For the last two days, I have been working at a middle school undergoing renovation. Many teachers are going from having an overhead projector to a short-throw Promethean board, laptop, CPS remotes, flip video cameras, digital cameras, DVD players, and more. The staff has been receptive to the new technology, especially the Promethean board, as I introduce them to ActivInspire.
How did these staff members cope? They are learning Promethean software by taking baby steps. Each staff member is excited about different aspects of the software. They leave with their own little gem, each one different, and they will cling to it until they can add to their knowledge once this is digested.
What did the teachers take away? Here were some of their gems:
- Typing text on a flipchart and using the fill tool (paint bucket) to color code text. This is great for categorizing words or phrases quickly in a variety of educational settings.
- Count Down and Count Up Clock: using these tools to keep students on track and practice for timed tests.
- Revealer: Using the revealer to reveal objectives, warm up questions, or tasks one-by-one.
- Using interactive websites to enage kids at the Promethean board. Need a starting place? Try here or here.
- Annotating over the desktop and word documents to utilize existing documents.
- Math Tools: there is nothing like a virtual protractor, ruler, dice, and compass
- Promethean Planet: Knowing there was a site for existing resources. Let's not reinvent the wheel!
- Using white ink on a white background to create hidden messages or hidden answers to matching activities. Fill in the background with another color to reveal the "hidden" message or answers.
- Utilizing resources in the resource library: interactive Periodic table and color wheel was a big hit
- Grids and backgrounds: Just changing the background to graph paper, grids, or lined paper can create the setting for interactive success
However, by pulling the revealer down from the top, you can reveal your information in order and control how much your students see at one time. You can explain the first point before revealing the second one. Try it!
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