Top Ten Uses for SMART Boards and SMART Notebook Software

If you have not already experienced the uses of a SMART board, I suggest you press your administration to purchase this technology. Although SMART boards are expensive, they are well worth the cost. Students are fascinated by the features of the SMART board as well as the SMART Notebook Software that accompanies the purchase of each SMART board.

SMART boards provide teachers with new tools that make learning fun and exciting. Students stay awake and are eager to learn, and teachers get better results as their students are engaged and interested in the lesson.

There are a million ways teachers can incorporate their SMART board into classroom instruction, but here are ten of the most useful:

1. SMART boards are the ultimate overhead projector. No more fumbling with thin transparencies that stick together, but all of a teacher's information/lecture notes are stored electronically. With this new technology, teachers can easily manipulate and edit their lecture notes.
2. DVD player. Students like nothing more than watching an educational movie on the big screen.
3. Interactive Lessons. SMART boards and SMART Notebook give teachers easy-to-use tools to entertain and encourage participation in the lesson.
4. Draw Shapes. Teachers can draw shapes, even if they are not artists. This is helpful, especially when teaching geometry or designing graphic organizers.
5. Highlight Main Points. SMART Notebook allows teachers to highlight text.
6. Insert audio and video clips. Teachers can entertain students by using SMART Notebook to insert audio or video clips.
7. Screen Shade. Teachers can use a screen shade to keep their students from looking at information that you will cover at a later point during the lesson. This feature is great if you are giving notes or a quiz. Using the screen prohibits students from jumping ahead.
8. SMART Notebook features a handwriting recognition feature in which teachers can write on their SMARTboard using the Magic Ink Pens, and SMART Notebook will convert these handwritten letters to text.
9. Model lessons. Teachers can write essays, and then assign students to copy their lessons and write their own.
10. Surf the internet. Surfing the internet opens students up to an array of learning possibilities.