What is the general name for the Promethean or Smart boards? IWB (Interactive White Board) The name implies that one should use the Promethean Board in an interactive way. How do you use your IWB? Do you use it just like you did when you had a projector and pull down screen? Do you use it as you did with an overhead transparency projector? Or, are you using it as an interactive tool for students to engage and manipulate content? Maybe your answer is that you use it in all of these ways!
Either way, remember that the point of having an IWB in your classroom is as a tool to help maximize student learning. It is a tool that both teachers and students can use to advance the learning process.
Doug Johnson from The Blue Skunk Blog, provides a few points on what makes an IWB truly interactive. He says,
- What happens on the IWB is determined by student response to questions.
- Students themselves use the IWB to solve problems or explain concepts.
- The teacher uses an IWB version of a game or puzzle.
- The teacher uses the IWB to add multi-media to a discussion and easily starts and stops video and music to discuss parts of the whole.
How can you step up the levels of engagement in your classroom using your IWB? Have you learned how to create ActivInspire Flipcharts that allow you to embed links, videos, actions, containers? Have you learned how to manipulate the layers in order to hide and reveal content? Have you used Promethean Planet to see what other teachers are creating and using in their classrooms all over the world? Do you know how to download resource packs from the Planet for Fall, Winter, Spring, or Summer seasons?
If the answer is “no” to any one of these questions and you are interested in learning more, send me an email and we’ll get together to learn how put the I in the IWB!