Smart Boards

     I found this great video on youtube explaining how Smart Boards work. I personally think they are great. It is a great inovative technology tool that can help kids learn. I did my level one field experience in a classroom that had a Smart Board and all of the students really seem to enjoy it and get a lot from it. The yare easy to use and even the students can use it. It is definitely a step up from the dry erase white board. The video is posted below from the site, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U05WeXPGlk.










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Web Conferencing

     I read an article on educationworld.com about classrooms web conferencing with each other from around the United States. I think this is a great idea for classrooms to get involved in. When I was in elementary school we had pen pals from other schools in other states, and I think this is a newer, better version of "pen pals". Students can experience first hand the similarities and differences of students from different schools. This is a great way to connect classrooms from around the United States or the world. Kids would love doing web conferences and learning from other students.




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"The Interactive Math Classroom"

     I found this great article from eschoolnews.com about how technology is being used in the math classroom to help students learn and collaborate with each other and the teacher. They are using the  TI-Nspire Navigator system from the company Texas Instruments to help students work with each other on math problems. These calculators can connect to each other and the teacher's computer. I thought this was very interesting because in class we learned about how collaboration helps students learn, and this is exactly what this class in Frankfort, NY is doing. I think these calculators are great. The teachers says her students actually look forward to coming to math class now. I think this is a great idea of how to engage students to actually want to learn. The image of the calculator is from  http://www.calculatorsbest.com/graphingcalculators-c-1_10.html?page=3&sort=products_sort_order.



The TI-Nspire Navigator systems look like this:




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