iTunes Video Podcast

I watched and listened to the video podcast Top 50 Things about SMARTboard with David Sladkey and Scott Miller. I really liked this video podcast because I am fascinated with SMARTboard. I cannot believe all the things this can do and how much it enhances teaching. In this podcast, there are slides with the list of the top 50 reasons SMARTboard is awesome. As the speakers are going through the list they are able to demonstrate all the capabilities of the SMARTboard. I loved being able to see what they were talking about rather than just hearing it.

Some of the great features that were discussed about SMARTboard were the magic pen that also can spotlight items, the fun pen that adds colors and graphics, a gallery that stores photos, and a virtual calculator. With almost any lesson, the teacher can also magnify things that need to be emphasized, clone items, and even add sound links from an MP3 player. Talk about keeping a students attention! The SMARTboard also includes a camera. This camera allows the teacher to be able to take a picture of anything on the internet and be able to use it in the lesson. Importing and exporting other documents from other places is so simple with SMARTboard. Color and different fonts are also great features to make a lesson eye-catching. My feature that I think is really valuable is being able to record a screencast. This is a great feature for substitute teachers. I would love to be able to record myself teaching the lesson when having to use a substitute teacher.

This video podcast was very informative and helped me understand SMARTboard even better. I feel that podcasts are very useful in the classroom and adding slides or video to these enhance student learning even more. There are so many new forms of technology for the classroom. It makes me very excited to think about all the different ways lessons can be presented to students. Today’s student seems to be so visual and hands on learning because of all the technology they are surrounded with in cell phones, mp3 players and video games. To be able to keep a students attention and focused, teachers have got to use the technology available to them. I know that I will be incorporating many of these ways in my class. I especially hope to be able to use a SMARTboard.