Barr Uses SMART Board in Algebra II Lessons at FHS

I had the privilege of visiting Mrs. Betsy Barr's 2nd Period Algebra II class at Franklinton High School last Thursday morning to see how she uses her interactive classroom with her students.  I could tell right away when class first began how much Barr uses this technology with her students on a daily basis, and it was a great feeling.

Students came into class to find a note on the SMART board that instructed them on what they needed to do to prepare for class.  Once the bell rang, students were given interactive response remotes (I call these, "clickers") to complete the warm-up assignment that was pulled up on the board.  The students were given a couple of Algebra II questions to answer, such as exponential growth, rate of decay, etc.  Students worked in groups to complete the answers and select the correct one on their remote.  The neatest part of the remotes is watching the response rate change on the SMART board as students "lock-in" their answers.  The students really enjoyed working in groups and answering the questions via their remotes.

Once students finished their five warm-up questions with their remotes, Mrs. Barr reviewed the answers to each question.  It was extremely fascinating to see the response rates on the board based on how the students answered each question.  This tool allows Barr to see how her students answered each question in order to make sure they understand the concepts being taught.  Not only does the SMART Notebook software show students the correct software, it also allows Barr to explain answers by writing directly on the board with interactive pens.  This cool tool saves her from having to write out problems on the standard whiteboard.

After the warm-up lesson, Mrs. Barr started her lesson for the day--Interest.  Students learned about simple and compound interest by watching Barr teach the lesson from the SMART board.  Students were shown samples of interest formulas and had to find within their group the answers to assigned examples.  Then, one representative from each group went up to the board and tapped on the cell of the table displayed to show the answer they found.

Mrs. Barr continued through the lesson by explaining to the students how interest is compounded continuously.  To help students memorize the formula A=Pe^rt, she showed a picture of a Pert Shampoo bottle with the formula on top of the bottle.  By being able to display this on the screen, it allows students to connect a mathematical formula with a real-world item. 

To explain to students what each variable stands for in the equation, Barr asked students to come up to the SMART board and "pop the balloon" next to each variable.

Mrs. Barr then worked out a word problem with the students.  She displayed the word problem on the SMART board, highlighted a phrase, and wrote in the equation that students should think of on assignments, as well as the EOC, when they see the phrase.

Then, Barr began to break down the word problem even more.  Students went up to the board to take pieces of the word problem and "move" them towards the bottom of the screen to each variable that the number in the word problem fits in.

Mrs. Barr then explained to students where to fit in each variable's value into the formula. 

In the final parts of this part of the lesson, Mrs. Barr showed students by writing on the SMART board what they need to type into their graphing calculators in order to solve the problem correctly.

The lesson Mrs. Barr taught to students the other day was a great example of how to use a SMART board in a high school mathematics class.  Students learned the lesson more interactively than they ever would in a traditional classroom setting.  The students seemed engaged in the lesson since every portion of the lesson used a different feature of the SMART software.

Great job, Mrs. Barr!  Please return to this blog at the end of next week when I will highlight the next FCS teacher who actively uses an interactive lesson in their classroom!