SMARTer Classrooms Prepare Students for 21st Century

Tucker-Maxon students Chad Pietrok, Alex Oh, and Emily Padgett check out their class's new SMARTBoard.

Tucker-Maxon embraced technology from the beginning as a key component of teaching children who are deaf to talk. True to our roots, we continue to find technologies that put greater instructional power in the hands of teachers—and students.

That’s why Tucker-Maxon has raised money for SMARTboards and begun installing one in every elementary class. A SMARTboard is essentially a giant computer screen that is controlled by touch. Teachers and students can present and edit slides, surf the internet, watch video or do anything else they could do with a conventional computer, all without using a keyboard or a mouse. At nearly six feet across, the information on a SMARTboard reaches the whole class.

At its most basic level, though, the SMARTboard is a simple whiteboard for taking notes or presenting a lesson...except the SMARTboard goes much deeper than that. For example, handwritten notes can be converted to typed text. Then teachers can wirelessly “beam” those notes to students’ Writers. (Writers are lightweight, wireless instruments similar to laptop computers). Students can then take the notes or lessons anywhere to work on them later.

And students can beam their work back to the SMARTboard so the whole class shares it.

In fact, it’s the collaborative nature of the SMARTboard that makes the technology really exciting. “The typical computing experience is so much more individual. With the SMARTboard, you’ll have students working together in teams, and learning and communicating with others about the topic,” says Linda Goodwin, Upper Primary teacher. “Developing those skills is so important, especially for a child who is deaf.”

Many thanks to all those who gave or helped raise money for the purchase of our students’ Writers and SMARTboards.
--J. Minor, Technology Manager

This article is from the Spring 2007 issue of Now You're Talking.

More information about SMARTBoards is available at www2.smarttech.com/st/en-us/products