Smart Boards Engage Students at West Shore Elementary

In her second-grade class, teacher Kelly Doyle divided the boys into one line, and the girls into another. Then, the two teams competed to see how fast they could answer math questions, using a Smart Board. For example, the problem 10 + 4 was written on the screen. The student touched the box below it with the correct answer, selecting 14 instead of 10 or 16.

Children at are excited about learning with the interactive Smart Boards, Doyle and fellow teachers Carlee Muenzer and Courtney Bernard reported to the Board of Education on Monday.

"They love it," Bernard said. "They're so engaged. They get to come up and touch it."

In the classrooms, Smart Boards engage students with different learning styles. There are different ways of learning, and Smart Boards visually show concepts to those who are visual learners, Doyle said. And, for those who learn by doing, they interact with the Smart Board to get the right answer.

Now, funding from different sources will add five more, so each kindergarten through second grade classroom will have one. In addition, there will be two Smart Boards on wheels, to take between special education, Kids Klub and preschool classes, Principal Sonya Shaughnessy said.

In its consent agenda, the board accepted a $1,971 mini-grant from the Fenton Community Fund, of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, for purchase of the five additional Smart Boards for West Shore Elementary School. As an action item, the board accepted a matching donation of $1,971 from the Lake Fenton Community Schools Foundation. And $1,000 from last year's Fun Fair proceeds completed the funding for the five Smart Boards, Superintendent Wayne Wright said. Each Smart Board is $950, plus shipping and handling.

Along with the Smart Boards at West Shore Elementary School, there are seven Smart Boards at Torrey Hill Intermediate School, three at Lake Fenton Middle School and five at Lake Fenton High School, Wright said.

West Shore started out with two Smart Boards on wheels, for a trial basis, that teachers could sign out, Shaughnessy said. Staff decided it would be best for students to purchase more, to help engage children in their lessons.

Muenzer said half of the proceeds from last year's Fun Fair, which raised more than $11,000, went toward nine Smart Boards for the school.

With the purchase of five more, which have been delivered to the school and will be installed soon, West Shore Elementary School will have 16, Shaughnessy said.

Muenzer, who is returning to the classroom after several years, told the board she was "probably the most reluctant of the three" teachers making the presentation, to embrace the Smart Boards. Now, "we feel blessed to have them," she said. In her early years as a teacher, "I was running dittos," Muenzer said.

With a Smart Board in her class, she doesn't have to pull down a screen anymore. The screens teachers use for the Smart Boards are about 55 inches wide, Bernard said. And, whatever is on the teacher's computer desktop shows on the Smart Board, Muenzer said.

"I don't think there is a moment my Smart Board is not turned on," Doyle said.

The teachers showed the board how they use Smart Boards for different school subjects, having their audience touch words on the screen and move them into the right category — identifying each noun as a person, place or thing.

"Your finger is like the mouse," she said.

Or, students or teachers can pick up a different "pen" from the Smart Board tray. The pen has no ink, but a blue one makes a blue mark on the Smart Board. Or, even if a student just holds a blue pen and uses his or her finger instead, a blue line appears on the Smart Board. In addition, teachers can change the pen colors to grab students' attention.

And teachers can create an account and share activities and lessons they've created at smartnotebook.com, Bernard said. They can collaborate with teachers in other districts, Doyle said.

For smaller, younger students, classrooms have risers for them to stand on to reach the Smart Boards, Muenzer said. The Smart Board doesn't take up all of the space in the front of the classroom, so there is still room for calendars and other displays teachers need.

Shaughnessy made a goal last year to improve technology, said Principal Kathleen Conover, of Wright said Shaughnessy was eager to test the first two Smart Boards at her school, once she learned they were available.

Probably, the future is in iPads for classrooms, Wright said. They can be purchased less expensively than Smart Boards.

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