Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EDCompass newsletter
News and resources for educators using SMART products education.smarttech.com
I N T H I S I SS U E N a n c y’s n otes
News .....................................................2–4
One of my favorite things to do is visit classrooms. I love to see how the diligent
Welcome to the November issue
development of children helps them to take their rightful place in the world – educated and
of EDCompass™ newsletter! socialized. The emphasis that a country, state or community puts on educating its young is a
Implementing technology in the classroom good indication of its vibrancy and outlook.
is just one step toward improving student
learning outcomes. When you add I visited an elementary classroom this past week, and I was struck by the eagerness to
professional development into the mix, participate and learn that is inherent in most children. Teachers have the power to either
you’re setting yourself up for success – enhance or dampen that natural curiosity. Children love to show what they know, and strong
ensuring you get the most out of your teachers bring out their will to do so.
products each and every day, while your
students get the most out of their classroom World economic stability has been rocked in the last couple of months in an unprecedented
experience. Our new issue is filled with fashion. Things turned on a dime, and now great uncertainty exists about how and when
information about professional development everything will return to normal. People are concerned about their jobs and their financial
opportunities and related resources from futures as businesses retrench, housing prices plummet and credit tightens.
SMART. It highlights best practices in this
area and provides examples from other But life in the classroom goes on through all this turmoil. Great uncertainty doesn’t shake
teachers who use professional development education – it reinforces the need for it. Many students today will work in careers that have
and social networking to advance their skills not yet emerged. The only type of preparation that makes any sense in this context is one
and enhance their professional lives. that is broad and based on solid fundamentals.
You may have noticed that we’ve changed For me, education is all about giving children a chance – a chance to show what they can
the look of the newsletter. If you have make of themselves, no matter the circumstances into which they have been born. Setting
any comments about it or any of the conditions in the classroom to enable these children to thrive as individuals and collaborators
information featured in this issue, we’d is all they need. We hope that you find our products help you do just that.
love to hear from you. Please e-mail your
feedback to education@smarttech.com. Nancy Knowlton is the CEO of SMART Technologies.
November 2008 | PG 1
C l a ss r o o m c o ntent News
November 2008 | PG 2
NEWS C l a ss r o o m c o ntent
Once you’re a fan of SMART, you can receive Adventurous Vocabulary – Good and Bad
updates, watch videos of our products in use, K–3 language arts students can test their
start a discussion with other educators and learn ability to use adventurous and wide-ranging
about new contests to win products for your school. vocabulary related to the concepts of
good and bad. Find the lesson activity that
Become a fan of SMART today and keep the community growing! complements this question set.
November 2008 | PG 3
CLA SS ROOM COntent NEWS
Glencoe Algebra 2 – Interactive Classroom Fifth-grade teacher Carla Fowler is now a confident and proficient user of the SMART
is a unique teaching tool for secondary Board interactive whiteboard. And no one is more surprised by that than she is.
students that enables you to present “Technology was just not my thing in the beginning,” says Fowler, who teaches at
dynamic lessons for every chapter of your Mount Harmony Elementary School in Owings, Maryland. Last year, she and several
mathematics text. Glencoe’s Algebra 1, other teachers at the school received SMART Board interactive whiteboards in their
Pre-Algebra and Geometry Interactive classrooms. For Fowler, the reality of teaching with the board was a little daunting.
Classroom are also SMART-accredited. Read the full article.
November 2008 | PG 4
P r o d u c t S p ot l i g ht
*
Acoustical Society of America, 2000 • Comes with a standard two-year warranty
November 2008 | PG 5
P r o d u c t S p ot l i g ht
“With my absent students, I find that it’s helpful to record the lesson, and then I can
Up next show them it. We’ve recorded actual little movies on our SMART Board, and we’ve made
different things and linked them to sounds to help us learn.”
Watch for the next issue of EDCompass
newsletter highlighting SMART’s content Could she go back to teaching without SMART Audio? Albers says she could, but
and resources offering, with a spotlight “it wouldn’t be to my kids’ or my benefit, I don’t think. It’s just an essential tool in
on the SMART Learning Marketplace. our classroom.”
November 2008 | PG 6
© 2008 SMART Technologies ULC. All rights reserved. EDCompass, SMART Board, Senteo, Sympodium, smarttech, the SMART logo and all SMART taglines are trademarks or registered trademarks of SMART Technologies ULC in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other third-party product
and company names are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. 11186-08