According to SMART Technologies, Inc.

more than 346,000 classrooms worldwide are

equipped with SMART Board technology. This means that 7.35 million students around the
world, and their teachers, have access to cutting edge technology that keeps the classroom a
modern learning environment. At LEAP High School, we are implementing language learning
strategies that are constantly evolving and are at the forefront of our field. With the help of
SMART Board technology, we could take our students learning to the next level. The SMART
Board 7000 Series comes in either an 86 or 75 display, allowing students to clearly see the
board from all angles and distances. It allows up to 16 touch points at a time so students can
collaborate and manipulate media on the board at the same time. SMART Ink allows you to
write directly on various media such as websites, videos, and word documents. You can even
save these notes to a PDF. The 7000 series also supports browsing the web, SMART lab
technologies and other activity and game applications without the need to switch inputs. Screen
sharing and input preview technology also allow students to immediately share their work with
their peers and teachers. This allows for seamless transitions and is more efficient than ever
before. At $7, 423.70 from an education wholesaler, the investment on the front end would be
costly, but the benefits to our students would be numerous.

If we put a SMART Board 7000 series in even just half of our classrooms, 100% of our
students would have the opportunity to use it. In our English as a Second Language classrooms,
students would be served with more advanced ways to write, read, edit and create. SMART Lab
activities can be easily manipulated by teachers to meet the specific needs of their classroom. For
example, in my classroom my 1B writing students would be able to directly manipulate
sentences, stories and texts to learn more about the nuances of the English language and ways to
utilize it for their own success. There would be a learning curve, of course, in implementing this
technology as teachers became accustomed to its features and students learned the expectations
surrounding its use but once this stage has passed, students will be able to be more active
participants in their learning and teachers will be able to more easily encompass the Multiple
Intelligences. By implementing SMART technology, we expect to see an increase in productivity
and time on task from both students and teachers. Further, we expect that reading comprehension
will increase. We will assess this by giving a schoolwide (teacher and student) survey of
perceived productivity where they will rate their productivity to determine if it has increased,
decreased or remained the same.

Cost per unit Units needed Total projected cost:

$7, 423.70 25 $185, 592.50

Overall, the use of SMART technology is becoming more and more common and the
increasing deficit between ELLs and native English speaking students calls for an increased
focus on implementing strategies and methods that target the needs of ELLs. The constant visual
input and support from SMART Boards would greatly benefit our students and keep LEAP High
School at the forefront of ELL education in St. Paul.
Information from:

https://education.smarttech.com/products/7000-series

https://www.techedu.com/smartboard/series_smart-7000-series/