Tequipment: Blogging About SMART Boards, Resources, Lessons, Training, Games

Episode 5: One commonly overlooked feature in Notebook software is Recognize Table. With Recognize Table, users can arrange objects on a page and literally wrap a table around them. Watch as we take simple pictures and text to custom fit a table. This feature is also available with Math Tools.

Episode 4: Showcasing the SMART Tools Icon, TeqCast viewers will learn quick tips and engaging new features all with just a few clicks. Watch as we discuss this commonly overlooked feature.

Episode 3: Watch this TeqCast tutorial on how to easily take text from anywhere to place in SMART Notebook software. While adding text to SMART Notebook from a website or Microsoft Word document can be tedious we share simple and quick ways to make it a snap. In this TeqCast learn to alter text font, size, color and more.

Episode 2: Accustomed to using Microsoft PowerPoint but need to learn more about SMART Notebook software? Now you can Import your PowerPoint presentations directly into SMART Notebook with very little if any changes needed. Watch our TeqCast tutorial as we guide you through the steps and some troubleshooting to help you get up and running integrating your old PowerPoint files with the new SMART Notebook software.

Episode 1: Notebook 10.6 has many new features including the Transparent Background. With the Transparent Background you are able to look at websites, Microsoft Word documents or Google Earth and all from within SMART Notebook software. Watch Teq experts, in our inaugural TeqCast, to learn how Transparent Background can change the way you use your SMART Board.

An Age-Appropriate Lesson for the Gulf Spill

Seeing a bird covered in oil is sad. The video below shows how your SMART Board can be used to teach young kids about the work being done by Audobon Volunteers (and others) to save oiled birds.

Seeing oil gushing uncontrolled into the Ocean is scary.  When early elementary-age students ask about the spill, The National Wildlife Fund has suggestions on how to discuss the issue so they will continue to  feel safe, and connected to the natural world. Their website also links to lesson plans on Wetlands and the Gulf Oil Spill.

Here are two examples of kids making a difference for the Gulf Coast Recovery effort.

Turning Lemonade into Help for the Gulf Spill

Fifth-grader Olivia Bouler’s artwork raises $125,000 for Gulf birds

How much is 70,000 bbl/day? The video below shows how Google Sketch-up can be used to create a 3D representation of the volume of oil seeping into the Gulf of Mexico each day.  Early this week BP plans to use the “top kill” method to seal the leak.  The video ends with an OE Cake simulation of the coming attempt to seal the well.  Sketch-up and OE Cake are free apps which work great from the SMART Board.

Click here for the Google Sketch-up Download Page

Click Here to download OE Cake for PC

Click Here to download OE Cake for MAC

Two programs which make advanced interactions between applications possible.

Nail it is a very small program (33 KB) which will have a big impact on how you think of the Digital Ink Layer.  Nail it is free, and it enables you to make any application window “sticky” (so that it will stay on top of all other programs), simply by clicking on it.  When you use Nail it, the application you click on is on top of every- thing, even the Digital Ink Layer.  For an example of how this can work with SMART Notebook, watch the video below.

Ghost It allows you make any window into a Ghost Window. A Ghost Window is translucent, and will always appear on top of other windows, but when a Ghost Window is not in focus, all clicks will pass right through it until it becomes the active window again. Watch the video below for more details.

Creating fractions has never been easier than with the new Notebook Math Tools feature, shape division. Now when a teacher puts a square or circle on a page and goes to the drop down menu they will see an option for shape division. When they click on this they select how many equal portions they want the shape divided into. Then vwala, an easy way to teach student’s fractions!

Legendary East LA Math Teacher Jaime Escalante has died at the age of 79. Escalante’s story, the subject of the movie “Stand and Deliver”, is a source of inspiration for many educators and students.

For many students, learning a fun trick like “Finger Multiplication for the 9s”, shown in the Movie clip below, can be the moment they begin to really love math.

If you want a trick for older students, try this method for mentally finding the cubed root of large perfect cubes from Drexel’s “Ask Dr. Math”:
Derivation of Cube Roots of Large Perfect Cubes

For a lot more Math in the Movies, check out Harvard’s http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/mathmovies/