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

Hello, friends. Did you realize that when you return to work on Monday, it will be June? June!

Earlier this week, we posted about what teachers can do this summer to prepare themselves to use the SMART Board when the school year starts.

Which got us to thinking, what can we do this summer when many teachers will be on vacation? The answer: We can split time as an educational technology website and as a gossip blog. We would like to try this out.

Story 1:
Ashley Simpson is now married to Pete SMART Board of the band FallSMART Board.

Story 2:
Senteo Clooney broke up with his girlfriend Sarah Larson.

Story 3:
Amy SMART is currently filming Crank 2. That is actually just her real name. No word on whether she capitalizes all the letters in her name or not.

Back to our normal subject matter, we mentioned the new elementary lessons posted to our Educator Resource Center. Today we are adding new high school lessons as well. Feel free to check those out and download them.

A big hit this week was our post on hubblesite.org. If you have not checked it out yet, click on the link now. It is an excellent science resource.

We had a great training week. To all the teachers we saw this week, we know we don’t say this enough, but you rule. Thank you to:
PS 62X, PS 153K, Holy Family Parish School, PS 138K, PS 10K, PS 115Q, North Ridge Primary School, Young Adult Borough Center, PS 62Q, PS 39R, Beth Jacob of Borough Park, PS 48K, Sequoya Middle School, PS 36Q, Fannie Lou Hamer HS, High School of Graphic Communication, PS 28Q, Middle Country Teachers Center, PS 13R, Saint Mel’s, NYIT, and Acorn Community High School.

See you next week.

It has been a great week here at TeqSmart, but we are still smiling at the thought of the three day weekend that is mere hours away.

This week we had to reconstruct and repost last week’s The SMART Board Versus. Our theories as to its disappearance are as follows: (1) Bill Gates discovered the unflattering photo of him and became irate that his PowerPoint had lost its battle with the SMART Notebook (2) We hit the wrong button or (3) Gnomes did it. Regardless, we were happy that this edition brought in no angry responses like last time. Thank you, Scott, for your positive comments.

We were also excited to bring you news of SMART Boards on television. We hoped everyone checked out the segment, if not for the in-depth look into technology at least for the crazy voice of the Frontline narrator.

Oh! And how cool are the new side tabs? We are stoked that blog users can now view the most recent lesson plans added to our Educator Resource Center. For those of you who have never used our ERC, imagine the containment facility from the movie Ghostbusters. Now, imagine that instead of captured ghosts, it was full of lesson plans, review games, graphic organizers, and templates created in the SMART Notebook for use with the SMART Board. Also, if you open the Educator Resource Center and release a lesson plan, it will not hasten the coming of Gozer and the end of the world. Actually, it’s very little like Ghostbusters, but that was a really good movie. Check out the ERC, it’s a great source for free resources.

Our other new tab lists the most recent posts in the Forum of the ERC. The forum is an excellent place to share ideas and find answers to questions about SMART Board and other educational technology fields. Also, one of our mothers posts there. No, seriously.

We hope everyone has an excellent weekend. We would like to end by giving a giant collective thank you to all the schools we trained at this week:

PS 80Q, PS 62X, PS 101K, East Williston Northside School, PS 156K, PS 19X, The Essence School, Queens Alternate Learning Center at MS 53Q, PS 152M, Dinklemeyer Elementary School, IS 145Q, Queens Alternate Learning Center at IS 126Q, PS 10K, Young Adult Borough Center, PS 69K, PS 36Q, PS 108Q, Queens Alternate Learning Center at MS 231Q, Queens Alternate Learning Center at Flushing High School, Queens Alternate Learning Center at August Martin High School, PS 100K, Sacred Heart, PS 36Q, Saint Raymond Parish Elementary School, Guardian Angel, Saint Elizabeth, and Holy Name of Jesus.

See you next week!

Is it Friday already?

Today is a milestone for the TeqSmart blog: our 50th post. We looked it up and gold is the customary metal associated with a 50th anniversary. Based on that information, we commissioned a giant golden SMART Board. We wonder if the Sultan of Brunei has one already.

This week, we reported on SMART Board lessons on Scholastic’s website and a contest to win a trip to London. We will return next week with more updates, alerts, and other information. We thank everyone who has sent us questions and suggestions and continue to encourage anyone with thoughts or concerns to share them with us in the Comments section or at training@tequipment.com.

A big thank you goes out to all the schools we visited this week: PS 201Q, PS 62Q, PS 86X, Yeshiva of Flatbush, Our Lady of Mercy Parish Elementary School, Pelham Preparatory Academy, PS 173Q, PS 232Q, PS 223Q, PS 152M, PS 11Q, PS 81X, PS 147Q, West Babylon JHS, IS 27R, IS 232X, PS 10K, Middletown High School, PS 327K, MS 302X, Saint Demetrios School, Saint Teresa School, Holy Family Parish Elementary School, Saint Joseph Elementary School, PS 189M, PS 241K, PS 186Q, PS 101K, Lakeville Elementary School, PS 138K, PS 183Q, East Woods School, Brooklyn Alternate Learning Center, PS 100K, PS 241K, Wood Park Primary School, PS 19Q, PS 39R, PS 134X, Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Patrick’s, Blessed Sacrament, and IS 190X.

What a week.

We would like to point everyone’s attention to a comment on Monday’s post when we talked about a contest SMART is running. Wendy McMahon posted to let us know that they are running ANOTHER CONTEST! She writes:

“SMART is also holding a video contest!

It’s called the Extraordinary Moments Video Contest and it’s being hosted on TeacherTube.

Here’s a link to the contest page along with some details…
http://teachertube.com/extraordinary.php

We’re looking for 30-second commercials that best answer this question:

>> How do SMART products help you create extraordinary moments in your classroom?

Creativity counts. So does technological wizardry. But most of all we’d like to see how you and your students use technology to create a fun, interactive learning environment.

The Extraordinary Moments Video Contest is only open to educators in North America. The contest starts April 21, 2008, and runs until May 31, 2008. The winning commercial will be announced and debuted at National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) 2008.

The first place entry will win a trip to attend the NECC 2008 in San Antonio, Texas, to attend the premiere of their commercial. The winner will also receive a SMART Board interactive whiteboard, valued at approximately USD$3,500.

Best of luck to all the entrants – we can’t wait to see what you come up with!”

There you have it. Get cracking, everyone.

We also want to thank David Riddell and Scott for their thoughts on our post about SpaceTime. We always appreciate feedback. Except in speakers, now that’s annoying. (Today’s bad joke of the week!)

Once again, we thank all of the schools and other organizations that brought us in for trainings this week. You rule:

PS 48X, East Brooklyn Access GED, PS 62Q, International High School, Brooklyn Alternate Learning Center, PS 42X, PS 173Q, PS 63, The Neighborhood School, PS 223Q, PS 11Q, Saint Thomas Aquinas Parish Elementary School, PS 50R, PS 29Q, PS 302X, Legacy School for International Studies, Arlington Middle School, Jumpstart Academy, Lower East Side Prep High School, IS 228K, PS 107X, Yeshiva Torah Vodaat, Freshman Center, JHS 74Q, PS 189M, PS 19Q, MS 158Q, PS 133Q, PS 100K, Middle Country Teachers’ Center, Hunter College High School PTA, PS 39R, NY SOS Conference, Bronx Alternate Learning Center, Holy Cross, Our Lady of Pompei, and Saint Joseph.

Have a great weekend.

We end a big week here on the blog just as New York City teachers begin Spring Break. In the last few days we:

(1) Downloaded the brand new Notebook 10.
(2) Crowned a champion of the SMART Notebook Lesson Contest. Congratulations again to Matthew Wentworth, who earns a place in the TeqSmart Hall of Fame alongside Amy Kuchera, the winner of our Picture Contest from a few months ago. (There is no actual TeqSmart Hall of Fame, yet. Yet. Someday you will be able to strap the family into the car and drive them out to Farmingdale, NY to see the historical artifacts of TeqSmart, which would mostly include empty coffee cups and Panera Bread receipts.)

So, how about SMART Notebook 10? We like it. As with any new software, we are hesitantly examining it and looking for glitches. It has run pretty smoothly so far, however, and we are anxiously looking forward to training teachers to use it. That said, we again remind everyone that schools may want to wait until summer to begin installing 10 on computers as it may be difficult to switch over with so little time left in the year. Expect to start seeing some Notebook 10 files show up on our Educator Resource Center.

We would like to thank Scott for his comment on Notebook 10. Anyone else who downloads it and would like to share their thoughts, please feel free to post in the Comments section.

As always, we would like to thank the schools who very invited us into their schools this week to train:
Our Lady of Grace, IS 349K, PS 152X, PS 19X, PS 42X, PS 11Q, Saint Lucy Parish Elementary School, Legacy School for International Studies, Marlboro HS, PS 161K, PS 290M, Aviation HS, Susan E. Wiley Elementary School, Al-Ihsan Academy, Lee F. Jackson, Highview School, Saint Joseph Elementary, PS 152M, The Children’s Storefront, JHS 78K, Howitt Middle School, Yorktown, St. Francis Prep, PS 107X, PS 175Q, PS 39R, Board of Education: Division of Human Resources, George Ross Mackensie Elementary School, Al-Madinah School, Saint Mary’s Elementary, Notre Dame School, Long Beach Catholic Regional School.

You guys were great. Check back with us next week.

Welcome to the Friday Wrap Up.

This week, we brought you information about Trailfire, an Internet service that we approve of heartily. We also reminded you of the SMART Notebook Lesson Contest, which ends Monday.

This was a light week for comments, and we certainly cannot blame our New York City teachers who are so close to vacation they can smell it. Also, it was 72 degrees in the City on Thursday. 72 degrees! We were all busy walking around outside without jackets. That is correct, some of us even wore shorts.

We hope this has been a good week for everybody, and we would like to thank the excellent schools that welcomed us this: PS 53K, PS 48X, Saint Ann, Roscoe Central School, CUNY Law, Evander Childs HS, PS 15X, Pelham Preparatory Academy, PS 326 K, PS 152X, PS 282K, Sea Cliff School, PS 44R, Yeshiva of Flatbush Elementary, Saint John the Baptist, Legacy School for International Studies, St. Francis Prep, Marlboro Intermediate School, Food and Finance High School, PS 290M, Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin, BOCES HS at West Nyack, PS 11Q, PS 327K, Sunset Park Preparatory School, IS 392K, PS 96Q, PS 152M, JHS 78K, Lee F. Jackson, Highview Public School, Incarnation School, Saint Elizabeth, Saint John Villa Academy, Eugenio Maria de Hostos, School 30, PS 39R, Blessed Sacrament School, Saint Andrew Avellino, IS 172M, Guardian Angel, Mount Carmel/Holy Rosary, Sain Patrick Elementary School, School 23, Performing Arts and Technology.

We had lots of fun and hopefully we’ll see all of you again soon. Have a great weekend.

Every Friday as we write the Wrap Up, we resist the urge to call it the Rap Up and compose it like old school Kurtis Blow or Grandmaster Flash song. This week we held back again, but we make no promises about next week.

This week, we brought you an AirLiner activity that has gotten excellent feedback. If you create anything that you think will help others using any of the technology we talk about, please feel free to send it to us. We run our Educator Resource Center as a free resource, and we are always trying to help it grow. In that spirit, we posted this week to remind everyone that the deadline for the Lesson Plan Contest is creeping up on us. We also reminded everyone that Notebook Version 10 is being birthed onto the world very soon.

Comments of the Week:

• Keith posted some useful tips for the Airliner.

• Darnel let us know how well the AirLiner activity worked for him.

• Chad stayed classy, San Diego.

• Scott voiced his excitement over Notebook Version 10.

Next week, we are going to post some new Senteo materials and highlight some more tips and updates for the SMART Board. It’s going to be awesome.

We would like to thank the schools we visited this week: PS 39R, PS 9K, Legacy School for International Studies, PS 326K, PS 152X, PS 63M, PS 29Q, PS 86X, Saint Saviour High School, Sea Cliff, Pleasantville High School, MS 244X, N.S.S.A, MS 343X, Millennium High School, Aviation High School, Barry Tech, Howitt Middle School, Compound Elementary School, PS 101K, School 30, Paul Robeson High School, PS 141K at MS 35, Ps 152M, JHS 78K, 51st Avenue Academy, PS 48X, Epiphany School, PS 175Q, Collegiate School, Young Scholars Academy, Marlboro High School, Saint Margaret Mary School, Holy Name of Jesus, Saint Charles Borromeo School, Saint Rose of Lima.

All of you were great, thanks. See you next week.

Happy Friday, everyone! Here’s to another productive week.

We posted on Senteo this week, and expect to see another post on that subject next week. As always, we encourage readers to comment and let us know if there is anything they would like to see on the blog.

We would like to extend a hearty thank you to all the schools that we visited this week: PS 48X, Evander Childs HS, MS 328M, PS 152X, PS 326K, Greeburgh Eleven, Immaculate Conception, Ogden Elementary School, PS 79X, UFT Teacher Center, Bishop Dunn Memorial School, PS 146Q, PS 232X, Brandeis School, Paul Robeson HS, Food and Finance HS (thanks for the streudel!), Norwood Avenue Elementary, Walt Whitman HS, Aviation HS, PS 101K, PS 145Q, and Earl Vandermeulen HS.

Enjoy the next couple days. We’ll see you next week.

Hello weekend.

We want to thank everyone who has entered the Notebook Lesson Contest so far. We have seen some excellent work, and we hope to see even more. Remember, the contest ends April 14, so send in your entries now.

Comments of the Week: We would like to point out that no one posted their own SMART Board jokes in the comments section of our Tuesday post. We apologize for making our jokes entirely too awesome, and thus setting too high a bar. Next time, we will aim for less funny.

Let’s hear it for the schools we visited this week. All of you rule: PS 101K, PS 346K, PS 40Q, Sewanaka High School, Saint Joseph, JHS 74Q, Mott Hall 4, PS 141Q, Middletown, Aviation High School, Greenburgh Eleven (isn’t that a movie?), PS 117Q, PS 146Q, IS 55K, The Epiphany School, PS 100K, PS 133Q, PS 159Q, PS 79X, PS 75K, PS 52R, Scholastic Academy #18, PS 282K, PS 48X, Governor George Clinton ES, Evander Childs HS, PS 31 at JHS 151, PS 110X, Aviation High School, Division of Human Resources.

Have a wonderful weekend and holiday. See you next week for updates and tips and other awesomeness.

Hello friends, it’s the end of another week. Our loyal readers might note that we did not post a Friday wrap-up last week as we were all at the Teaching and Learning Celebration in Manhattan, which we posted pictures of this week. (Please be kind, since those pictures we’ve all gotten haircuts and gone to the gym numerous times. We don’t look like that anymore.) We posted this week on Diigo as well, which you can read about by clicking here.

We’d like to thank David Riddell for commenting on Diigo as well. We always appreciate and encourage comments.

Next week we will be back with more resources and awesomeness. Please check back in with us on Monday for our next post.

Finally, we want to thank the schools we visited this week: Northshore School District, PS 48X, PS 315K, PS 19X, PS 69X, PS 152X, PS 5R, PS 81X, Middletown, Saint Francis Prep, Bronx Charter School for Better Learning, PS 100K, PS 79X, Walt Whitman HS, Marcus Avenue Early Childhood Development Program, Manhasset Middle School, Saint Christopher, Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic School, Syosset Tract Center, Grand Street Campus, UFT Teacher Center, Scholastic Academy 18, Fannie Lou Hamer HS, Belmont Elementary School, Middle School for Academic Excellence, Saint John Villa Academy, North Ridge Primary School, PS 86X, PS 89M, Our Lady of Grace, Saint Patrick’s School, Queen of Martyrs Parish Elementary School, Our Lady of Pompei Parish Elementary School, and PS 211X.

You guys rule. We hope to see you all again soon.