Action+Research

Action Research

Problem: The Kindergarten teachers at Tri-Valley have not had Promethean Boards (including myself). They are ordering them for us and should have them by Christmas vacation. The other Kindergarten teachers are not sure of how to use these, as well as other Elementary staff who do not know how to use the Promethean board as more than a normal whiteboard.

Question: Will the Promethean Board help students engage and teachers engage in more 21st century learning?

Plan: My plan is to mentor the lower elementary teachers and provide them with resources and tools to help incorporate 21st century learning through the Promethean Board. I will also be working with the two other Kindergarten teachers on how to use the Promethean Board as a basic tool, and how to encourage growing use of the board.

Reflection: I truly enjoyed helping all the teachers with various 21st century tools with the Promethean Board. The Kindergarten teachers found a love for the Promethean Board and are so excited to have our Math curriculum available to use interactively with our students this fall. We are also receiving "voters" for our students, so this year we will also be focusing on how to incorporate these into student learning. We were all so amazed at how well our students adapted to using the board. We were worried about introducing such an amazing tool in the middle of the year. I know the two teachers felt overwhelmed, but I shared many of the flipcharts I had made and they were able to take those to start with and then made their own and grew so strong in creating fun lessons for their students! We were very lucky to have Deb Peters as our main technology integrationist. She helped us all through the transition and continues to provide frequent resources and support for our Promethean Boards.

Implications: As stated above, I will continue to utilize the Promethean Board as a way to incorporate 21st century skills, instead of just as a whiteboard. Also, through PI, I have been able to use some interesting tools and will continue to find more tools and use them in my classroom as well as show other teachers how they can utilize these tools.