teachusingtechnology.com

Activstudio 3 is a wonderful piece of software that comes with the purchase of a Promethean Activboard. Some of you may have just received your Promethean board and your not sure where to begin. Sure, you can start writing on the board and even begin to bring in a few shapes or text but you want more, so did I! What I'm about to explain is an easy way to get you and your students started in just minutes.

1. Open Activstudio 3 Professional
2. Click on your RESOURCE LIBRARY
3. Click on the SHARED SHAPES ICON
4. Expand shared shapes and click on SQUARES AND RECTANGLES
5. Drag a HORIZONTAL RECTANGLE onto your blank flip chart (do this 3 times)
6. Expand the rectangles so that they are all of equal size and so that they cover the entire flip chart and are connected
7. Now, click on the first rectangle, from the color palette click on green and then click on the FILL TOOL icon (the bucket), move it over the first rectangle and click the space bar. The rectangle should have changed to green.
8. Leave the second rectangle black
9. Repeat step 7 for the third triangle, but change it to blue
10. Double click on the first rectangle and click on the icon, OBJECTS TO BACK. Repeat this step for the third rectangle
11. Double click on the second rectangle and click on the icon, OBJECTS TO FRONT
12. Let's add some text! Click on the TEXT TOOL ("T") and move the cursor over the first rectangle, towards the top portion and click the space bar. An area for you to type and a text palette will open.
13. On the text palette change the color to blue and type 1.23 + 0.02 = ?
14. Press the space bar 7 times (or so), change the text color to green and type ? = 1.25
15. Un-check the BACKGROUND box on the TEXT PALETTE
16. Close the TEXT PALETTE

Note: that when un-checking the background box, at times it converts back. Simply go back and un-check the background box.

There you have it! A revealing flip chart template. Move the math question from the left to the right and it will magically disappear and the answer will appear in the blue section. You can use this template to further be creative and add objects, multiple backgrounds and much, much more! Have fun with it. If you have any questions leave a comment or e-mail me. I am glad to help!

If you are more of a visual person, click on the tutorials tab for a video enhanced explanation!

You have worked hard to plan your lesson or activity, you have all your transparencies made, the day went great and then your off to a meeting with a parent. You go to shake their hand and you notice that your hands are covered in ink. You know, a day of transparencies, Vis-A-Vis markers and paper towels to try to clean up the mess. Not the most embarrassing thing in the world, however, teacher ink hands are just not necessary!  I utilize a document camera in my class everyday and guess what? NO MORE TEACHER HANDS! I use the TT-OS ELMO Image Mate in my classroom and it is great. You can place written or typed paper under the camera and display it on your screen through your LCD projector. Virtually anything that you have in the classroom will fit under the camera's eye. Have you ever done a science demonstration for your class, only to have a number of students that cannot see what is going on in the experiment. Having the document camera allows you to place a beaker or a Petri dish under the camera. The camera has a flexible neck that allows for angled views as well as phenomenal zooming to get close to the action. It changes the way you teach and increases those teachable moments that were once held captive, not due to your creativity, but to the lack of hardware that you have at your disposal.  Additionally, on the ELMO TT-OS, you can utilize an SD card to make a still image straight from the camera or even pre-load the SD card and project it onto your computer. Once on your computer, the possibilities are endless. You can annotate, highlight and so much more. Only your creativity decides the possibilities. Remember, no more teacher hands!

Click here to view a DEMO for the TT-OS

Having great classroom management allows a teacher to deliver great teaching! I utilize a wireless tablet to engage students and increase participation. Students really enjoy when I walk around the classroom, lay the tablet down on their desk and ask them to solve a problem. Once a student sees that another student is willing to solve the problem on the screen, I have a whole army of hands chomping at the bit to take their turn at solving the problem. I mentioned on my last blog, "Presentation Software", that I utilize Skitch. Skitch allows me to make my presentations and lessons meaningful and dynamic. The tablet acts like a giant mouse, except I have more control and I can be mobile around the classroom: This keeps students on their toes. Additionally, a traditional chalkboard (are these still around?) or whiteboard makes the teacher turn his/her back to the students, even if momentarily. With the Wacom tablet, you are behind students, in front of students and beside students which allows you to monitor the whole classroom. The only other piece of hardware that you are going to need is an LCD projector to get started. If you have ever used a Smartboard or Promethean board, you know that they add such a dynamic to your classroom that is undeniable to your students. These boards allow their software to integrate your computer's files in an interactive way. For example, with the touch of the screen, you are able to highlight text, move text, draw on the document, cut and paste and much, much more. These boards cost thousands of dollars, but are worth every penny. They are great teaching tools. However, if you put together a Wacom tablet, an LCD and Skitch software together, you have many of the same advantages that those interactive boards offer you, at a much lower cost! I will go as far to say that the tablet is a much better option for the management of your classroom and its' equality to make your lessons come alive! Good Luck.