SMART Notebook

Creating interactive SMART board activities using the SMART Notebook software is an essential part of the interactive white board technology. This allows students to take an active role in their learning process which in turn provides a platform for full student attention. Creating activities is not only easy but also limitless—activities such as matching, scratch and reveal, spelling practices, and vocabulary review are just a few examples of the variety of lessons that can be created. By individualizing each activity, it allows for the creator to alter anything and everything to fit the content that is desired. Incorporating the newest technologies—especially when they are interactive—is essential in the continued growth in our education system.

TeacherTube

Since YouTube is banned in most schools, it makes it hard to find accessible videos for the classroom setting—that was until TeacherTube came about. TeacherTube is a site that allows access to videos that can be used in the classroom with a strict set of rules so that the site remains unblocked by the institutions. They are ever-growing and have a video for practically any subject matter—however, the quality of many of the videos is minimal so it can be quite time consuming finding useable ones for the classroom.

---

Above is one video that has an educational value in a cute way… it would benefit those children learning the continents—Virginia History SOL 3.5.

Above is a video teaching of season changes… this is a good quality video and would compliment Virginia Science SOL 3.8.

SMART Board

SMART Board is perhaps the most useful newer technology available to teachers—and businessmen—nowadays. This interactive projector-type setup—that is synced with the classroom computer—allows students (and teachers) to interact using their finger in place of the mouse on the projected computer screen. This ensures easy navigation of all the typical computer software; but more importantly, SMART Board has a variety of distinct software available to create interactive lessons (or presentations) to help aide in student understandings of an unlimited curricular base. All in all, the SMART Board is the first major step in a more technologically based teaching approach that will not only open many doors academically but also provide the students with a more intriguing approach to learning. While educational facilities make use of this SMART Board, it is important to note that it is not solely an educational tool.

Google Custom Search Engine

Google has a feature that allows users to create custom search engines. The user can add as few or as many websites they desire and the CSE can be edited at any time. Google CSE will prove a useful tool for classrooms across the world as the teacher preselects websites which they feel most relevant to the subject matter they are teaching in order to narrow the search basin and thus allow the students an opportunity to search websites that are highly relative and informative to their topic(s) at hand. Incorporating Google CSE into a classroom environment is not only easy but it will also save valuable classroom time when the students are researching—since the websites being searched have been personally selected by the teacher (and checked for authenticity). With that being said, there is no downside to incorporating Google CSE into research based classroom assignments—it is even a promising tool for personal use as well.

---

To the left is an example of a Google CSE about American Indians. It is very basic, but allows a quick preview of what Google CSE looks like and is capable of doing.