A novelty or necessity in the classroom?

Since the first interactive white boards or Smart boards were installed about nine years ago in Highlands County classrooms, teachers are continuing to discover ways to use this flexible technology that's also fun for students.

No longer a novelty nor a rarity, the district now has about 600 Smart boards, which means about 65 percent to 70 percent of the teachers have an interactive board in their classroom.

All the classrooms in Memorial and Cracker Trail elementary schools are equipped with interactive boards.

Many teachers who transferred to Memorial Elementary School when it opened last year had not used Smart boards before, the school's instructional technology resource teacher Lucretia Brannon said Wednesday.

Now after using them they say, 'I don't know how I ever taught without one,'" she said.

District instructional technology resource teacher Darrell Layfield said, "we are not trying to recreate the way that they teach; we are just trying to show them it's a tool that they can use to enhance their teaching."

Now in her third year of using a Smart Board, Memorial Elementary kindergarten teacher Stephanie Kooiker said, "I use it in every subject every single day; at least 10 minutes in every single subject."

The kids love to use it, she said. "It's more interactive than just having me standing up there and just talking to the students. It's more fun for them to come up and play a game."

In an alphabet exercise to prepare them for reading, Kooiker's students quickly touched letters on the Smart board with a program from starfall.com.

They play letter games; they play letter/sound games, she said. It's a reading Web site so they can read stories online.

How would you feel if your Smart board was taken away?

"I think it would be horrible," Kookier replied. "My students would be very upset because they really love it; they love playing the games.

After six years of teaching, Memorial Elementary's Darlene Cloud is in her second year as a music teacher.

Last year was a time of adjustment being a first-year music teacher, but this year Cloud is earnestly exploring the many uses of her Smart board.

"I'm using it more every day as I learn there is so much this piece of equipment can do," she said. "It is just endless."

With music, it saves time and money because she doesn't have to order 30 copies of a piece of music, Cloud said.

"I can project it right on my Smart board - the music notation itself and the words to the songs," Cloud said. "If I'm doing dance steps or sign language, anything with directions on it that I want the kids to follow, I can project it right on the board."

The best feature is the manipulative part of the Smart board, she said. Students can use a special pen and draw a music staff on the Smart board with notes that can be manipulated.

"It's just remarkable," Cloud said.

Layfield noted that some schools are using a device called "mimeo" that attaches to a white (dry erase) board that provides interactivity similar to a Smart board.

The district's newest classroom buildings have been equipped with the new technology including Hill-Gustat and Avon Park middle schools, and Avon Park and Sebring High schools. The classroom buildings currently under construction at Lake Placid middle and high schools will also be equipped with Smart boards.