Smart Exchange

 

I was introduced to Smart technology about 4 years ago at a school PD session lead by the math department head.  Like much PD it was a great resource and tool, but to find the time to incorporate into my courses was the challenge.  And the information provided was focused on the capabilities for math, which I was not teaching at the time.  We had a few Smart Boards throughout the school but most teachers were using it as a projection screen and not utilizing all the potential it has.  I have to admit, I was doing the same.  I had recently converted most of my course content to PowerPoint and did not understand the different between Notebook and Power Point.  Fortunately, I have the opportunity to attend a 2 day PD session the summer to really understand the use of Smart in the classroom.  This time allowed me to become comfortable with the technology and try to incorporate Smart into my classes.  I was also introduced to Smart Exchange at this PD session which provided an abundant of resources and ideas to help generate lessons.  The Gallery Essential and Lesson Toolkit provide subject specific templates created in flash for you to use and adapt in your course.  Smart Notebook is now my first choice when creating teacher-directed lessons.  I also encourage my students to create presentations and use some of the available tools I use in lessons for their assignments.  Its a very user friendly and interactive program that continues to improve student engagement.  And the Smart Exchange website provides even more teacher created resources to share by subject and grade.  Sometimes you don't have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to tweak it!