In at the Deep End

All this week, Promethean and FES staff have been busy in the maths departments of ELC high schools installing Promethean whiteboards and associated projectors. They finished here at North Berwick yesterday afternoon, having done a thoroughly professional job.

And so... this morning arrived, and I found myself at the front of a class of 32 eager S2 pupils with only the whiteboard to work from.

Instead of trying to do a lesson that used the whiteboard, on what was in fact my last lesson of the academic year with this class, I decided to do a lesson about the whiteboard. I want all my pupils to feel comfortable with the technology, so they need some hands-on experience!

I started with a quick demo of some of the flashier tools, then played number hangman, with pupils coming up to write on the board, so that by the end of the lesson almost everyone had held the stylus and made their mark.

The pupils, of course, took to it instantly, with lively cries of "no - click on the undo button" or "you need to pick the pen first" from the audience.

My next class was an S3 foundation group of only 17. I ran a similar lesson, and they all got the chance to spend more time at the board. I showed a "vertically challenged" member of the class how she could drag the flipchart down to bring the top within her reach, and from then on she insisted on writing only at the very top of the chart.

I'm very excited about this technology! Over the weekend I'll be playing with ActivStudio (the software that supports the Promethean boards) and planning how I can use the board to improve the introductory lessons I'll be doing on Monday, when the new timetable begins.