Promethean Board Experience

I found this past week at Sumrall Elementary to be very beneficial to my future career as a teacher. I feel like I got the experience that I need to feel comfortable to begin student teaching. I got a chance to be with the teacher throughout the entire school day, get to know the students more, and get the chance to teach with the new, coming of age technology that seems to be the topic of discussion these days… the Promethean Board!
I was worried about interacting with this new technology because it intimidated me. I have watched my teacher teach with it and it seems complicated! So when it came time to teach my social studies and math lesson and I had to use the Promethean board to teach, I was nervous. I wasn’t sure how to use it and I was afraid something would go wrong. Even though I am intrigued by these pieces of technology, I was hoping it wouldn’t defeat me while attempting to use it to teach. Before I taught my math lesson, I got the chance to practice using the Promethean board before the children came into the classroom that morning. The teacher showed me how to write, change the color of the pen, erase a single thing on the board, and how to clear the entire board. Four simple techniques that don’t even scratch the surface of what this machine has to offer, but they were challenging enough for me to attempt for my first time with this technology. My first lesson with the Promethean board was a success! I had so much fun using the board and the students enjoyed interacting with the problems that I wrote on the board. Even though the things I did on the Promethean board were all problems that could have been written on a white board, it was just what I needed to get my feet wet. I started to get the hang of how to “clear annotations” or use the eraser tool to erase a single number or problem without clearing the whole board. The technology amazed me that a simple “pen” could write on this board- all the while it was being controlled by the computer. I felt like I was ready to go further and try new things with the Promethean board for my next lesson.
For my social studies lesson, I created a power point presentation with pictures and words on the slides. I wasn’t sure how this would work with Promethean board because I had not seen either of my teachers use a power point with the board before so it was a learning experience for both me and my teacher. Before my lesson, I made sure that the power point was compatible with the Promethean board and when I found out it was, there was a sigh of relief! I really enjoyed using the Promethean board to display the power point. It was very similar to how a computer and projector would show a power point presentation but it was neat to figure how to use it with this technology! I like it because I was able to stand at the front of the classroom and talk about the image that was being shown. When I was ready to go to the next slide, I could do so with a simple touch of the screen with the pen. Even though presenting slide shows is not a Promethean board’s strong point, I was glad to know it was an option to use with the technology.
Even though I really enjoyed being able to personally interact with the Promethean boards, l learned more about what the technology is capable of by observing the teacher and the flipcharts she had prepared for the lessons. She used the board to work problems like I did in my math lesson, and did not erase any problems until the end of the lesson. With each new problem worked, she moved to another page so she was able to keep the previous problems just in case she needed to refer back to them. This came in handy when a student was confused about the content- she was able to go back just a few pages to refer back to the problem that she had previously worked on. She also used different colors while working problems so the students could relate each color to a different part of the problem. She used red for the answers to the problems, blue for the actual problems, and green for the mathematical symbol of the type of problem being worked. By using these different colors, it reminded students that they should look at each part of the problem in order to work it properly.
My favorite Promethean board activity that I got a chance to watch was when the students got to use the Activotes. The students got very excited when the teacher told them that they would be using the activotes for their MCT2 review. I could tell that they really enjoyed using this as a learning tool. The teacher chose to use a bar graph of how many students guessed each letter. There is also a tool that shows the teacher what each individual student chose as his or her answer. My teacher told me that she does not like to use that graph because she doesn’t want to point out which student is struggling with the content because she is afraid of embarrassing the student. The teacher would show a question with multiple-choice answers on the flip chart. When the teacher pressed the “play” option with the pen tool, it allowed the students to answer using their individual activotes. As each student answered a question, the number of the activote that they had was highlighted so the teacher could monitor when all students completed each question. This also let the teacher know if a student was hesitant on answering a question, that student might be struggling with the content. After all of the students answered the question, the teacher chose the results option, the software calculated the results, and they were shown in the form of a bar graph. If all of the students go the answer right, the teacher knew that the students understood the content. If some of the students chose the wrong answer, the teacher reviewed the problem, explaining why the incorrect answers were not the best choice. I thought this tool was very beneficial because it gives the teacher instant feedback on how the students are doing and what content needs to be revisited to help the students understand it better. I can see where these tools are especially beneficial when reviewing for the MCT2.
Another tool that she used in the MCT2 review was one that gave a definition and the students had to choose the correct word for the definition. There was a magnifying glass at the top of the flipchart and when she called on a student, he/she guessed the word, came to the board and got the pen, and moved the magnifying glass over the box that was next to the definition. When the magnifying glass was over the box, the word was displayed and the student could see if he/she was correct. This is an interesting, creative, and fun way for the students to learn because it adds variety to their reviews and makes something that could be boring review, fun and interactive. This activity seemed to engage the students in a way that was necessary to keep their attention and help their understanding.
Even though I only got to use the Promethean board for a short period of time and used simple tools, I enjoyed being able to interact with it. I feel like now that I have used it a couple of times, I’m not as intimidated by the new technology. I look forward to getting another chance to use the board in more advanced ways that will help my lesson content while it aids the student’s learning. I feel confident that one day soon, I will be able to create flipcharts and use the activotes and involve my students in an interactive learning environment.