More on SB--Designing Lesson Plans

There is an amazing SB podcast at www.pdtogo.com hosted by two amazing technology educators in Canada. You can listen to these pocasts on your smartphone or ipod and I've just recently downloaded a whole bunch of them. I recently listened to a SB lesson from December 9, 2007--yes, almost four years ago, but still relevant to creating SB lessons today. The lesson was called the "Compare & Contrast Episode No 103." Ben Hazzard, one of the hosts, looked at Dr. Robert Marzano's research into instructional strategies that work for children. Dr. Marzano has an interesting website here: http://www.marzanoresearch.com/about/about_dr_marzano.aspx. The SB lesson included types of comparison/contrast lessons that you can do with kids. I have used this strategy a lot when looking at art history with college-level students and I know that students really enjoy looking at a work and seeing what is the same and what is different--it really makes them think about small details that yield big differences in artworks and the historical, cultural and economic period of the time. In this way, you can discuss the visuals with students and spur them onto a deeper discussion about a particular topic. This is really good for differentiated instruction as well because it helps a child with learning differences look and then think about what is the same/what is different using a multi-modal approach. Another great site mentioned is:http://www.smartboards.typepad.com/ This one is great for ideas and suggestions around creating lesson plans on the SB. So much to learn with the SB!