Interactive WhiteBoard Information Center

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What is an interactive whiteboard?	An interactive whiteboard is just like any whiteboard that you can write on with dry erase markers. What makes this whiteboard unique is that it ties into your computer and has sensors built into the board so that when you use the electronic whiteboard pen, the computer reads the pen as a computer mouse. Therefore, you can project your computer onto the interactive whiteboard via an LCD projector, and use access and manipulate any program or website with the electronic pen. The board also has special features like electronic highlighters, different colors for your pen when you switch it from mouse mode into pen mode, spotlight mode, and zoom mode. I can also take an electronic picture of notes, program, or website I am using, and email it to parents or students if they are absent or need additional reinforcement.
Where did I get my interactive whiteboard?	I received the funding for the interactive whiteboard from ING Corporation under the Unsung Heroes Grant. I purchased the whiteboard from Numonic Corporation. The Numonic whiteboard is one of the most advanced if not the most advanced board on the market for educators or businesses.
Where did I learn how to use whiteboards?	I was an employee of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), in northern Virginia for four years. FCPS understands the importance of technology in education and how it impacts the students. Therefore, employees of FCPS have the newest and most effective tools of technology available to them each year. While I worked at Liberty MS, I learned how to use SmartBoards which are a brand of whiteboards. When I came to Franklin Regional Middle School, I had the opportunity to have a Webster whiteboard in my classroom fulltime. Both of these types of boards were great, but they did not meet my needs completely. I went to a conference and saw one of the Numonic board in action, and I knew that was the board I had to have. I wrote the ING grant and the rest is history.
How does the whiteboard impact instruction?	This question can not be fully answered until one sits in one of my classes and observes how my students respond to this amazing technology. It helps me as an educator to reinforce items in a clearer fashion while using technology which is a medium that students respond to in an energetic and frantic way. I start off every class scanning all worksheets or activities onto my computer and projecting the items onto the whiteboard. By doing this, the students or I can manipulate the worksheets and activities with the pen mode of the whiteboard. I can also pop up my website and go to the previous nights homework which is scanned with an answer key. By reviewing the homework on this large board, re-teaching is a snap. Even the most uninterested students want to take part in classroom activities that use the whiteboard. The most awesome part of class is when we have the opportunity to use interactive websites with my interactive board. The best interactive site on the web is without a doubt, www.matti.usu.edu. This is the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives, and the activities on this website allow discovery learning to occur while using the most exciting and up to take technology on the market. The result of these lessons and sheer joy and engagement by both students and myself.
The Cool-eMath Interactive Whiteboard
I can use Microsoft Word or any Microsoft program such as PowerPoint to create notes, outlines, or slides to help my class reach their potential.
My website offers a variety of services to help my students succeed. Being able to access the website in this fashion just enhances the tool and reinforces students to use the website on their own.
This is the T-Rex House homework center. Students and parents can find the daily homework for all five core T-Rex teachers. The green hyperlinks are my homework assignments. Each link will take the students to a clean copy of the homework in case they are absent, forget or lose their homework. In addition, the link also has a solution key for the assignment. The key allows parents to check for mastery by the student or for students to engage in self-teaching if there is a question or concern.
This is an assignment on collecting like terms. The whiteboard allows Mr. Cooley the ability to draw or manipulate the worksheet to reinforce the concepts or answer questions of students, and at a touch of a button, the board cleans itself for the next question, concept, or activity.
At www.matti.usu.edu, there are a variety of games and activities that allow discovery learning to occur. This activity is the classic positive and negative chip activity that most math teachers do with real chips. Students often play with the manipulatives or lose them, and it can be costly to purchase new equipment for subsequent years. With this website, I can reinforce the same concepts, keep the students engaged, and reinforce the concept with technology.
At www.matti.usu.edu, there are a variety of games and activities that allow discovery learning to occur. This activity reinforces adding positive and negative integers in the format of a math puzzle. This game is rather difficult the first few times the students try, but with persistence and effort, they often master the addition of integers in a few weeks.
This is one of my homemade worksheets on distributive property and combining like terms. Bring the students to the board like this provides an excellent model to other students on how to complete a worksheet or reinforce a concept. Often, when the student is at the whiteboard I tell them that they are the teacher, and they must reinforce the concepts in the best way they know how.
At www.matti.usu.edu, one of the most popular games is the Towers of Hanoi. In this logic game, students must move smaller and larger plates from one pin to another. The rules of the game are simple: create a pyramid of plates from largest on bottom to smallest on top on a different pin then the plates originally started on and at no time can a larger plate be placed on top of a smaller plate. The second rule is what causes the most conversation and debate among the students when they are working on this activity.