When to Double Up

I spent my teacher workday at a MathForward workshop. The presenter used a SMARTboard and an additional LCD projector onto the board. Seemed like an exhaustion of technology; however this was a logical a solution if you need to write on that worksheet that is projected by your document camera OR do not want two surface images to interact (Also this allows the user to break away from that goofy SB transparent layer).

Unifix Suduko & Your Smartboard

 This weekend I picked up a few things from the teacher store in preparation of the 1st day of school. I passed by and ended up picking up this cool Unifix Sudoku game. As you can see, when I got home, I ended up placing the blocks in ROY G. BIV order and numbered the tops to match.

I also created a Smart Notebook file to go with this activity when modelling the activity with my students. This is a great hands-on activity for students of any age that has never played Sudoku. The purpose for placing the numbers on the cubes is for you to create your own puzzles with the help of online resources such as ultra-magnificent logic puzzle site of Vegard Hanssen. I will post later reflecting what the students thought about this game.

The Beast is released: SMART Notebook Math 2009 beta

The other day… The guys over at SMART Technologies has released SMART Notebook Math 2009 (beta). I downloaded and gave it a test run. No overwhelming changes. Kinda would like to know what will happen after my (eval period)166 days are over.

There is an integrated equation editor that apparrently is not available yet (Will have to stick with the online LaTex editor for now). Love the instant coordinate plane tool. Looks like they will have some TI 83/84 integration within notebook which is currently a disabled feature. The polygon tool is a welcome addition along with the measurement tools such as ruler, protractor and yes… a compass. I am looking forward for the continued development of this version of notebook!

∑quΛtiØΠ ∑di†Ørs & SMART Notebook

Video blogged today… Happy 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937….. day!

Attn: SB Math Teachers

Go here to sign up to receive a notice when SMART Notebook Math beta is released! Here are the features of this product:

* Equation creation and editing
* Equation handwriting recognition
* Graphing tool
* Real-time linked relationships between tables, equations and graphs
* More shapes additional to those that come with SMART Notebook 10 software
* Shape manipulation and feedback
* Advanced-measurement tools
* Ability to launch and operate Texas Instruments™ emulators from within SMART Notebook

I personally cannot wait to get my hands on this!

Nice footage… Thanks SMARTians!

Little footage from the past weekend’s seminar with SMARTtech…

SMART Content Creation Seminar (Day 1 – 2/6/09)

The Content Creation Seminar is its first to be conducted by official sMARTIANS on the campus of UNC-Charlotte. It started today (2/6) and will continue until Sunday (2/8)! By the end of the seminar, it is expected for participants to create ten notebook artifacts in order to be a SMART-accredited content developer.

I will attempt to briefly summarize the main points of the first day. Unfortunately wifi was not available, which was not an accident. Also, it was asked to not have laptops available due to their “distract-ability”. The first presenter broke down all of the new features of notebook version 10. Yes, even I the SB master learned something today! The following cool techniques were also demonstrated and may be found on TeacherTube. (I may later explain these techniques in future blog posts!)

1. Move to reveal
2. Magic box
3. Magic tunnel

The next presenter discussed…

1. Getting started… Remember IMMEDIACY, INTERACTIVITY & RICHNESS
2. Cool vs. Clear

The last presenter demonstrated all the features of the Lesson Activity Toolkit. He further stressed the following in creating great SB lessons.

1. Efficiency
2. Interactivity
3. Engaging
4. Sizzle must have substance!

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend day 2 of the seminar because I will be taking some students to a MathCounts competition. However on Sunday I will be able to wrap up the workshop. Wifi will be available on Sunday, so I will be tweeting further updates.

Audio files will be available here soon…

Watch out SmartTech… #2 is on your heels…

My friend Chris Odom clued me on this topic…. This week, I’ll be playing around with Activsoftware (Inspire Edition) to participate in the Promethean Blogging Contest.

I will take my time and put this app to the test since the deadline for blog submission is February 13th. I will of course use this software on a non-Promethean board. Don’t know if that will disqualify me for the contest, but I will still contribute. Please join me and check it out on your IWB.

Whiteboard Challenge #7

To wrap-up the whiteboard challenge, I am to reflect and answer the following questions in regards to when I should NOT use the whiteboard.

• Why did you decide to switch OFF the IWB for that activity? Some activities that require hands-on manipulatives where using the whiteboard would be over-kill; Or when an activity requires group work. Unfortunately, the particular whiteboard that we have at school does not allow multiple contacts. If I have an activity that requires physical activity, the IWB takes away the students’ opportunity to be outside as compared to virtual trips inside the classroom. For example , I used an activity that requires TI-84 calculators and the CBRs to measures distance.

• Some information on what the activity was? Instead of showing pictures of a triangular prisms on a IWB and having them to find the surface area & volume, I had students create the rectangular prisms of different sizes with toothpicks and marshmallows; and then use rulers to find the length & width of the figure and later discover the SA & V of their prisms
  
  
• What other curriculum areas do not lend themselves very well to the use of the IWB? Any skill that requires hands activities to build concepts instead of the visual demonstrations where the IWB meets this need.
  
  
• How do you go about developing a positive ethos of use within your school that doesn’t generate pressure on staff to use the technology? Unfortunately at my school, teachers that have no board space must utilize their IWB for instruction. I lend myself for support and encourage others to enroll in IWB professional development . Also I recommend teachers to observe other teachers that knows how and when to use the IWB effectively.

Whiteboard Challenge #6

I must apologize for sitting on this challenge for some time. I did have the pleasure of actually doing this with a digital video camera in the classroom. Once the students got past the Hawthorne effect in recording during my lesson, they were actually productive.

On the following day I allow the students to view the video.  Next, I had them to write a reflection on their experience seeing themselves in action learning. Unfortunately due to the restrictions of my district (and the lack of time of my behalf) to have students to sign photo release forms, I cannot post the video.

However, I will try this again for it is good for students to see themselves in a form of visual metacognition (wow, did I coin a new term for this activity)!