The budget process is very interesting this year.  We are looking ahead to the 2009-2010 school year and there are technology items that will have to go.  Or at least they will not be refreshed, renewed, or revised.

I think we have an interesting opportunity.  With less funds available I think we eliminate the technologies that are “fadish” or of lower comparable value.  For sure we are keeping TurnItIn.com - our English classes have started using it and it is growing in its importance in the department.  The students seem to interact much more with TurnItIn as their vehicle.  It is an affordable product - so it is staying.

The amount of toner we will purchase will be less next year.  So we need to focus on technology that will eliminate or minimze the use of paper.  The Smart Board offers opportunities along this line by offering the ability to capture its output in the form of PDF files taht can be posted on our web site.  The hardship of using a printer might be a blessing in disguise.

Products like my PassMathSOL will get a look, too.  This product offers everything on line…the practice tests, problems, and analysis.  It is green from the respect of requiring the use of no paper.

My impression is that we need to make lemonade out of lemons (I hate that phrase).  The shortage of dollars provides us the opportunity to think outside the box.  It provides the opportunity for technology to be the answer to the shortage of technology dollars.

Smart Technology offers a series of 2 minute videos to help you get acquainted with the Smart Board.  These videos can be found at the Smart Technology web site. Below are links to individual Smart developed tutorial videos.  Enjoy…

Notebook Software 10 Basics

Objects in Notebook Software

Smart Notebook Gallery

Notebook 10 Page Sorter

Touch, Write and Save 10

I noticed that as an Instructional Technology Training Specialist, I am getting a wider variety of questions this school year.  The questions seemed to be more advanced in nature and the answers seem to require more time.  I think this is to be expected.

Teachers at my school are acquiring more and more technology integration skills.  As this happens they see more and more ways to apply and use the technology solutions.  Their imaginations are more fertile.  As they imagine ways to use the technology to benefits their classes, they see a need for more and more skills.  For example, using the Smart Notebook software, they can create movies of their presentations.  Now they want to edit their movies and add more narratives.

So Office 7 and Notebook 10 help illustrate the shifting of teacher knowledge of the technology available to them.  The software evolves and matures and it requires some update training.  But once trained the software opens the door to new opportunities and “how to” questions.  This means the Instructional Technology Trainer needs to not only keep up with software revisions, but needs to understand the evolving growth in the nature of the questions they will face on a daily basis.

My thanks to all of you who attended the Smart Board session on August 5, 2008 at Herndon High School. I thoroughly enjoyed being the facilitator for the session. I appreciated the positive feedback I received

I have posted the notes from the session. The notes were created with the Smart Board and then “printed” as a PDF file. Click on the Certificate to see the notes. Thanks again for participating.

SMART Technologies offers “hands on practice” exercises at there website.  You can click on the picture of the Smart Board and you will be taken to the site.  Yo will have to scroll down to find the exercises. 

For convenience here are the individual files that you can download.

Smart Board Basic Functionality
Smart - Using the Notebook
Smart - Using Notebook with Microsoft Office
Smart - Using PowerPoint
Smart - Using Excel
Smart - Using Word in the Classroom

SMART Technologies offers several Quick Reference Guides (QRG’s) to assist you when using the SMART Board.  They are available on the Smart Technologies website.  Click on the Smart Board picture and you will be taken to the site.

To save you time, here are links to the PDF files.  To see all of the QRG’s, use the link above.

Smart Board Basics
Smart Board Tools
Smart Board - Orienting
Smart Notebook Toolbars
Smart - Working with Galleries

The PowerPoint below is located on Google DOCs. It was created using the Smart Notebook software. Feel free to utilize the information and links you find in the presentation.

The Smart Board offers interactivity.  One of the most effective techniques is utilizing your own finger a the “mouse”.  You can stand at the Smart Board - or even better - your students can stand at the Smart Board and interact with it as if they are working at a stand-alone PC.  Using this technique will help engage your students in the lesson.  Click on the picture to the left and learn all about it.

Robert Fabian is a Certified Smart Master’s Trainer.  Click on his picture to see a sample of his work.  This video introduces the viewer to the Smart Board Pen Tray.  Bob is available to conduct training sessions at your school.  Contact him at to make arrangements.

You have all seen the refrigerator magnets that are separate words. One can take these words and construct sentences or phrases on your refrigerator (or any magnetic surface.) Here is a web page that permits teachers to enter a sentence or phrase and then the software deconstructs the sentence into a “refrigerator magnet” for each word. The words can then be moved around like magnets.

Check out the demo at XML Education. The demo is suitable for using in your classrooms with a Smart Board. Form the site’s own web page:

“This clever piece of software transforms your text into ‘magnets’ which can be dragged around the screen, colour coded and re-sized. You can also add new magnets at any time and remove any magnets that you no longer wish to use.

You can even store many words, sentences, poems and so on in a Word document so that the same information can be used over and over again without the need to re-type it every time you load the software.

The software can be used in many different ways and across every age group and subject area. For example, use XML Word Magnets to:

• Display and colour code key words and ideas
• Improve spelling by breaking words into individual letters or phonemes
• Remove and replace words to improve vocabulary
• Improve grammar by colour coding nouns, verbs, adjectives and so on
• Quickly alter the order of words in a sentence
• Drag words into groups
• Put words or ideas into rank order
• Create a time line
• Keep a list of students who are working well
• Create a simple scoreboard which is easy to update
• Display sums and let students add and drag the answers
• Create a seating plan

The possibilities are endless! The software is incredibly simple to use and will load and be ready to use in a matter of seconds.

If you require more information about XML Word Magnets, visit http://www.xmleducation.co.uk/ to view a demo or contact david@xmleducation.co.uk.”