Hands off, Vanna! Giving Students Control of Interactive Whiteboard Learning

Teacher to teacher, below are some skills you can try and files to help you avoid Vanna as students use your IWB. Work together with a few students and/or a colleague to play with IWB basics on YOUR brand of board if you are new to the IWB.

Share ideas and activities from this presentation/these pages in a workshop.

Below are files you may use, but please show courtesy in sharing:

• If you download the Notebook file, please include this notice with all printed or electronic copies, including any excerpted pages.
• Individual teachers are welcome to keep a single copy, on paper or electronically, for their classroom or personal use.
• Before using this work with others, please contact us with subject line "Hands Off Vanna IWB materials," simply stating where/how you are using it. TeachersFirst shares with all teachers for free.
• You may use this Notebook or portions thereof in any FREE teacher or student activities, including teacher training sessions, as long as you give credit and contact us as above. This permission does NOT extend to paid professional development offerings without specific permission.

Skills to try on your IWB (both teacher AND students!):
General Skills:

• RIGHT click
• Copy/paste separate words and/or whole paragraphs from web
• Drag separate words FROM a passage so you can use and rearrange them
• Highlight or use pens on top of a web page (save annotations?) What happens when you scroll?
• Can you use mouseovers on the board (“floating mouse” feature)?
• Screenshot of what you have done on the IWB (“camera” or computer screenshot/save)
• Print as pdf (I don’t know how to print ONE page of a notebook/Mac)
• SAVE AS your flipchart or SMART notebook file—with a meaningful name for that class/day

• Turn on a floating toolbar
• Draw, color, and resize shapes
• Set default shape characteristics
• Clone images/shapes
• Change ORDER (what’s on top?)
• LOCK in place
• Handwriting recognition- make your writing into printed text
• Hyperlink from a graphic and/or text to a web site
• Search the gallery (virtual manipulatives ready made): maps, coins, graphs, paper, images, rulers, protractors, blocks

Best of luck to all the former Vannas and Vances as you give students control of IWB learning.

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