How do teachers use SMART interactive white boards? That’s always an interesting area to review, as teachers and educators are among the leading users of SMART white boards. Depending on their creativity, teachers may use these audio-visual display tools differently than other teachers across the country. That’s what’s always been fascinating to watch.
Our partner SMART has posted a blog post on their site recently that exemplified this. Danesa Jepson, a 7th-grade teacher in Oakdale, California, wrote to SMART’s EDCompass education blog describing her work with their display control system. She mentions its time-saving attributes and how she avoids headaches using the system.
She writes at the blog post: “When I first began using the SMART Response system in 2008, I used it for the sole purpose of summative assessment. I already had all my tests and quizzes in Microsoft Word, so they were incredibly easy to import and use immediately. I loved (and still do!) the instant feedback my students received. I loved the time I saved on waiting to see scores and planning my next steps. And I could re-teach right then and there! Virtually no time wasted!”
Happy as she was, Danesa started experimenting with the SMART Response System to check its ability to do more than assess student learning, engagement and participation through these skillful and summative assessments. She was successful in finding new ways to combine audio-visual solutions with in-class learning.
Her checklist was encouraging to see. Danesa wrote: “I now use the SMART Response system throughout my lessons. I use it for responding to prior knowledge questions. I use it to check for understanding (constantly!). I use instant questions in the tool bar when I feel I need to check in with my students or if I come up with a question in my lesson on the spur of the moment. My Titanic lesson activity on the SMART Exchange website is a great example of how I combine SMART Response question sets with my lessons.”
The SMART Response system is also suitable, she found, for an in-class game called ‘fastest fingers’, where the first correct answer from a student gets to begin the next activity at the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Danesa uses SMART to conduct surveys and polls, poll the class on upcoming book reads, or for debating students’ answers.
From a review point of view, the system allows Danesa to check in with her 7th graders’ classroom progress, check on her own overall teaching patterns, and reviewing grades and test scores. Plus, the technology of the SMART Response system resonates with the students, she found. “They love the engagement, seeing how they are doing and having their own “competition” with other students,” Danesa wrote.
If you’re a school teacher or administrator, and you’re interested to see what the SMART suite of products can do for your school or school district, contact CCS Presentation Systems. We are a provider of SMART products, and can work with your staff to share the many uses of the in-class SMART boards, and how grades and performances are up in most environments after using them. Find us at https://ccsprojects.com/
