Technology in the Classroom

I have been to Glastonbury High School (GHS) (the school where I will be placed this fall) a couple of times, and have had a chance to just look into the classrooms and see what is available. According to the cooperating teacher, every classroom is provided with a smart board. At the middle school and high school I attended in my hometown, every classroom also had a smart board, and it was one of those instances where the school got everyone excited about them, but never really educated the teachers on how to use them. Because of this, we as students got to use them a lot, because the teachers didn't know how, and most of us could figure it out a lot easier. We were encouraged to use them in presentations and stuff like that so I have some experience with them from a student perspective. In addition to the smart boards in the classroom, all the teachers at GHS communicate with their students off the teachers' personal homepage. I am told that this is a place where I will be able to post assignments, update a schedule for my students to view, post discussion topics/read answers etc. Further, as a Special Educator, I will be exposed to certain programs that the teachers are currently being taught how to use such as Reading programs that can be purchased on an iPad. The school seems technologically advanced so far, so I am looking forward to being able to use the skills that I learn from this class when planning my lessons and working with the students. Because the special education system at GHS is going through some changes, my cooperating teacher is not even positive what specific classes she will be teaching in the fall, much less has any lesson plans for me to work on. However, since I was so used to having them available, I was expecting them to be there, and I don't think it will be a problem for me to come up with something interactive to do with them once I know more what I'm doing. Because most of my knowledge is self taught, I am looking forward to learning more about how to use them since I'm sure there are many features I am not aware of.
Off of the top of my head, I remember there are ways you can manipulate a powerpoint with the smart board, and that would be a way to get students involved in the lesson. If I were doing a lesson on rhyming, for example, the students could manually move a group of words into one column or the other maybe based on end sounds or beginning sounds. This way I could have students take turns gain a sensory experience as well as the visual. Or if I were in a high school classroom and I were doing a lecture, I could put up just the main points, and write in additional information with the smart board markers. This would allow the content to move in a more spontaneous way, and allow for more student contribution, instead of just plain lecturing. These are just a couple of examples I can think of, without a lot of information about what else is available with the boards.