Promethean Revealed...

I sat in a math classroom the other day observing an interesting lesson. I was struck by just how much I did not understand and I began thinking of my experiences in math class more than forty years ago. I finished my freshman year with an A in Algebra I and had dreams of a career as a civil engineer. Those dreams crashed head-on into a major roadblock...sophomore Geometry. I had a teacher who was also a football coach. Every class was exactly the same...review the 40 or so problems we had done for homework, learn about a new concept, and then do more problems to finish the class and 40 more for homework. And so it went every day for three years because I had the same teacher for Algebra II and Trigonometry. No wonder I disliked math by the time I graduated and that I had not been all that successful either.

So I pondered my dismal math experience as I sat in the class and watched with amazement and envy as students in this particular class were totally engaged in a lesson reviewing a series of problems with which they had experienced some difficulty on a test the previous day. Aside from the totally different approach to instruction, the one glaring difference was that the whole lesson was planned and presented using a new interactive Promethean board. The problems were projected on the white board and students used various tools to write on the board and solve the problems. But far more importantly, students got to respond to questions and provide individual answers to the problems. Percentages of correct responses were displayed on the screen which provided both the teacher and the students with instant feedback as to how they did. Watching students that engaged and using technology so effortlessly was pretty neat but not surprising. What we know is that students today are definitely wired differently in the ways in which they use technology. (Ever watch a kid type and send a text message on a cell phone secreted in the pocket of a sweatshirt?) This new piece of technology takes advantage of that skill and facility and enhances both teaching and learning for our students.

If these interactive tools had been around decades ago, I might have been more engaged in math and would possibly be reflecting on a long career of designing roads and bridges and writing about that in my blog.

As always, please let me know what you think.