Using the SmartBoard to create Personalized Stories

I have written about the SmartBoard Software and it’s  power to put the interactive in the IWB before. There is another cool feature of the Software that you might be able to use to customize and personalize images, stories, presentations, etc in order to get your students interested in what is going on “up there”.

Create a story for and with your students. Import a background by choosing one from the Gallery, importing an image from your computer or by taking a screenshot of an image on the web.

Choose to insert an image to personalize your story from your hard drive.

Or use an image that is on the web by using the screencapture tool. How about the turkey we just ate at Thanksgiving. Let’s write a story about his adventure in the deep blue sea

Once the image is imported it becomes an object. Right click the object, then choose “Picture Transparency”.

This will obviously work best, if the background of the image is unicolored. You will not get as good results with a busy background. Click on the background in order to turn all the areas you want transparent pink.

When you are done, click on “Set Transparency”

No you can move your image around on your background, incorporating it into you story.

Start taking photos of each one of your students (try to take it in front of a unicolored background) and import their heads, make the background transparent and save it for future use in the Gallery. From now on your students can star in their own stories.

Possibilities are endless… Have fun!