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01/14/2008

And he did so without the use of a marker and without getting within an arm's length of the whiteboard. Instead, he spent most of the class walking randomly among his honors-level students.

Ten, maybe even five years ago, this would have been called wizardry -- the stuff you'd see at Hogwarts of Harry Potter fame.

But not today.

Today there's a technological explanation.

In Brace's case, the answer is a Promethean board.

One of the latest types of computerized, interactive whiteboards, the Promethean board gives teachers like Brace the ability to deliver lessons in the PC or Apple-based way that appeals to today's technologically savvy teens.

And he can do so on the go, thanks to the dinner-plate-size tablet that he holds in hand.

"This really allows me to tie everything together in a way modern students' think," Brace said of the Promethean board. "(Students) aren't linear thinkers anymore."

Promethean boards are more than computers that project images on a screen.

Brace can use his to search the Internet together with his students, or illustrate electric fields, or create perfect circles and precise angles and enhance those images by using different colors or changing their size.

There's even a shade feature that allows a user to hide a portion of the screen, so that problems can be seen but not the answers.

If he wants, Brace also can bring audio into play, even stuff he has downloaded himself.

Gone are the days when he had to erase a set of equations on his traditional whiteboard to make room for a second set.

Now, he said, he can save every screen of equations projected on the whiteboard, thereby giving him the ability to retrieve that work whenever he wishes.

The Promethean board, Brace said, is all about efficiency.

"I'll be honest," he said. "We are about a week to a week-and-a-half ahead of where we were last year at this time."

Testing, too, can be done more easily.

Brace can post multiple-choice quizzes on his Promethean board that his students can take from at their desks via handheld remotes.

As soon at the final student clicks his or her last answer, the Promethean Board scores the results automatically, giving teachers and students alike instant feedback.

Karen Hall, technology director at Oakland-based School Administrative District 47, shares Brace's enthusiasm for Promethean boards.

SAD 47 also includes the towns of Sidney, Belgrade and Rome.

Hall said her district was one of the first to purchase the interactive whiteboard. In fact, she said, Winslow school officials visited the James Bean elementary school in Sidney, home to SAD 47's lone Promethean board, to learn how they worked.

They were so impressed they elected to use some of the money from the $9 million renovation of Winslow High School to buy 22 of the devices, 13 of which are up and operating so far.

Promethean boards are not the only are first computerized, interactive whiteboards.

Smart Boards, offered by Smart Technologies, were the first ones to appear in this area.

Hall said Promethean boards are a newer, enhanced version of the Smart Board.

Both Hall and Winslow teachers also praise the wealth of resources and support provided by Promethean, a company based in the United Kingdom.

"There are a lot of interactive lesson plans that come with these units," Hall said, "and the software is updated all the time."

Brace said what delights him is that Promethean enables its customers to adapt and create lesson plans that are then available on the Promethean Web site for all to use.

Matt Doucharme, a senior in Brace's honors physics class, said the newfangled whiteboard has helped him more easily grasp concepts.

"It's easier to understand," he said, "because certain equations call for certain things and it's hard to get a picture of that in your mind until somebody shows you a picture of it."

The Promethean board provides those pictures -- in a variety of colors if need be.

Hall said the emphasis in SAD 47 is to equip each of the district's four elementary schools and one middle school with a Promethean board.

But Hall said the device is appealing to students at all levels.

"It gives them the interactions that they are familiar with," she said, "because at home they have iPods and Myspace and interactive games. So they are just bombarded with all this multimedia ...This engages them in that multimedia world."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com

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