Matlacha Hookers are introduced to Smart Boards
On a recent outing of the Matlacha Hookers, members of the organization visited Pine Island Elementary School for a special demonstration. Funded largely by donations from the Hookers, most of the classrooms at the school have a newer technology known as Smart Boards, also known as Interactive Whiteboards.
“We are so grateful to the Matlacha Hookers for making the purchase of the Smart Boards possible. They have become a wonderful tool, enhancing our children’s learning experience and it is the best means our teachers now have to integrate technology in the classroom,” said Pine Island Elementary School Principal Rob Mazoli.
Comprised of an interactive white board, projector and computer, students at every grade level can participate in hands-on activities ranging from history to geography as well as reading, writing an arithmetic. The components of the Smart Board are connected wirelessly and a projector is connected to a computer which projects images onto the whiteboard. The interactive whiteboard is capable of recognizing touch from either a student’s finger or a pen. The computer converts the contact on the Smart Board into a signal much like a mouse click allowing the user to interact with the computerized image. The Smart Board software processes the action performed on the whiteboard and, depending on the lesson, will tell the user whether his or her response is correct or not.
After viewing several lessons in various classrooms, Matlacha Hooker Ada Jones was left wanting a system of her own.
“I was so impressed with how well the lessons kept the attention of the students. They all were learning and having fun at the same time. It looked like so much fun that I would love to have one in my living room,” said Jones. “I am very pleased that the money we raised during the fishing tournament was so well spent and I am proud to be a Hooker who helps with our children’s future by providing the funding to pay for things like Smart Boards.”
In each of the classrooms, the students participated in lessons involving math, language and reading. According to media specialist Pam Anderson, the uses of the Smart Boards continue to grow at Pine Island Elementary.
“Our teachers have learned to make their own lesson plans using the Smart Boards and have the ability to go online to get other lessons as well as tutorials,” said Anderson. “In our computer lab, I also have set up an internal Web site where the teachers can share information and what they have found with each other as well.”
The teachers at the school seem to have as much fun with the Smart Boards as there students do.
“One of my favorite lesson options is provided via a movie with information given by a character named Moby. The lessons are very good and are so much fun that some of the teachers, including myself, have said that if they did away with Moby because of the cost, we would be willing to pay for it ourselves,” said first grade teacher Debbie McKenna. “At the end of each Moby episode, the children are given a quiz or a test about what the movie had taught and the whole class participates and gets a score. It really captures the students attention and they are learning a lot.”
In addition to the Smart Board educational software, the whiteboard also can be used to access the Internet, show movies and text files as well. Users can also create their own lessons or content or search the Smart Board Gallery for educational material for all grade levels from kindergarten through high school. Joining the ranks of many other students, Pine Island Elementary School is now among the 800,000 Smarts Board used in classrooms in over 100 countries. According to Mazoli, Pine Island Elementary School is the only school in Lee County that has the Smart Board technology in nearly all of its classrooms.
“We have Smart Boards in every class with the exception of our three fifth grade classrooms,” said Mazoli. “The fifth graders are testing another form of interactive education, but all of our students have access to the Smart Boards as well.”
Other funds for new technology have been possible through donations by the Matlacha Mariners, the Pine Island Elks and numerous other organizations as well as individual residents of Pine Island.