Over the past several days, I have been exploring the functions of the SmartBoard program. I am very impressed with the variety of capabilities. The SmartBoard has much more elaborate functionality than an electronic chalkboard or white board. It provides visual and interactive techniques to teach children of all ages.
SmartBoards have many benefits in the classroom. They allow teachers to easily display information to students and save it on a computer for later use or online for the students to access. SmartBoards also accommodate different learning styles.
I found many activities in the Gallery that can be useful without plugging the computer into the SmartBoard. I am tutoring a fifth grader in math this summer and I believe the Mathematics Gallery will be beneficial even without access to a SmartBoard. It has programs that focus on number concepts and operations, patterns and relations, shapes, space and measure, and statistics and probability. I am excited to try some of these programs with the girl I am tutoring.
I am anxious to use the SmartBoards with my own students! Technology has become extremely advanced, especially in the classroom, over the last decade. I cannot wait to see the new technological advancements that will exist when I become a teacher.
