SMARTBoards: Where do I start?

Now that you are staring at a nice, clean, brand new SMARTBoard hanging on the wall in your classroom or rolling around on a stand what do you do with it. Here are a few things that you can do to get started amidst all the confusion and overwhelming thoughts of creating Notebook files.

First of all watch this video, it will help ease the pain a little bit.

Now that you have watched the video take a deep breath and start slow, the biggest thing that you can do to get started working with your SMARTBoard is to actually walk up to it and touch it. Now once you walk up to it and start using it now what do you do with it.

Well you are not alone in this, the Smart Tech website offers you a lot of resources in the way of videos, pdf and hands on practice documents to help get you started. You can view or read lots of information on the new version 10 software, activity toolkit, student response system and many other products available from Smart Tech.

There are many other Online Resources which you can access from the Gallery Tab in the software.
You have the SMART Exchange - you can search for content (Notebook files) that are aligned with state curriculum standards, by subject area, share your own resources and connect with other teachers looking for similar information. You can quickly preview and/or download the notebook files and have them up and running in your classroom in minutes.
There is also the Educator Resources - where you can search for lesson activities, resources, get ideas for classroom activities, look for curriculum based content, view current new articles and research, check out the community section to talk with others using SMART products around the world. And you can apply for grants to get additional products for your classroom.
Lastly you have the Teacher Resources - where you can talk with other teachers around the world who have been using SMART products for a while and those who are brand new and need assistance. Connect with teachers that are working on similar projects and curriculum that you are and work collaboratively to develop new notebook files.

Even though there are a number of online resources that you can use to get information, watch "How to" videos, and talk to other educators around the world there is a wealth of opportunities to get you going right in the software. If you go to the Gallery Tab and then to the Activity Toolkit there are many interactive pages that are Flash enabled which provide you instructions on how to use them and can have your students working collaboratively and interactively within minutes of choosing one of these resources.

A couple of things I can leave you with would be to take little bites, the more you use a SMARTBoard the more comfortable you will become. If you have questions or need help ask, no one will fault you for searching out an answer to a question. Lastly use the resources you have at your finger tips to get you started, whether you are a beginner or have been working with it for years.

video provided by: SMARTClassroom

Charge Your Small Electronics Without The Cords

Charge your Cell phone, PDA, iPhone without the cord!?! What? Are you serious?

Well the technology is here and now you can buy it yourself. Watch the video and get the low down.

The POWERMAT offers two charging pads, a home unit or a mobile unit at a cost of just under $100 each. Have not seen a dual pack yet, but that does not mean it is not out there. The mobile, or travel, unit folds down to store in its own case.

Specs: In box items

Each station will charge up to 3 devices at a time.
A USB connector to charge a 4th device
A Universal Powercube w/ 8 interchangeable adapters

• mini and micro USB
• Apple
• Samsung
• LG
• Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi
• Sony PSP

The big thing I can see is that it deals with is the mess of cables and having to find enough power outlets to charge all of the stuff we carry around with us daily. A great concept in the way that it charges my stuff.
Here is how it works: The system uses magnetic induction to deliver a charge to the devices on the mat with Receivers (that are sold separately).
And now there is always some bad with the good and it is that you have to buy those receivers separately for your devices. An additional cost of between $29-39 to have the receivers for your phone, pda, or game system.

All in all it looks like a great product with a lot of potential and will probably be under the Christmas tree this year for me and my family, and maybe between now and then they will come out with a package deal to get a receiver or two with the mat at a reduced cost. Either way it is under the tree at my house.

Image and video provided by POWERMAT

Let's Talk Money

I know that this is a sore subject for everyone right now. We do not know whether or not money is coming into the schools or going out of the schools. So what do we do to keep up with the Jones' so to speak?

Let's take a look at some available options out there that can assist us in easing the pain. Yes I am talking about Grants if you have not already figured it out. There are many grants out there that can help you as teachers to get what you think is necessary to aid in student achievement.

So what is available, now for a while now I have been sharing a few Grants through our WSFCS wiki page, but I think I will also give you some more information here as well as those grants.

Upcoming and Current offerings:

The NEA Foundation is offering $5000 per award to improve student achievement. Available for all grades and universities to show students involved in critical thinking and problem solving skills. Find out more here. The deadline for applications is October 15, 2009.

Send your Teachers, yes teacher, to attend a Free math and science education camp. The Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy is taking nominations for teachers in grades 3-5 to attend a summer camp where they will learn ideas and experiments to take back to their classrooms. Find out more information here. The deadline for applications is October 31, 2009.

AverMedia is giving away, once a month, their AverVision CP300 gooseneck 3.2MP document camera. This contest coincides with their Teacher Forum where teachers share best practices for teaching with visual technologies. Find out more about the contests here. This is an ongoing application so no deadline.

Check out my upcoming posts on how to successfully search and write for grants.

Google Earth Real-time Animations

Remember what you said when you first saw Google Earth and Google Maps, you might have thought they were great to have as a utility. Especially due to the fact that they were updated more often then other options available at the time. Then Google Earth added a 3-D layer to the program that gave you additional features as well as the ability to create points of interest, etc. Then a little over a year ago Google Maps added its Street View option and many people thought that was a great feature while others immediately thought it was creepy.

There is more out there now and it is coming from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Students and faculty there have been able to design and adapt CCTV feeds into animated 3-D representations within the software. Now you will be able to see how heavy traffic is on the highway before you leave the office. Or you could see how many people walk through Central Park on any given day. You could even watch a football game or keep an eye on your child while they are playing in the park down the street.

Oh yes, the "creep factor" red light is going off with loud booming sirens on this one. But hey we live in a voyeuristic world where we have made TV history for highest ratings for shows like "Big Brother" and "Survivor." But I digress...

The official release will not be unveiled at the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality(ISMAR) in Orlando, Fla. which is held Oct 19-22. Take a look at the video below to get a quick sample of what their new technology.

Video provided by Ga. Institute of Technology

Did U Know: Einstruction Mobi displays CPS data

Einstruction offers a new feature if you are using both their Classroom Performance System (CPS) and Mobi Interactive Tablet.


Einstruction offers a 2 inch KWIK view screen on their Mobi that allows you to seamlessly integrate your CPS data. As students answer questions on the response clickers the data is transmitted and displayed on the Mobi KWIK screen.




You want to make sure that the KWIK Tab settings are correct inside the CPS software. In the CPS software click on Settings on the tool bar and then Delivery Options. Click on the KWIK Tab and make sure that all of the selection boxes are checked.

After you have all the settings correct you engage a question session normally then on the Mobi tablet select the Clicker Softkey (third from the Left) and you will now see the data in the KWIK screen.

Images provided by Einstruction

Did U Know: Document Cameras

So far we have discussed some differences between Document Cameras (doc cams) and overhead, that they can take pictures like a digital camera and that they can record video like a camcorder. So what else is there to do with a document camera you may ask?

Both the AverVision and Queue software offer a(n) annotation feature that allows you to draw over your projected information, be it print, image or object. So lets take a look at what each software has to offer.

The Queue software from Lumens offers access to its Annotation tools from the link in the toolbar on the right side of the window.

You have 11 options available to you: The Pointer tool, Laser Pointer Tool, Pencil Tool, Text Tool, Draw Line, Draw Ellipse, Draw Rectangle, Eraser Tool, Clear All, Color Choice blocks and Line/Text size adjustment. You want to make sure however that you go back and select the Pointer Tool before you close the Annotation Tools because it keeps the last selected option in memory. So if you have selected the Pencil Tool and you close the Tool box you will still be drawing with the pencil when you click on the screen.

The AverVision software from AverMedia offers direct access to the Annotation tools from the main toolbar. The entire bottom half of the toolbar are your annotation tools.

There are seven options on the toolbar and some that will offer an additional pop-out menu of other available options. Freehand Drawing, Insert Line, Insert Rectangle, Insert Ellipse, Insert Text, Select & Paste and Eraser. If you choose the option of freehand drawing you will have an additional menu of choices like, thickness, color and style.

Both software applications offer you many different ways to identify, create, write, spotlight and make your projected images stand out so that they are out of the ordinary and unique.

Images provided by: AverMedia & Lumens

Facebook instead of 911?

Now I am all up for new and innovative ways to communicate but ####!!!

I read this article from techradar.com from this past weekend where two children were trapped in a storm drain in South Australia and rather than call "000", their version of 911 they updated their Facebook status to tell people what was going on.

The children, ages 10 and 12, were probably out being kids when they got in trouble. I am also probably sure that somewhere along the way their parents, relatives, school teachers, etc.. told them that if they were in trouble to call "000" to talk emergency services, not update their status on Facebook. IF this does not raise an eyebrow with you, parents and everyone else out there someone is living under a rock.

Now I believe in technology and work with it everyday to try to help people to better integrate it into their lives but this may have gone to far. It took more time to update Facebook than it would have for the children to call emergency services. We live in an ever changing society that offers our children technological advances that we as adults over the age of 30 never had growing up. But we still have to instill in our children, and I bet their parents did that afternoon, there are certain things you do when you are in an emergency situation... and it is not to update your Facebook status.

Some of you may be angry at the statements but as the MFS (Metropolitan Fire Service )spokesperson said "If they were able to access Facebook from their mobile phones, they could have called 000, so the point being they could have called us directly and we could have got there quicker than relying on someone being online and replying to them and eventually having to call us via 000 anyway."