Lake Forest High School Foundation smart board

LFHS Foundation Funds Math Department Implementation of SMART BoardTM Technology

Following an extremely successful pilot of the SMART BoardTM, an interactive whiteboard system, the LFHS Foundation recently awarded a grant to implement the technology in all math classrooms throughout the high school. The boards will be installed over the course of the summer. SMART Boards are a simple idea brought into the technology age. Here’s how they work:

A SMART Board looks like a traditional whiteboard on a 10-foot track, but looks are all it has in common with a traditional whiteboard. A SMART Board does for visual activities in class what a tape recorder does for auditory activities. It “records” the work of the teacher and the students as they work through problems, review formulas or write out definitions. There is no erasing. The board just scrolls to the next line just like a Word document or Excel spreadsheet. Not sure what happened a few minutes ago or want to compare this problem to the one that was done before? Just scroll back! Is there more than one way to solve a problem? Just split the screen.

To reference outside documents on Edline or on a website during instruction, a teacher can access the hyperlink on the SMART Board. Students have the dual benefit of the teacher in the room, and full access to supplemental reference materials available in a wide range of formats.

With the Foundation’s grant award, the department will also be purchasing wireless slates and SenteoTM Interactive Response Systems. The wireless slate functions as a mouse, pen, and eraser adding mobility and hands-on activity for teachers and students to access the SMART BoardTM from anywhere in the room. The Senteo™ remotes allow students to respond in real-time to a classroom question. The teacher reports and records their responses in a pre-programmed format. That’s right - the three students thrusting their hands in the air right away have nothing on the student who ponders a bit before answering. Now everyone gets to show his or her knowledge! As the students respond via their individual remotes, the system displays what each student knows about the topic giving the teacher immediate feedback.

This SMART Board technology allows classroom notes and discussions to be permanent and available for others. Students absent for the class can access the day’s work. Lessons from each class can be referenced by MRC tutors or forwarded to the LRC. As part of professional development, the Math Department can use lessons to discuss ideas and lesson plans. Now, every student, teacher and administrator with a vested interest in the classroom’s technology shares its benefits.

“The SMART Board and Senteo technologies will be as ubiquitous in our classrooms as desks and chalkboards,” said Tom Meagher, ID for the Math Department. “They have the ability to improve how students and teachers interact in and out of the classroom. Our collaboration with the LFHS Foundation throughout the grant process was very exciting. The math department liaisons listened to our vision and the resulting grant will enable us to deliver an innovation that enriches the math curriculum for all of our students.”

The high school math teachers, having piloted the program, are enthusiastic and looking forward to expanding the program. After the Grant was awarded, the teachers were excited to get started. Their immediate reaction was… “when do we get them and when does the training start?”

May 2009