Smartboards in the Classroom (Blog 14 Makeup)

A very important idea commonly taught in ELA classrooms is note-taking strategies and implementing an outlining system when writing papers. The use of Smartboards in the classroom during this lesson would be helpful in keeping students engaged in the note-taking process. The teacher could construct the beginnings of an outline for a research paper and could either appoint a student to sit at the computer and type up the rest of it as she speaks/presents in front of the class, or students could come up and write their own examples on the board. The use of the Smartboard would allow the teacher to present in front of the class at the same time notes are being annotated on the board. It would also allow the teacher to point out specific things through different colored markers and highlighting capabilities. The teacher could also use the "screen" capability to hide specific parts of the outline as she reaches different points in her lecture. 

The final and most important way the Smartboard can be utilized in any classroom, but an English classroom as well, is through the capability of "saving" any of the notes taken during class (including the drawings, highlighting, etc.) and then uploading those slides to a blog or online file for students to refer to later.