms. Maglio, Lake Drive - "I use my SmartBoard to run PowerPoint lectures. My students are fascinated with it. The SmartBoard enables me to provide tons of visual aids. It also makes surfing the web a breeze. I can show my students what to do and how to navigate the web before I turn them loose.

I also use it for manipulatives. During a money lesson, I would have my students move the money clip art around the screen to solve a problem. The same holds true for sorting activities. It's a great addition to the classroom and I would be lost without it."

Mrs. Crimmins, Briarcliff - "Primarily I use the SmartBoard for math class. It allows me to demonstrate how to solve different problems. I can then print copies of my on-screen demonstration for the class so they can follow the steps at home as well as keep them as notes for future tests. When covering geometry, the graphs that I can pull up save a lot of time and are much clearer to work on than using an overhead. By scanning word problems into the computer, we can work much more efficiently on the "math language" which sometimes poses problems for hearing impaired students.

In the area of physical science, the SmartBoard allows the class to view a variety of abstract concepts, which are more clearly explained through animation. Having the Internet accessible through the SmartBoard has proved to be an excellent tool to supplement the curriculum text. The SmartBoard Notebook software is also invaluable as we can refer, quickly, to concepts and notes, previously discussed.

Mrs. Gates, Lake Drive - "I use my SmartBoard everyday. All of my class notes are in AppleWorks or PowerPoint and are presented on the SmartBoard. It's great because, with the SmartBoard, we can add and change things together. I use a lot of interactive websites with my class, and the SmartBoard is terrific for those."

Posted 3/2006