The non-ActivBoard

by Old Shoe Woman 

Chris Snyder, 3rd grade Shiloh Hills, has taken the leap into learning how to use her interactive whiteboard (IWB) in her classroom. She was always one of the first to buy-in on trying new instructional methods and tools. When a Promethean ActivBoard became available she jumped right in, however, missing the first training for the boards put her behind the interactive curve. As the school year began with the usual frantic pace, she tried to teach herself how to use the board through online resources and attending ITEP sessions, but it just wasn't clicking quite yet. The time to try to teach herself in such a hit-and-miss manner just wasn't working. The non-use of her IWB technology was building angst in her, until she reached out, and was determined to learn how to use this thing in her classroom.

After gaining some experience in a one-on-one tutoring session over lunch and a planning period she felt a bit more confident and wanted to give it a shot with her students. She practiced a bit and went to it the next day, and to her surprise, or rather relief, it went pretty darn well. After a week of using it with her class, she wanted to learn more about other functions of the IWB and how to incorporate its use with the document camera. So another lunch and planning period of learning and she was ready for prime time, utilizing the interactive whiteboard and the document camera at the same time. 

She feels more confident in knowing that the IWB is just her computer projected, the ActivPen is her mouse and knowing that she is supported if she falls. She now allows her students to utilize the ActivBoard more often to do classroom work and interact with the content through a different mode. She also models resiliency and persistency daily, showing her students that she is a learner too, which is difficult for some teachers to admit. She faces that fact that failing is a part of growing and learning and trying again is an essential skill to impart to her students.

Here's some resources to learn how to use Promethean's ActivBoard... thanks for trying Ms. Snyder and the grammar help with this post!