• Change the way you teach with a SMART Board.Young child learning to write her name image by levo from Fotolia.com
  
  In many classrooms, the standard chalkboard has been replaced by an interactive SMART Board. With this tech-rich tool, teachers can create lessons that are interactive in nature, making them potentially more engaging to pupils. By learning the ins and outs of this educational tool, teachers can prepare themselves to integrate their new, more interactive board into their daily teaching practice.
  
  

Chunk Erase Your Mistakes

• Just as with a standard chalkboard, teachers can digitally erase mistakes with the SMART Board. It will have an eraser located in the center of the pen tray. You can use this eraser just as you do a chalk board eraser, removing small lines of text, or, if you want to erase a whole board full of information, you can chunk erase. To do this, take your eraser and place it on the SMART Board surface, running it in a circle around the text that you wish to remove. Once you have completely circled the text, lift the eraser and tap it in the center of the circle. By doing this, you will erase all of the text within the circle.
  
  If you fail to close your circle, this method will not work. To ensure that you do complete your circle, pick a point at the top of the board to start your circle and take care to return to this point before you lift your eraser.
  
  

Create a Hide and Reveal Lesson

• Creating an interactive lesson is simple with the use of hide and reveal SMART Board methods. To create a hide and reveal lesson, select a diagram or piece of text to place on your board. Create a SMART pen in white. Use this digital pen to color over the labels on your diagram or select words in your text. As you move through the lesson and discuss the diagram parts or fill in the text words that you covered, use your eraser to remove the white pen from over the top of these labels or words, revealing them to students seemingly magically.
  
  

Give Students a Drag Tool

• Many teachers opt to allow their pupils to take turns at the SMART Board, as many pupils are eager to use this engaging tool. If you would like to let your curious kiddos manipulate objects on the board, give them a tool with which to do so. Many kids struggle to drag objects on the SMART Board with their fingers alone. Instead of asking them to use their digits for this purpose, give them an object, such as a tennis ball, to place on the surface and use as they drag images, diagrams or words around the board.
  
  Use your tennis ball for dual duty by also putting it to use as you select students. When you pick students to come up to the board, toss the selected student the tennis ball as a way of signifying your student selection.