Through the use of some of the District’s new SMART Suite Resources and recent training by Boerne ISD’s Digital Learning team, third-grade teacher Stephanie Edmondson at Herff Elementary turned a regular lesson on the history of Boerne and Kendall County into an interactive and engaging tour through time.
Several of our newest campuses are equipped with SMART Boards in the classroom which not only serves as whiteboards but also allows teachers to created collaborative and engaging lessons with online videos, games and other activities all from the same surface. These SMART boards and their technology integrate with the Google classroom and other SMART Resources that teachers may use and share not only with their students but also with each other.
Mrs. Edmondson utilized the SMART suite resources, to build an interactive, online lesson for her students that she also shared with the other 3rd grade teachers at Herff Elementary. When the students arrived in the classroom Friday morning, they each logged into their own Chromebook, accessed the day’s lesson, and then began their lesson at their own pace and in their own way. Some students were seated at desks, others lounged in plush seating around the room, and others sat comfortably on the floor.
“What makes this technology so great,” said Mrs. Edmondson, “is that the kids have the freedom to work on the lesson at their own pace and even revisit topics where they have a special interest. Then, when I want to pull the class back together, I’ll ask them some questions and have them use ‘shout it out’ to send in their answers - they enter their answers right there on their Chromebooks, and they display anonymously on the SMART Board.” Mrs. Edmondson went on to explain that this “shout it out” feature can help increase participation from some students who may choose not to raise their hand and provide an answer in front of the class.
The SMART Suite lesson platform allows teachers to select areas of reading, online videos, activities, and games to help reinforce what is being learned.
Mrs. Edmondson took this lesson on the history of Boerne and Kendall county a step further and incorporated her SMART Suite lesson with two other interactive stations put on by local retired teachers to get the kids moving and experience more of the history lesson first hand.
