Package Your SMARTNotebook Lessons to Ask “Thick” Questions

Package your SMARTNotebook lessons to ask thick questions and teach like a DIVA!

When you create a “Thick” SMARTNotebook lesson, take advantage of all that can be linked on each page or in each file.

How many times have you been teaching at the SMARTBoard, feeling very proud of how well your newly created SMARTNotebook lesson is going, only to have the students begin asking questions beyond what you had planned to cover? Have you ever had those moments when you could only verbally answer their questions; you had nothing to show, nothing prepared to go in a new direction or go deeper? We’ve all been there!

Package Your SMARTNotebook lessons to engage

Take it as a compliment when you run out of information to share! Your student’s imagination is sparked and they want to know more. I think it is terrific compliment and natural result of interactive teaching. When the SMARTBoard is used the way it is designed to be used, students are engaged, touching, actively listening, and forming questions. However, great lessons don’t just happen.

My goal when building a SMARTNotebook lesson, is to include not just facts, but tangents that set my students up to ask “Thick” questions, not “Thin” questions. When I design a lesson, I try to include the unexpected taking my students deeper and wider in discovery. Let me explain….

Package Your SMARTNotebook Lessons with depth

In my last post, I mentioned the Debussy project and how the iPad tool allowed my students to go deeper in research as they learn about the composer from many angles. In the same way, interactive learning activities can be supported using the SMARTBoard if the lesson is “Packaged.” In my opinion, combining a SMARTBoard + iPads creates the perfect tool for 21st century learning. However, the teacher must be prepared to adjust a presentation to support learning at hand and that means creating a SMARTNotebook lesson that has depth. Just throwing a few facts and pictures together is not SMART! It is my experience that the more tech-savy my students are becoming, the harder I have to work to prepare lessons that feed their hungry minds. Here are a few SMARTNotebook design tips:

Design Tip: Play Hide and Seek

Hide additional information or questions on the sides of the page or on the top of the page. On a SMARTNotebook page, there are numerous ways to design and hide interactive features. Look at this image of what is hidden in the wings of a Notebook page:

Each one of these “Pull-in” images is grouped to the visible little icon: dot, lips, question mark, QR code circle, Trumpet player. Play with the position of the little icon and the large hidden image so that the image is truly hidden. Work with the layering so that all of the pulled in images can be seen clearly. Lock each image and allow move.

Watch this Video walk-through

Design Tip: Be a Slick Magician

The obvious question is, “Why put all of this information on ONE page?” The answer is a matter of teaching style. This particular page comes from a larger SMARTNotebook file about the orchestra and I’ve created 33 pages just like this one. I find it is easier to manage the information from one page rather than 4-5 pages, because I can go where the students’ interest takes us. Plus, it’s really cool to have this game of “Hide and Seek” going on because the kids never know what each link on the page is going to reveal. It’s just my style of teaching. I like to find a way to reveal information as needed… like a slick magician! You may put the same information on multiple pages; it’s up to you. If you do use multiple lesson pages, be sure to add navigation links to keep the flow of the lesson going.

Design Tip: Make every fact a springboard to a thick question!

Take a look at the image again and notice the facts on the page. A “thin” question answers facts – just what is on the page: What? When? Where? How many? If we want to teach above the line (SAMR), the iPad would be a terrific tool to use to answer “Thick” questions.

“Thick Questions” require students to think and search:

What if…? What might…? How would you feel…?

What do you think…? I wonder…? Why is…? How did…?

What caused…? Why do you think…? I wonder what…?

I wonder who…? I wonder what could…? I wonder why the composer…?

When designing lessons, think about what can be included to spark the imagination of your students. Memorizing facts doesn’t mean mastery, does it? Leave the door WIDE OPEN for students to explore, research, and discover.

Measuring the Trumpet — Students wanted to measure the length of the trumpet. They compared length to pitch: Tuba vs Trumpet

One student brought his trumpet to school and he was interviewed by all. — One student brought his trumpet to school and he was interviewed using “Thick” questions.

What “Thick Questions” have you asked your students about music lately? All it takes is just a little more thought.

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Cherie Herring

Music/Technology Integration at Hammond School

I teach elementary music, am passionate about integrating technology into my teaching, am obsessed with my SMARTBoard and iPad, and enjoy creating lessons and sharing ideas. I love technology almost as much as I love cheesecake, and with more energy and ideas than I know what to do with, I can't wait for the sun to come up each morning! I'm wife to Prince Charming and mom to three incredible girls who keep me balanced. . . sort of!