Mountain Press Article
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Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press
   Third-grade teacher Lisa Lister demonstrates how she conducts a class using the Prometheus Board. |
By ELLEN BROWN
Staff Writer
Rep. Doug Overbey and numerous area business leaders attended a presentation of the Promethean ActivBoard a high-tech, interactive whiteboard during Sevierville Intermediate School’s Open House Tuesday evening.
The “interactive whiteboard” offers students and teachers many things: it is considered a PC, a DVD player, PowerPoint, the Internet and more rolled into one system.
“It’s a great tool, and the kids enjoy it,” said Lisa Lister, an SIS third grade teacher who delivered the presentation. “There’s no way I could teach without it again.”
Three students helped Lister demonstrate how the ActivBoard was used in class. They used an Activpen, a battery-free, wireless pen, on the large screen for exercises in geography, math and spelling. Games like Jeopardy can be used to help students prepare for tests, and the program “Storyline Online” allows students to see and hear celebrities reading different books along with the book’s illustrations. Various videos can be shown on the screen, including the Animal Planet’s “Jeff Corwin Experience.”
“I can’t take them on a field trip across the world, so this does it for me,” Lister said of the program.
Other features include lesson development software that makes lesson planning more convenient; wire-free technology that allows the board to talk seamlessly with Promethean’s other products; and a low-glare screen.
SIS principal Terri Dodge said the school currently has 27 boards but is in need of 9 more. The cost of each board, with projector and tools, is $5,000.
Dodge said the school’s goal was to equip all of its classroom with the “best technology.”
“I was very impressed by the presentation and how comfortable the students were using it,” Overbey said. “It’s a great learning tool.”
The school’s open house also offered fingerprinting for children, information on car seat safety and other booths. Parents and other guests enjoyed dinner served by Bullfish Grill.
Dodge said that students will participate in the voting process by having their own Election Day on Monday.
For more information on the Promethean ActivBoard, visit www.prometheanworld.com.
ebrown@themountainpress.com
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