SMARtBoard Clinic: Using the Internet To Keep Students Engaged


I began teaching seven years ago. My teaching titles run the gamut of a music classroom and beyond. I began in public schools as the traditional 5-12 Band and Choir director and followed that year at a different school district where I became the K-12 Band, Choir, and Drama teacher as well as interim-newspaper and technology assistant. I am now located at St. Joseph Cathedral School in Jefferson City and teach K-8 General Music and Drama as well as have three after school choirs and two Masses on a weekly basis. I understand what it feels like to be without a plan time, lunch break, or bathroom jaunt. So instead of spending my weekends and evenings worrying about the next class, the next week, or the next grading period, I decided to let technology work for me.


My classroom received a brand new SMARTBoard my second year at SJCS. I refused to touch that board for a week. I was scared on how to approach the massive electronic wall hanging! Once I got over my nervousness, I began small. I started using the board to write and save notes from class to class. I found that if I saved my notes from a previous class, I could refer to them at the next class for review or quiz preparation. If the students had a question they wanted a quick answer to, I could pull up the notes from that particular class and let them look on their own time without spending a lot of my free time playing catch-up. My notes became organized by class, subject, or overall concept. Saving the notes was very easy: open SMART Notebook, use your pen or keyboard to write the notes you plan to save (either one page or multiple pages), click on ‘File’ and select ‘Save’ or ‘Save As’ and rename the file in a way you will remember, then save to a location you will remember (either an external drive or your desktop or other file). After you have saved your notes as a file, you can open them as often as you like. After a few months of using the board like a very expensive projector, I wanted to see what the board could really do.


I began looking for lessons as a part-time hobby and came across the website SMART Exchange. This site has lessons made by teachers for use on the board for nearly every subject imaginable. Those lessons helped me learn a bit more about my SMARTBoard and got the students interested in the subject content I was trying to get across to them. They began


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to ask on-task questions and really show that they were paying attention in class. I also found a way to present new music to the class or keep students focused on sheet music without taking a lot of time. I take a picture of the music itself, put it on the SMARTBoard, and have it available to circle, count, or change notes or words and the students never ask, “Where is that?” because the music is right there in front of them on a large screen. Saving classroom rehearsal time is the key!


Another website I found to be very helpful was the one based on my classroom books. I have the Making Music! Series and the website they have is PearsonSuccess.net. This website follows the book series through every lesson, handout, or sound clip. The site also has the option of setting a calendar for your classes and letting the website plan your year for you! When I found that trick, my plan time became less of a hassle and more enjoyable. I was not stuck at the desk or copy machine during my short breaks and instead setting the SMARTBoard up with the current lesson, opening the PDF worksheet for the class, and getting the sound clips ready either on the CD player or on the computer itself. I now took half the time to plan the same amount of lessons!


Some other websites I have enjoyed in the classroom are WatchKnowLearn.org which is a site that has short video clips available in nearly every subject that can teach students a concept for your classroom. This website is not blocked at our school district so I use it regularly to help my younger grades learn a new song, hear a different version, or compare their version to a classic. I also use KeepVid.com to save videos from YouTube, TeacherTube, or WatchKnowLearn.org onto a thumb drive. This allows me to sort the videos out by name and content and have them available whether or not my internet is working.


My absolute favorite website has to be Prezi.com. This is an upgrade to those traditional PowerPoint lessons I used to make when I first received my SMARTBoard. I now show the students the same notes and lessons but in a movie format. Prezi takes the information, puts a 3-D background behind it, adds animation and dimensions, and the students never take their eyes away from the board. They watch the notes whip past like a


by Samantha Sekelsky


short video clip. I have used this website for free because of my educator email and school website and you can too! (More information and websites below)


These are only a handful of websites that I use on a daily or weekly basis. I have found that the more technology I bring into the classroom, the more focused my students have become. The way I learned about my SMARTBoard was to start small. I began somewhere I was comfortable with (note taking) and expanded from there (pre-made lessons to pre-planned lessons to all lessons). My students now interact with the board daily and in nearly every class I have students who learn something new or different just because it is shown to them in a new and interesting way. I recommend you start small as well. Look at your books, your resource guides, or your current notes and music and see where you can go from there. It is worth a shot!


Websites I love!


Prezi.com - www.prezi.com KeepVid.com - www.keepvid.com WatchKnowLearn.org www.watchknowlearn.org


PearsonSuccess.net www.pearsonsuccess.net


Must have the ISBN numbers for the Making Music! Series teacher editions PBS Jazz lessons: www.pbs.org/jazz/classroom PBS Continental Harmony lessons: www.pbs.org/harmony


BBC Orchestra information and games: http://www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/learn/ Music Theory and History Games: library.thinkquest.org/15413/games/games.htm Music Dictionary: www.dolmetsch.com/musictheorydefs.htm Help teach music theory: www.musictheory.net SMART Exchange:exchange.smarttech.com


This article is reprinted from MSM (Missouri School Music) with permission of the author.


Samantha Sekelsky currently teaches K-8 general music at St. Joseph Cathedral School, St. Joseph, Missouri. You may reach her by email at Samantha.sekelsky@ cathedralschooljc.com.


May/June 2013


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