A Smartboard Notebook "How To" Book Now Available

Easy Smartboard Teaching Templates
The book is finally here. "Easy Smartboard Teaching Templates" is a book full of great ideas for helping you make lessons for your Smartboard. It is a 'HOW TO' book of using SMARTBOARD notebook software. It is an excellent resource for beginners to advanced users. The book explains in great detail how to make and use any of the 25 teaching templates that we have covered in the Podcasts. It is full of color cardstock pages. It is spiral bound with laminated front and back cover. This is a great resource for people to have something in their hand to explore as opposed to just looking at instructions on the screen. The book is written by Scott Miller and David Sladkey who host the Teaching with Smartboard Podcast. For more information click here. To see some sample pages please click here. The cost of the book is $16.95 plus shipping.

Click Here to goto Teaching with Smartboard to purchase the book.

Front of the Class A book by Brad Cohen

I am amazed at how Brad Cohen overcame his Tourette Syndrome and became a wonderful teacher. Tourette Syndrome is a neurological condition that is exhibited through twitches, yelps, verbal outbursts, and more. The problem is that with TS you have no control over these behaviors. It is like blinking for most of us.
Brad's main theme in the book is that he would educate people about TS and they would generally accept it. He would honestly explain his condition to any audience that would listen. Most importantly he would educate his students. His students would then in turn ask questions which Brad answered frankly. As kids are, they accepted Mr. Cohen quickly. It is really a great story of how positive attitude and fortitude will get you to realize your dreams. In this case Brad's dream was being a teacher.
Brad's story reminds me as a teacher how I treat all my students. It makes me think of how sometimes I assume that students have complete control of themselves at all times. I always need to investigate before I make assumptions. It has been a great lesson for me.
Thanks Brad for your inspiring story. I hope you get a chance to read it.
Here is Brad's Website http://www.classperformance.com/

"Do Hard Things" a book by Alex and Brett Harris

I have been reading an excellent book by Alex and Brett Harris called "Do Hard Things". The idea is that we have low expectations for teenagers and usually they fulfill them. However, I have been challenged in my own journey by this book to take a leap of faith and Do Hard Things. The section that I'm currently reading is "You can't get to success without risking failure". This is how we often are paralyzed by the fear of failure into doing NOTHING. I certainly can relate to that. The amazing thing about this book is that these guys are actually teenagers themselves. They are (were) 19 when they wrote the book. They are twins.

So get the book, and then Do Something Hard this Week!