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=CI 569 Practicum Project by Becky Roach = =Featuring Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D. -- Adam Elementary School = = = = Adam Elementary received a shipment of interactive white boards ([|SMART Boards TM]) from a bond issue election. Teachers were using these boards as projection screens instead of the interactive tool they were made for. A need was brought to my attention that the staff needed to be trained in how to use the boards and see all the possibilities of using the boards. I gave a 2 hour professional development workshop for my staff and showed them all the possibilities of the boards. Teachers were amazed at how they could apply the different tools of the SMART Board TM Notebook software to make interactive lessons to incorporate into their curriculum. = = = = Some of the reactions I got from my staff were, "I can't believe it does all this," "I never knew there was so much in the Gallery Sorter," "I can see more applications for this program." Three weeks after the training I saw the boards out and being used. Teachers were picking up the markers and using them for the first time. One teacher even made an interactive lesson for her students to use on laptops. = = I offered this training to my teachers on three different days so they could choose the day that was most conveinent for them to come to. This also allowed me to modify my presentation over the course of the three days. I had to change the handouts I used from the first day to the second day because I didn't leave enough room on the page for the participants to write. The handouts I used for the lesson were good for the participants to use. I only had icons on the page and the participants could write what they were called and give descriptions for each. This kept them engaged and they could put things in their own words for greater memorization. = = My participants liked that they followed my lesson of the applications of using the SMART Board TM Notebook in a SMART Board Notebook interactive lesson itself. As I clicked through the presentation the participants followed along with their own interactive copy of what I was doing (see Smartbd class.notebook). If I could change something it would be for my participants to bring with them a lesson that they could make interactive. I would have actually have them make a lesson that they could take with them completed or I could get them started on one for them to use. Having this ready made (or started on) lesson would have gotten even more of my class up and using their boards. = = = = = = = = =