SmartBoard Exchange

Resources for Career Planning are abundant online.  As you might imagine, every business magazine, newspaper, college career center, etc. has advice about interviews and resumes, job searching, and such.  However, finding something tailored to the HIGH SCHOOL classroom, can be a bit more challenging.  And so the saga continued when searching the SmartBoard Exchange.  There are a couple of articles disguised as "lessons" and some career activities targeted towards younger students, but not much that would enrich the secondary curriculum.

What I found to be more useful in the Smart Board Library was the Lesson Activity Toolkit.  I didn't realize the variety of templates available to make interactive "games" or activities.  While I think some of the novelty of the SmartBoard has worn off with our high school students, this is another tool I'll add to my toolkit when it comes to quick assessments and exit slips.  (On a side note - my students are currently planning a Learn & Serve project where they will be giving a health lesson to preschool students.  I will be showing them these tools that they may wish to incorporate in their own lessons.  I think they'll be a hit with the little ones.)  The review templates, such as keyword match, are quick and easy to use.  I literally made one in about 5 minutes to use at the end of class.  They are also different and more engaging than simply asking questions or paper and pencil exit slips.  These are the plusses, however, the downfall is that ONE student gets to demonstrate their knowledge, while the others watch.  I find socrative, polleverywhere, or my favorite - edmodo, to be more useful in assessing individual student knowledge. 

It was a good use of time to be exposed to some of the additional tools available on the SmartBoard.  I've fallen into a rut of simply using it as a fancy whiteboard and am happy to have additional tools to add to my teaching toolkit.