Free Children's Books

Free Technology for Teachers has found a great resource for free children's books that are great for use on your smartboard.

5 Tips on getting Students Using the Smartboard or MOBI

“Your students are tired of watching their teacher use the smartboard.” - TIES Trainer

1. If you expect most or every student to use the smartboard, keep the activity quick and easy. Instead of having students write with the MOBI or Smartboard, have them just move an object or make a mark.
2. The first few times a student uses a MOBI or Smartboard, they will be very slow. Therefore, allow time for students to play and explore the smartboard during a time when you can help them, like indoor recess or morning work.
3. Morning Sign in: Using the shapes toolin Smartboard Notebook, you can quickly create a shape with the students name on it. Then when they arrive in the morning, they can do their lunch count, make a graph, or even put their name in a Venn Diagram.
4. Have your students use the smartboard or MOBI as a Center. After you have taught a lesson or activity with the whole class, you can begin assigning it as a center. At first, the rest of the class will be a bit distracted by this, but after a few days, it will become just one of the centers they will rotate to.
5. During independent work time, have a few students write their answers on the smartboard or MOBI. This way, when everyone is done, you can go over together the answers together, and you don’t have to make your class wait while the student writes their answer on the board.
   

Why does my SmartBoard have a green blinking light when I connect it?

So, your SmartBoard isn't working? And you are getting a green blinking light?

The most likely culprit is that when your hard drive goes to sleep it breaks the connection with your smartboard. The only way to make it work in this case is to restart the computer.

This information is from SmartTech. Apparently there is a problem with Mac OS 10.6.3 which causes this problem.

You can also avoid it by unplugging your SmartBoard from your computer when you are not using it, rather than leaving it plugged in all day. Also always leaving the power to your computer plugged in at all times when you are using the SmartBoard.