Smart whiteboards are an excellent tool for math lessons, as they provide teachers and students alike with a new set of tools, modes of communication, and opportunities for fun mixed in with learning. But how exactly can a smart whiteboard be incorporated in math lessons? Knowing exactly how to use a smart whiteboard is absolutely essential when making the switch from traditional whiteboard to smart whiteboard for math lessons.
In this blog, we’ll walk through 7 exciting ways that you can use a smart whiteboard for math lessons, and discuss the impacts these use cases will have on you and your students, and the benefits to learning that smart whiteboards can bring.
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1. Lesson Planning on a Smart Whiteboard for Math Lessons
Lesson planning can be the bane of some teachers’ existences. They often take too long to complete, especially for newer teachers, and can feel like duplicative work. You already know the direction you’re going to take, why write it out on paper before going live with your class?
When using a smart whiteboard for math lessons, you can write your lesson plan out on your Vibe Board ahead of class, then conduct your class on a new page of your Vibe Canvas, and circle back to the lesson plan to include any notes for the next time you use this lesson plan. Which activities went well? Which examples really hit home for your students?
And, best of all, you can easily share these lesson plans with your fellow teachers with the tap of a button. Email pages out to younger teachers who are still getting their bearings so they can see how students react to certain lessons.
This can also be an easy way to submit lesson plans to administration. Write your lesson plan out on your Vibe Board, and then email to administration so they can give approval, if that is something your school requires.
2. Engage Your Students From the Start of Class
Many math teachers like to start out class with a “bell ringer”, a quick activity that students can do at the start of class while everyone is still walking in and settling down. A bell ringer instills in students the idea that every minute of class is important, and automatically signals students to sit down and get to work when they walk in the door. A class that starts smoothly has a better chance of finishing smoothly.
When using a smart whiteboard for math lessons, you can make your bell ringer questions even more interactive. Write your bell ringer questions out on your Vibe Board before the start of class. Students can either access the Vibe Canvas from their own devices, or work at their desk on a piece of paper. Try including a poll on the Canvas where students can vote on the correct answer. Have students show their work and discuss why one answer is correct and another is not.
3. Use Educational Apps
The Vibe Board integrates with a wealth of learning tools and apps through the Vibe App Store. Is there an educational app you love using with your classes? Vibe probably has an integration. Here are a few of our favorite educational apps that you can access on your Vibe smart whiteboard for math lessons.
Blackboard Instructor
The Blackboard Instructor app is designed specifically for teachers. It helps educators increase efficiency, simplify workflows, and improve student engagement.
Blackboard Instructor acts as a repository for each of your courses. When you log in, you will see an overview of each of your courses, including easy access to all of your content and tools. For each class there will be certain items shown as “Needs Attention”––these are assignments that need to be graded.
You can also view and send announcements to your students through this app, allowing for easy communication in-class or out of class. No more “I forgot my worksheet at home.” Everything will be saved in the cloud for easy access at all times.
You can also view content like videos, documents, and images, which will make teaching more engaging for your students. You can easily display these documents and images on your Vibe Board for everyone to see.
Quizlet
Quizlet is another app that can be downloaded onto your smart whiteboard for math lessons. Quizlet provides a suite of study tools to help students find the study routine that works best for them, whether they’re a planner or a crammer. Try using Quizlet on your Vibe Board before an exam. Create flashcards to quiz your students, or walk through problems step by step so everyone understands the course material before the exam.
ClassDojo
The ClassDojo application makes learning opportunities available for all students, brings school communities together, and enables learning through play. If you’re thinking of better ways to teach a lesson or how you could improve an activity you’re planning for students, ClassDojo is your place to go. Download ClassDojo on your Vibe Board and connect with the community. If you’ve taught a lesson that went particularly well, try filming yourself demonstrating that lesson on your Vibe Board, and share the message with the ClassDojo audience for everyone to gain from your innovation.
4. Hold Video Conferences
If we’ve learned anything over the past couple of years, it’s that it’s always best to have technology options available to interact with one another when face-to-face communication isn’t possible. If your school uses hybrid learning, or if you often experience inclement weather and school cancellations, it’s ideal to have access to video conferencing. A smart whiteboard makes this easy for math lessons.
A Vibe Board can take your video conference and integrate it into your classroom. With Vibe’s SmartCam C1, you can create the feeling of face-to-face communication in an instant. Write class notes and problems on Vibe Canvas, have students access the Canvas from their own devices, and keep the SmartCam on you so that your students can understand your non-verbal communication and stay engaged.
Download apps like Zoom, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, Skype, and more in order to hold video conferences on your smart whiteboard for math lessons.
You can also use this tool for parent/teacher conferences. Everyone’s busy and not all guardians will have time to come into school to meet with their childrens’ teachers. Host your conferences instead over video conference on your Vibe Board.
5. Tutoring on a Smart Whiteboard for Math Lessons
Smart whiteboards are an excellent tool for conducting tutoring sessions. A tutoring session is only as effective as long as the information you provide to your students really sticks with them after the tutoring session. Instead of crouching around a piece of paper, have your student cast their work onto the Vibe Board. Work problems out together, and then send the Canvas out to the student over email. That way, they’ll have the entire tutoring session saved for when they need to start their homework or prepare for a test.
6. Play Games
Every student in every class needs a little time to decompress now and again, and playing games on a Vibe Board as a class can be a great way to do so. Whether you’re playing games to celebrate a job well done by the class on a recent exam, the end of a semester, an upcoming vacation, or looking to solidify a lesson with an educational game, you can do it all on a Vibe Board.
Use Vibe Templates to play the Dot Game, or Tic Tac Toe, or access other interactive games on your internet browser like Pictionary, Memory, etc. Having a central place in the classroom to easily conduct a game will keep all of your students’ attention, even when class time is not as education-focused as normal.
7. Never Erase Ever Again!
One of the best features of a Vibe Board is that you never need to erase ever again. Vibe Canvas is an infinite whiteboard software, meaning you can scroll on and on across the page and never find the end. If a student has a question about a problem you’ve recently gone over, just scroll back on your Vibe Canvas and explain the solution again. If you need to look back at a lesson to help students prepare for a test, you can easily do that as well.
Running out of whiteboard space will always be an issue when using a traditional whiteboard. On a smart whiteboard for math lessons, you’ve got the space to expand as much as you need, and then some.
Get Started with Vibe
Interested in investing in a smart whiteboard for education? Take a look at our Education Demo here to get a glimpse of how else the Vibe Board can fit into your classroom workflow. You can also request a quote here to get a better idea of what it would cost to outfit your room with a smart whiteboard, or your entire school.
FAQs
How can I use a smart whiteboard for math lessons?
There are many many ways you can use a smart whiteboard in the classroom. Consider the ideas mentioned here, and take a look at our Education Demo to see how else Vibe could make a positive impact in your class. Also take a look at our blog post on using smart whiteboards with kids.
Do smart whiteboards have math lessons?
The Vibe Board may not come pre-stocked with math lessons, but our integrations with educational apps makes it easy to download math lessons, or find great lessons on the internet and download onto your Vibe Board.
Can I create my own smart whiteboard lessons?
Absolutely! Create your own lessons and share with your colleagues either around school, or make a video of yourself and tag us on social media so we can see how you’re using Vibe to teach in your classroom.