Michelle+Rekowski's+Page

===I have had a SmartBoard in my classroom for three years. I LOVE it! However, every time I attend a class about it I become more excited about the new things I can try. I sometimes take for granted all the different ways I can use the board to get students involved. The four lessons I describe below were all originally taught with the SmartBoard but have been modified to include things I learned from this class or from coworkers who have given me neat ideas along the way.===

===A couple years ago I had a student teacher who developed a jeopardy game and was gracious enough to let me keep a copy of it. Since my Algebra2 students always ask me to create a group/team activity as a review for a chapter, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to use his game. The game itself is in PowerPoint, however using it with the SmartBoard is AWESOME! The game did take a while to create as I still had to make my own categories and questions (and also fix quite a few hyperlinks!). When the students saw Alex Tribec on screen and heard his voice announcing the game, they all got excited and motivated to begin! Some students enjoyed coming up and pressing their own categories, others remained in their seats and I clicked the question for them. The game took approximately 90 minutes and every single student stayed on task and attentive. When I did the review last year, I simply captured the review into notebook and worked through the problems with the students (rather boring compared to this). When all was said and done, each student had given there full attention to reviewing for the test and as I walked around to monitor the group work, I watched students who would normally sit back and look at the review packet working problems out on paper and trying to help their team. I would highly suggest using this lesson or format of jeopardy, however make sure you have about 2 hours to dedicate to creating your own categories, questions, and answers.===



LESSON #2
===This lesson was also created for my Algebra2 students. The lesson is designed to help the class review for the second semester final. In previous years, I would hand out the exam review packets, have the students work on them individually or with a partner, and then discuss the reviews as a class. With this new lesson, the students get to take their mind off of the stress of the exams by first doing some fun activities (top ten game and/or vortex) and then going into the review. The students got into the vortex game and liked the suspense of seeing whether or not the answer was right or would be thrown back out. The top ten game got the kids fired up and was a great break to have the kids wake up and get excited. I know the review went much better this time around, but I do not have data to support that it was academically beneficial as the students will not take their exam until next week Wednesday.===

**LESSON #3**
===In the lesson below, the students see examples on how to use the Law of Sines and Cosines. The lesson itself has not been modified much but still incorporates some nice SmartBoard tools. However, one thing I learned in this class has given my students a great resource that they can use outside of school. We were shown how to utilize Word documents through the SmartBoard. On the last slide of this lesson I have a link to the worksheet my students were given to practice. Once the answers were worked out in class, I was able to save the notes as a new word document. I daily update a wiki specifically designed for the students in this class on which I upload lessons exported as PDFs and also handouts from class. With the new information I learned in this class I am now able to upload the answer keys with all the work on them so the students can check their understanding from home. Although the format of the in-class lesson may not have changed drastically, the positive effects of this are great for the kids. Many students have commented on how wonderful it is to be able to go home and check their work, or if their stuck to see how to move on to the next step. I use this tool on a daily basis in my classes now. THANKS!===



**LESSON #4**
===I am always looking for ways to get my students out of their seats and actively participating in my math class. While searching around for new activities in the gallery, I found a matching game which I have named memory in MY CONTENT. The rules for playing in my class are:===

4. the class may help the student up at the board choose boxes to flip
===When playing, we also use a timer to keep the game moving along. The neat thing is you can watch the kids jotting down notes to try and remember where things are and at the same time working out the problems that have been shown. This is yet another alternative to having the kids sitting in their seats working on a review worksheet. Now the students are up and moving around, on task and motivated to solve a problem, and working as a team to complete a task. I know this activity was a success as the students asked me during the next chapter if I could create another memory game to help them review!===