SmartBoard Tips for the Beginner

I made it through the first day.  Well, the first training day.  Other than it being total and utter chaos, it went alright.  Although reflecting on the experience, I have realized that a lot of it went over my head.  I feel that I am no where closer to understanding what I will be teaching and what my expectations are than yesterday.  But, I did receive the opportunity to attend SmartBoard training today, and I have learned many new tricks with the latest version (11).

The first neat trick I learned was that using the magic pen you can now have disappearing lines, a magnifying glass or a spotlight!  No more using the always apparent toolbar on the side!  All you need to do is open up SmartNotebook, select the pen, then the magic pen and then follow of the these three steps:

• Draw whatever you would like - the pen marks will disappear in approximately 7 seconds.  This is great for times where you need to point out an important term, fact or image but do not want to have your ink marks left (and do not want to bother to erase them).
• Draw a circle - the circle will then turn into the spot light.  Moving the spotlight around the page will allow you to highlight various areas of your screen to the audience and focus their attention on that portion.  The size of your spotlight will depend on the size of the circle you draw.
• Draw a rectangle - yes, you guessed it!  Drawing a rectangle will create a magnifying glass over that portion of the image.  For the best results, make sure to draw a small rectangle.

Final fun fact for SmartBoard of the post is that SmartBoard is actually a Canadian company.  The company "Smart Technologies" was founded in Calagary, Alberta in 2009.  Want to learn more about this amazing Canadian company?  Check out this link for their company's website.

Hope this SmartBoard tip will help you get started on your own SmartBoard creations!  I will keep you posted on mine as I develop them for all of my Math classes this year.  As I am fortunate enough to have a SmartBoard in the classroom I will be teaching in, I expect to be making many fun and interactive SmartBoard