A ‘SMART’ choice

Teacher Charles Angeli expects the same reaction when his students see a SMART Board for the first time.

“They look at the screen and say, ‘How cool!’ said Angeli, who teaches math lab at McVey Elementary School. “The second thing they say is ‘when can I use it?’”   

During McVey’s SMART Board presentation to the East Meadow Board of Education on Oct. 1, Angeli explained how the technology could transform a simple arithmetic problem into an interactive and exciting task for students.

His example of solving an addition problem (4 + 8) illustrated the use of virtual manipulative, a term for digital images used in mathematics.

Angeli demonstrated, by using the touch-screen on the SMART Board, adding the images of four rabbits and eight rabbits ... resulting in a group of 12 rabbits.

It also gives teachers the option of allowing a student to solve the equation in front of the class.

“Immediately, students are jealous of the first one who gets to solve the problem,” Angeli said. “It’s a fantastic motivational tool. They are more excited to see me and to do their math work.”

McVey principal Rita Meyerowitz said the SMART Board supports multiple learning styles. It also offers teachers the ability to scan in and download lessons and presentations, she said, and more easily provides absent students with the notes that they missed.

Teachers Kelly Ann Kelly and Katie Golden demonstrated a lesson on simple machines while utilizing the Smart Board, also known as an interactive whiteboard. They used interactive forms of the machines, and connected to educational Web sites.

The teachers concluded their presentation by unveiling a secret to making a review session fun for students: “Jeopardy!” Kelly and Golden demonstrated the simple machines version of Jeopardy, and how students are able to get instant answers to the questions.

The district’s SMART Boards, which cost about $1500, are not simply handed to instructors. Interested teachers must first partake in
training sessions. Then they must present their intentions to district administrators and explain how they plan on incorporating SMART Boards into their lessons.

Although limited to some classrooms, SMART Boards have been implemented throughout the district. As finances allow, the district plans on adding more to its collection.

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