SMART: Board Tools on the Desktop

I'm under the impression that you SMART users are a little more comfortable with your boards since you have had them for a while. Some of you may be new to the school or may have switched from a grade level that didn't have SMART. I know you are overloaded with interims, benchmarks, and just inspiring the kids to pay attention to you, but hopefully today's tip will help you get some extra mileage out of your SMART board and enhance your lessons.

When you turn on your laptop you probably have the SMART board tools open on the side. (If not, you can always open them.) When you click on the arrow button it should act as a mouse. When you use your finger you can click on your desktop just like using a mouse. This means that you can open up websites or Envisions and use the board tools right over the desktop.

Open Envisions from the web (http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com) or from your CD Roms and make sure the board tools are open too.

Now you can flip pages, zoom in or out, or write over the textbook right there on your board. As I've been in and out of classrooms I've seen people utilizing them with the Envisions Visual Learning Animations which is another great Envisions tool. And students can come up and do it too!

This means other websites and games are literally at your students fingertips. (Pun intended) I'm in the process of organizing my bookmarks so everyone can get to them, but for now you can check out what I have here: http://delicious.com/hilarythomas

Students can play games as a class or for centers.

Or, add notes and highlight pages on the web.

There are many ways to use your SMART board and I know you guys are already doing a great job adding interactivity to your lessons. 

Promethean: Annotate Over Desktop

There are many ways to use your Super Awesome Promethean Board. You know, that big thing taking up all that space in your room? You don't have to be a pro at using Activinspire to get a lot of use out of your board. We've talked about getting resources and we've talked about importing things into the software. But, you probably want to get more uses out of the board while you learn. Ok, so maybe you are overloaded with interim reports, benchmarking, and just actually inspiring the kids to listen to you. But at some point, deep down inside, you know you want to learn how to be an Activinspire pro. And that might be overwhelming too, especially if you aren't as tech savvy as you'd like to be. That is ok. We'll take a little bit at a time. That big thing taking up all that space in front of the room needs some love though. So this week I'll tell you how to get more mileage out of board and out of your lessons.

When you turn the board on, the pen acts as a mouse. You can use the pen on the board without even having Activinspire open. This is great because that means you don't have to have a fancy flipchart to get kids to the board. You can pull up any games or websites and the kids can play by using the pen as the mouse.

(I'm in the process of organizing my bookmarks in a place that everyone can search and access them, for now you can check out the few I have here: http://delicious.com/hilarythomas)

You can display this on the board and allow students to come up and move things around.

Or how about StudyJams? or demonstrating how to get to the quiz in Classcape? You can even transition from one subject to the next without having to go back to your laptop. Again, just use the pen as your mouse. Close out the web browser and open PowerPoint or Envisions.

This works great for math. You can open Envisions from the web (http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/) or from your CD Roms. This displays on your Promethean board just like any old projector would. But now you can control it from the board with the pen. You can flip pages, and zoom in or out.

This means students can do this from the board too. Get them up out of their seats. Plus, they'll pay really good attention hoping their turn will be next.

You can also open the student edition of the textbook and access a video at the beginning of each topic. Just go to the topic opener page. Close the contents tab. In the top right corner will be an icon that opens the video.

You can access this with your class coming to meet you at the board, all without returning to your desk or table to open it on your laptop. The students pick up on this really quick too, so you could even have a helper get it open for you while you get materials or help a another student. 

Now let's say you want to show students what to write, show the answers to the questions, or mark some notes over the pages. You don't have to save anything or import anything like with the PDFs. You will need to open Activinspire though. 

There's this handy-dandy button on the toolbar in Activinspire. It's called "Annotate Over Desktop" and it's pretty much life changing. 

When you click on the Annotate Over Desktop button, it will switch screens to your desktop, but keep the toolbar on top. You can switch back and forth. Open up other webpages or programs, but all with the toolbar on top. (You'll just need to be on the arrow to do all that.) Now you can choose the pen or highlight tools and write over the screen. You can now write on the Envisions textbook on your screen, or use it with other websites like this one:

Anything you can do in a flipchart, you can do on your other screens with the toolbar.  

To make it go away, just hit Annotate Over Desktop again and it will switch back to your Activinspire screen. It saves everything you've done until you erase it.

So turn on those boards and get some use out of them. Practice a bit and get comfortable with it. I promise it will add some oomph to your lessons and some excitement in your classroom.

SMART: Downloading and Using Resources

SMART users, I told you I would have some things for you!

I'm finally figuring out this SMART notebook software. The cool thing is, I'm finding it is a lot like ActivInspire for Promethean. That means, easy for me to learn and easy for you to flip back and forth between the two as well. I have checked, and you are able to use ActivInspire on your SMART board. So if you find a better resource on Promethean Planet or like something better in ActivInspire, you can use it.

Just pull up your SMART tools and choose the arrow. Then pull up ActivInspire and you can use all the tools with your fingertips. (You may need to calibrate it first)

You probably want to get into your Notebook software and make your own charts. You can get some awesome resources from the picture browser or from http://exchange.smarttech.com.

If you do not have a SMART Exchange account, now is a good time to register. It is free, and just like Promethean Planet, is a wealth of resources for your SMART board. You can search for Notebook lessons by subject, grades, or file types. To find resources to make your own Notebook lessons, search by File Type.

You can choose images, videos, manipulatives, and other types of files. I recommend browsing through them. You never know what you are going to find! When you find something you like, click Download. 

To get to the resources you have downloaded, open up Notebook. On the right side you will see four icons. Click on the one that looks like a picture. (I have noted that this toolbar is moveable to the other side. If yours is not on the right, it will be on the left.)

Your resources will in folders. Click through the folders to find your resources. You can also search for them in the search box at the top. Your resources will appear under the folders by type (pictures, interactive, etc.) To put it in your notebook, double click or drag the item to the notebook.

Voila! You've got some neat resources to amp up your notebooks. You might even get inspired for a lesson just by browsing through these resources.

Don't forget, the SMART exchange has tons of free Notebook lessons and other types of files to use to make your lessons interactive. I am wowed by some of the things you can do.

Promethean: Downloading Resource Packs

To make really neat flipcharts and save time finding pictures and interactive ideas, you can download what Promethean calls "resource packs". These are basically files saved into folders in ActivInspire that you can put into your flipcharts. These range from pictures of icons and people to background pictures or fully interactive charts.

To get these resources, you need to download them from http://www.prometheanplanet.com.

The most important resource pack you need is the one that is downloaded with ActivInspire. To get this resource pack, go to Promethean Planet and click Support.
On the right side of the page you will see Download ActivInspire. Choose your language, click Download and then download the blue icon that says ActivInspire Resource Pack.

You can also download resource packs by searching for them on Promethean Planet. You can search for specific topics, or just type in "resource packs". I recommend downloading a lot of them so you have them ready when you need them. Just download them like any other flipchart. You will know it is a resource pack because it will say "Resource Pack" under the title.

When you hit download, a pop up screen will appear and ask you to Open or Save, click Open.

It will download and open in ActivInspire. Another pop up will appear and ask where you would like to download the resources to. I always click Shared Resources. This way all my resources are always in the same place.

After this, another pop up may appear that says Indexing Library. Just let it index, it will take a minute or two. You can still browse Promethean Planet while this runs. 

When you want to view your resources, you'll want to view your browser page. (View-->Browsers). Click on the second icon Resource Browser.

Your resources will be in folders. To view resource packs you have downloaded, go to the folder labeled Resource Packs. Some other items may be in different folders by subject or type. If you are not sure where an item is, you can always search for it in the search bar on the browser. 

To put the items in your flipchart, either double click on it or drag it to the flipchart. 

Now you can put cool icons, pictures, backgrounds, or activities in your flipchart. There are fun clocks, money, KWL charts, and all sorts of other resources in there. It's probably a good idea to play around in it and see what is there. If you know what is there, you might come up with some ideas to use to make your own lessons more interactive.

Promethean: Importing Envisions into ActivInspire

Did you know there are many ways to use ActivInspire with your Envisions lessons?

Here is one idea you can use:

The resources such as "Problem of the Day" or "Daily Spiral Review" are all online. When you register your code with http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com, you have access to the student and teacher editions of the textbook online. The teacher edition lets you view the documents (labeled printable resources) online in a PDF file. This means you can see it on your computer, save it, and import it into ActivInspire.

I have used the resources in both ways, just as a PDF file or as a file imported into ActivInspire. The benefit of importing the document is that you can write all over it or have the students come to the board and work on it.

To import the PDF file, first go to your account on Pearson. (If you do not have this set up, you should! If you're not sure how, I can come help you. Just email me.) Open the teacher edition of the textbook and click on the Printable Resources tab. Choose the topic, the lesson, and the resource you want to view.

The PDF file will appear. You should save this and open ActivInspire.

Once in ActivInspire, go to File-->Import-->PDF.

Choose your file.

Choose the location of your file. You are able to choose to put the file in a new flipchart, at the beginning of the current flipchart, or at the end of the current flipchart. Remember, you can always reorganize your pages later if you want it in a different location. 

Then your file will appear in your flipchart. You can use it however you like. Maybe you want the students to highlight the important words in a word problem or show the answers to their homework. It's up to you.

If you find that your page looks too small:

There is a way to enlarge the page, and write on it. 

First, on the top right corner find the drop down box. It automatically says Best Fit. 

Click on the drop down arrow and choose Fit to Width. 

Your page will now look like this:

Now you are able to write on the page, and scroll to get to the other parts of the page. Your writing and highlighting, or whatever you have done, will scroll too.

You can also use this with any other PDF files you wish to use in ActivInspire. I used it all the time with End of Grade Test practice materials.

Don't forget to also check out the maths tools that are available in ActivInspire. You can get to them from the menu icon on the toolbar, or from the Tools section on the top.

Promethean: Downloading and Using Resources From Promethean Planet

Now that you are getting more comfortable using your Promethean Board and Promethean Planet, it's time to use the many resources available to you.

(I know, those SMART board users are grumbling at me. But I'm pretty sure you could use these resources too as long as you have ActivInspire on your computer. I will put up tips for you all too, I promise!)

First, you should already have a Promethean Planet account. (If you don't, see the previous post on how to do that.)

Second, go to http://www.prometheanplanet.com. Under the navigation bar is the search bar. Put in your topic there.

The next screen will have all available resources. You can sort through them all, or you can narrow your results by using the boxes on the left. 

You can search for multiple age ranges and subjects. In the blue box on the left side, click +Add. 

Personally, when I am searching for resources I like to add many keywords and age ranges. This helps me make sure that I am getting a variety of materials that suit my specific needs rather than wading through flipcharts that are for kindergarten through high school ages. Of course, sometimes you might not find a lot of flipcharts on the topic you are looking for. Other times it is only a matter of changing your search criteria. And sometimes, there just aren't a lot of resources for that topic. It's always worth a try though. There are thousands of flipcharts to choose from. 

So, now you have entered your search criteria and are looking through the results. In order for Promethean to make more money they always put the Publisher Created Resources at the top. You can purchase these for around $3 or $4. Under that list, is the list of free resources. These flipcharts have been created and uploaded by educators around the world for anyone to use. These are the flipcharts you want to focus on. 

Under each picture of the flipchart is a description and two buttons. Preview and Download. 

If you scroll over the picture of the flipchart it will give you a bigger screen to better see the flipchart and description. (I think this is REALLY annoying. It does this wherever you move the mouse and makes it hard to get to the other useful buttons.  You've been forewarned.)

Now that you have gotten over this annoyance...

You can hit Preview and be taken to this screen:

This screen gives you a complete preview of each slide in the flipchart as well as more information in the Resource Details box. It plays an automatic slideshow of the flipchart, but for faster navigation you can click on the arrows on the side or numbers at the bottom.

If you choose this flipchart, simply hit Download and it will open up in ActivInspire.


If you want to keep this flipchart, SAVE IT NOW BEFORE YOU FORGET.


My personal preference is to skip the previewing part and just download the flipchart. I download all the ones that look good. Then I go to ActivInspire and flip through all of them. I save the ones I like. I close and do not save the ones I don't like. I personally think this is faster. But now you know how to do both.

Now it's time to actually use the resources you have downloaded. Sometimes you will find The Most Perfect Flipchart. Ever. Most of the time you will find several flipcharts with good and bad parts in each. The good news is that you can take out the parts you don't like or even combine slides from several flipcharts into your own. Once you have downloaded the flipchart to your computer, you have complete editing control. 

So let's say you downloaded a couple of flipcharts. When I am editing I always have the browsers window open. (View--->Browsers) I can see all the slides by clicking Page Browser in the browser window.

 You can change fonts, colors, or add to the interactive parts using any of the tools on the right. Just click on what you'd like to change and edit away. I'll get more into that in other tips.

For now, let's say you like a few slides in each of the flipcharts. To put them into one flipchart you can copy and paste. Just click on the slide to select it. Then right click and Copy.

Then go to the flipchart you want to put it in. Right click in the browser window and Paste. You can reorder the slides as needed.

You can also change the pictures or items in the flipchart. In this one, you could open it every day and let students take turns giving the weather report. (You could even add another slide and create a graph.) But, we don't need the weather report for the British Isles. Click on the image and Delete.

You can then add your own image, like North Carolina. I copied this from Google Images. Just right click and Paste. To upload a saved image, go to Insert---> Media and choose your image.

Remember, that even though this is a lot of information for one post, you can always refer back to it as needed. Hopefully this is a good start in the right direction. This is really just a long explanation to something that's rather easy once you get the hang of it.

Good luck!