SMART 11

In case you haven't heard the news, SMART Technologies has released the new version of their Notebook Software, SMART 11. Our district plans to push this out to our teachers this summer so it will be ready for use as soon as they return from summer vacation. In preparation for this and to recertify for SMART, I have been playing around with the new version. I wanted to share what I have learned with you.

First, you will notice a redesigned toolbar. In Notebook 10, things could get a bit cluttered as you added things to customize the toolbar for your students' use in just a single row.

The redesigned toolbar has two rows so you can add more tools without becoming cluttered. It is also organized into groups, if you will. On the left hand side of the tool bar, all of the actions reside such as the navigation arrows, adding new page, saving, etc. In the middle, you have your plug ins and tools section. The plug ins will show SMART Response or SMART Math tools if you have those installed on your machine. The tools section, located to the right, has the pens (which have now all been grouped together), eraser, shape tool, line tool, etc. The cool thing about this new toolbar is that when you click on a tool, the properties for that tool open on the right eliminating the need to go to the Properties tab as often.

The second thing you will notice is a new tab located below the Properties tab called the Add-ons tab (the icon looks like a puzzle piece). Currently, the only thing in the Add-ons tab is the Activity Builder. If you are familiar with Promethean's ActivInspire software and its ability to make containers, then you already know what Activity Builder will do. This feature allows you to create interactive drag and drop activities that respond to student choices for immediate feedback. If the answer is correct, the container will accept the answer, if not, the answer is rejected and returned to its original location on the page. SMART has made the ability to create these containers very easy, in my opinion, must easier than Promethean.

I can't tell you how many times students and teachers have asked how to reset a page once they completed the activity without closing the file and not saving changes. SMART heard and answered with Reset Page. By clicking the drop-down arrow on the page itself in the Page sorter tab, and selecting Reset page, the page is returned to its last saved state without saving and reopening the lesson. How cool is that?  

If you want to get really creative, you now can customize your own creative pen by using objects on the page or picture files saved on your computer. Instead of the daisy pen, perhaps students would want to write with their school mascot or even their smiling face!


Another cool feature is the ability to record sounds right onto the object with SMART. No longer do we have to create a MP3 sound file and then insert that file into our lesson. This will make is so easy for primary grade teachers to record instructions for their students at the point of need.

This is super easy to do as well by simply clicking the object, clicking the drop-down arrow, and selecting Sound. You will then see the record button along with the options to add as a corner icon or to the entire object.



You still have the ability to link to websites that you use to enhance your instruction, but with SMART 11, you have the option to actually embed the web page right into SMART. This allows you to still interact with the website plus use the pens to annotate on the page and drag and drop images onto that page. The one thing I wasn't too wild about is you are totally dependent on the web page resolution. So it may be better to use the Transparency Mode to interact with the web.

You will notice you have a new pen tool that allows crayon style drawings as well as a regular polygon tool that allows you to draw polygons with 3 sides to 15 sides that has been added to the toolbar. SMART also allows you to fill irregular shaped objects you have drawn with pens as long as they are completely enclosed. You will have to group your fill color and the object together though.

All in all, I like the changes SMART has made and honestly think this will not be a huge learning curve to learn to use. Check it out when you can and tell me what you think and wish me luck on certification!

ASCD Conference & Brain Research

Okay, pinch me. I can't believe I had the opportunity to go to a session conducted by Eric Jensen, Brain- based Research Guru. I was so excited and Mr. Jensen did not disappoint. his presentation was called Secrets to Teaching with Poverty in Mind and I highly recommend it if you ever get a chance to hear him.

I like to take lots of notes so I can go back later and process everything. Of course, during his presentation, he kept incorporating brain based activities which meant we were moving every ten minutes. Note taking was a challenge! But somehow I was able to get some information down so I can now share with you guys.

Start everyday in your classroom with G-N-L.  Have students share what they are Grateful for, New Learning, and what they are Looking forward to (what will be a joy?). Change this up by having students share with partners, in small groups, as a writing assignment, etc. Makes a positive change in the brain emotionally.

Brain can change for the better (or for worse) and educators can help with the change. Stress (distress) causes the brain to shut down and actually shrinks brain cells. Once stressed, it can take from thirty to ninety minutes for the brain to calm down enough so learning can take place. Educators can help students deal with stress by appropriately giving them increasing control over their lives at school and teaching them coping behaviors.

Help the brain change for the better by helping students build their applied skills, providing opportunities for activity, and attitude shifting. Check out his book on the subject for specifics for school and classroom level success factors.

Using iPads or iPods in the Classroom

There were several sessions at the ASCD annual conference on using iPads and/or iPods with students even as young as PreK. I want to share a few of the apps and ideas for their use in the classroom.

Sock Puppets: This is a free app for iPod and iPad. It publishes the finished video to YouTube which could be put on a teacher channel for the class to view. Great for kids to publish book reviews, science experiments, public service announcements, biographies, autobiographies, debates. Let them use the app to explain math problems, practice fluency, or a new way to publish their own writing.



Storykit App: Another free app for both iPod and iPad that provides stories from the public domain. The cool thing is that it allows you to edit those stories as well as create your own books. So make those stories modern by changing up the characters and language. Let students create their own biographies at the beginning of the year as a cool way to get to know everybody in the class. Start a ABC book and add letters as you learn them because the stories can be edited at any time.


BrainPop Featured Movie App: Free for both iPod and iPad. School subscription is not need to access a featured free movie every day. Questions are asked after each video to check comprehension.




StopMotion Recorder ($ .99): It is an iPod app that will also work on an iPad. A toy video camera that allows you to make stop motion video like those claymation clips you have seen before. Allows you to edit as well as share on YouTube (again think about saving to your teacher channel.)






Songify: This iPod app turns speech into music, automatically. Kids love it and can be used for storytelling, spelling lists, water cycles, life cycles, math facts, and more. Also works on an iPad.




Show Me: The iPad only app allows you to record voice over tutorials and share online. Let your students use the app to create their own Kahn Academy like tutorials to share with each other and online. Maybe create tutorials for your school or district. You can also insert pictures and have students voice over information about the photo. Think of a new way to label the parts of a plant for example complete with the purpose of those parts in the plants growth and survival!



A couple of things to keep in mind when choosing and using apps in the classroom:

• Mobile learning allows teachers to layer learning which is a requirement in Common Core.
• You can't rely solely on the apps for higher order thinking skills, it is the teacher's responsibility to use multiple apps if necessary so students can analyze, evaluate, and create.
• You can't teach the same way with the new technology. Pedagogy has to change by integrating the device into a sequence of activities. 
• Take advantage of the social aspect of the device. 

What are some of your favorite apps for classrooms? How are you changing your teaching as a result?

ASCD: A Collective Call to Action

I was fortunate to attend ASCD's annual conference held March 21 through March 26 in Philadelphia. The conference was amazing and I highly recommend going to one if you can. Next year's annual conference will be held in Chicago, but they have several conferences throughout the year. The Summer Conference will be in St. Louis, MO in July. In my next several blog posts, I would like to share some of the things that I learned.

I began the conference with a two day preconference session on 101 Tools & Techniques to Improve Teacher Effectiveness. The one thing I love about ASCD is the research behind everything they do. The session was led by Drs. James Stronge & Leslie Grant who did a phenomenal job of tying research principles to ways to help teachers become effective. Research shows that ineffective teachers have a detrimental effect on students, so much so that two straight years of effective teachers cannot remediate the achievement loss caused by one year with a poor teacher. Research also shows that classroom management and a caring teacher are the two top teacher effectiveness variables for effective teachers.

During the session, the presenters kept our focus on the teacher rather than outside influences and provided tools and ideas to help teachers be the best they can be. Check out their books for more information. Both can be found at amazon.com.