Promethean Board Reveiw

With the rise of technology in the classroom, some school districts are beginning to implement the use of Promethean boards within their classrooms. A Promethean board is an interactive white board that not only allows students and teachers to write, draw, and annotate, but also has interactive lessons that enhance learning. Like a normal white board, students can use a promethean pen to write and draw; however, teachers can also use word documents to add shapes, text boxes,  and images to the board. For example, if students were completing a data table in a science lab, the teacher can use a word document to create a table and then have students fill it in using the Promethean pen. Moreover, a teacher could upload an image and annotate over the images labeling parts or writing notes.

The real advantage of using a Promethean board is the access teachers have to over 90,000 interactive lesson plans and resources through Promethean Planet. Promethean Planet is a website that provides  teachers with lessons in multiple subjects, grade levels, and languages. These interactive lessons have activities within them that allow students to interact directly with the Promethean board. For instance, if I were teaching a lesson on volcanoes, I would use a lesson from Promethean Planet that has a giant volcano in which I can drag words out of the lava and put them into organizational tables.  Moreover, the lesson includes videos and images that students or teachers can click on for more information and notes. Typical PowerPoints pale in comparison to the professionally designed interactive lessons on Promethean Planet.

Teachers can use the Promethean Board to enhance their lessons by engaging students in interactive activities which increase learning. The Promethean board addresses all learning styles as they provide visual images and text, auditory videos, and activities which require students to move and manipulate images and text.

A limitation to the use of Promethean boards is that, unlike smart boards, students have to use a Promethean pen to interact with the board, not their fingers. Older versions of the Promethean board only allow for the use of one Promethean pen at a time, which limits the amount of students who can participate in activities at one time.  Another limitation to Promethean boards is the affordability and accessibility of this technology tool, for many school districts do not have the funds to purchase it. Finally, another limitation to this technology tool is that not all of the lessons on Promethean Planet are free, which does limit the amount of lessons teachers can utilize in the classroom cheaply. However, there are numerous free presentations and lessons, so teachers will have access to lessons even without having to purchase them.

If you are interested in integrating a Promethean Board into your classroom, follow these four easy steps:

1. Buy a Promethean Board. Most school districts will supply Promethean Boards if funding permits, so individuals do not need to spend their personal money.

2. Download active inspire software onto your desktop computer.

3. Create an account on Promethean Planet

4. Turn on your desktop computer and Promethean Board and open up the software. It will sync and the Promethean Board will be ready to use!