Becoming familiar with a classroom smart board, using interactive features and implementing exciting educational games helps engage students in learning. You can install a smart board quickly and easily and develop creative lesson plans for your students. From educational videos to group games, a smart board offers countless opportunities for fun learning.
Benefits of Classroom Smart Boards
As the educational use of technology grows, smart boards are more common in classrooms. A smart board is an interactive whiteboard with advanced learning tools, pre-installed software, web browsers and apps. Touch technology facilitates effortless interactivity, and comprehensive solutions provide teachers with immeasurable possibilities.
Smart boards allow teachers and students to open files, browse the internet, watch videos, view images and play interactive games. Teachers can download content and import files, making it easier to prepare and teach engaging lessons.
Students are more engaged in learning when they like and enjoy school. Installing a smart board in your classroom helps you perform in-class research, find new and exciting lesson materials and increase student engagement with activities students love.
A Teacher's Guide to Using a Smart Board
Understanding your smart board's capabilities can help you enhance your classroom and teaching processes. Consider the following tips for optimizing your smart board use in the classroom:
Become Familiar With the Smart Board
The more you know about your classroom smart board, the more options you have for creative lesson plans and class activities. Start by reading the smart board's user manual, and then dive into an interactive feature.
Focusing on one interactive feature at a time is the easiest way to become familiar with the smart board. You can start by playing educational videos from the web browser or downloading an educational game app and using it in a lesson plan. A smart board's endless capabilities can initially seem overwhelming, but giving yourself time and patience to learn makes it a fun, exciting experience.
Keep Students Engaged With Visual Learning
Visual learning tools and methods can help you catch students' attention and keep them engaged with lessons. Using diverse resources and activities with frequent transitions can help students remain focused. This is especially helpful for students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) because excitement helps them engage in tasks. You can increase student focus with the following tips:
Incorporate movement in lesson plans: Ask students to walk up to the board and use the touch screen. This brief movement allows students to get out of their seats momentarily and can help them remain interested in a lesson.
Take advantage of visual learning tools: Tools such as videos, images, maps, charts, graphs and illustrations can help visual learners understand content and remain engaged while you teach.
Implement various activities: Students may lose interest in an activity or lesson if they focus on it too long. Vary your lesson plans so students can engage in new and interesting activities throughout the day. For example, you might combine a short educational video, a presentation and an interactive game to emphasize a lesson's main points.
Create pattern interruptions: Frequent transitions create pattern interruptions, refocusing students' attention on the lesson.
Utilize Interactive Features
Smart boards increase lesson interactivity and student participation. Once students understand how to use the board, it's a fun tool they can use to play a part in your lessons. They can use smart board pens to work out problems on the board, write notes for the class to see, brainstorm ideas and play interactive group games. Students can also display their own artwork or slides, making projects more fun for students to prepare and present in front of the class.
Some smart boards allow students to join smart board activities remotely through their personal devices. Touch device users can connect through the cloud, or you can provide interactive response clickers for students to submit answers to game questions from their seats. You can also link a hands-free mouse so students can use the board from their desks.
Teach students how to use interactive tools and features responsibly. For example, students should avoid applying too much smart board pen pressure to avoid damaging the board.
Implement Games and Fun Learning Activities
When your students master a smart board's interactive features, you can include educational games in your lessons. Consider implementing the following games and tools:
Team quiz: Feature multiple-choice questions on the board and allow students to cast their votes for the correct answers from their seats. This activity is a fun way to quiz students and prepare them for an upcoming test. Consider separating students into teams and rewarding them with extra credit points or small prizes when they answer questions correctly.
Hot seat: Place a chair in front of the smart board and ask a student to sit facing the class. Feature a vocabulary word, historical figure, historical event or scientific term on the board, and ask the class to give the student in the “hot seat” clues to help them guess the correct word.
Jeopardy: Jeopardy features categories students can choose from to answer questions and earn points for their teams. You can find an educational jeopardy app or online template and fill it with questions about your lesson plans.
Spin-the-wheel: Find an online template for a game show wheel and allow students to take turns spinning the wheel on the board and answering corresponding questions. You can find an interactive wheel online or through a smart board interactive games app.
Vocabulary word Pictionary: Apps such as Scribble Together Whiteboard create a virtual drawing board where students can draw pictures from their desks and feature them on the smart board. You can use this to help students learn vocabulary words in a unique way. Give each student a word and ask them to draw the word's definition on the smart board.
Safely Mount a Smart Board in Your Classroom With AVMountsUSA
A smart board is an exciting interactive classroom tool with nearly endless possibilities. You can use a smart board to develop creative lesson plans and engage students in learning material. Interactive games, videos, online images, graphs, maps, diagrams and illustrations bring educational topics to life and help students enjoy learning.
Mounting a smart board safely is the first step to implementing this incredible technology in your classroom. A properly mounted smart board provides peace of mind that your technology is secure and ready for use.
AVMountsUSA's over-the-board display mount facilitates fast and easy smart board installation. This installation solution saves time, helps schools stay within their budget and avoids exposing hazardous materials. You can use an over-the-board mount to install a smart board without damaging the board underneath, keeping your existing classroom features intact. Contact AVMountsUSA to learn more about our over-the-board mount and how you can install a smart board safely and quickly.