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Issue 2 September 2009 •Email: activteacheranz@prometheanworld.com

Top tips forActivInspireSoftware tips by Promethean’s Teaching and Learning Advisor, Kate Bonica page 4

Published in association with Promethean Page 1

Social media is an umbrella term forthe various activities that integratetechnology and social interaction.Often referred to as the ‘digitalnatives,’ today’s generation of learn-ers have spent their entire livesimmersed in the internet, games con-soles and mobile phones. Technologyand social media are a natural part ofyoung people’s lives - it’s how theycommunicate and potentially howthey learn too.

21st century learningImportantly, incorporating interac-

tive classroom technologies into teach-ing and learning is a form of socialmedia in itself, as it involves user gen-erated content and participation. Italso helps students to acquire the basicskills of 21st century learning - com-munication, creativity, collaboration,critical thinking and problem solving. Teachers use interactive whiteboards

to create their own lesson content,

incorporating a range of media, andutilising a variety of on-screen tools. Inturn, students become active learners,using the interactive whiteboard totake part in classroom activities andcontribute their own content by writ-ing, manipulating objects, recordingsound, and even uploading their ownimages and videos.Furthermore, by integrating Learner

Response Systems, teachers are able tomirror the instant and enjoyablenature of communication their stu-dents experience using mobile phones,games consoles and social networkingsites. Furthermore, these tools improvestudent-teacher interaction while giv-ing teachers valuable insight into theirstudents’ understanding and progress.

Inspiration and supportThe rise and increasing use of edu-

cational technologies has led manyteachers to look to the internet toshare ideas, advice and resources with

their peers. There are now a numberof online teaching communities thatallow teachers to do just this, and theteachers who use these sites say thatthey really value the support they canget online. Many say that the siteshave helped them to save time duringlesson planning and inspired them tobe more creative with interactive tech-nologies in the classroom.Promethean is very active in this

arena. Promethean Planet (www.PrometheanPlanet.com ) is theworld’s fastest growing interactivewhiteboard community, with over380 ,000 member s wor ldw ide .Teachers can participate and share bestpractice via the ActivEducator blogand discussion forums. They can alsoaccess thousands of adaptableresources and flipcharts, as well asupload and share their own interactivelessons with other Planet membersfrom across the globe. In addition, theActivLearning section of the site offersa variety of online professional devel-opment courses and training materialsfor teachers looking to enhance theirinteractive technology skills.

Social networkingResponding to the growing popular-

i t y o f F a c e book a nd Tw i t t e r,Promethean Planet and ActivTeacher

ANZ have also created their own pro-files on these sites. By becoming aFacebook friend or follower on Twitter,teachers can receive regular updatesand tweets, telling them about the lat-est resources and offers to land onPromethean Planet, new tips for usingPromethean’s ActivClassroom tech-nologies and ActivInspire software inlessons, and upcoming educationtechnology events in their area.

Connecting with studentsIn addition, many students have

their own Facebook or Twitter pageand a high percentage actually spendmore of their leisure time interactingvia these sites than they do watchingtelevision. As students are clearly veryengaged by the medium, some teach-ers are testing the use of social net-working platforms in the classroom,via their interactive whiteboards. Thisenables teachers to respond to currentconcerns surrounding online safetyand cyber bullying by teaching theirstudents how to use the internet safe-ly and responsibly, and raising aware-ness about online privacy issues.

Global classroom connectionsFinally, some teachers are using their

interactive whiteboards to connect

and share their lessons with class-rooms in different parts of the world -teaching students about other cul-tures, and helping them to practicetheir language and communicationskills. Promethean Planet’s ActivRoom sec-

tion offers a number of features tohelp teachers achieve this. For exam-ple, Teachers can set up a free Vroom,a virtual classroom and online meetingspace that allows them to connect totheir classroom with other users viatheir interactive whiteboard and inter-net connection. From here, classroomscan communicate live, share flipchartsand create joint lessons. If the class-rooms taking part have their own webcameras, they can even interact witheach other via video.Bringing the concept of pen pals

into the 21st century, PrometheanPlanet also enables classrooms to col-laborate by becoming F l ipPals ,whereby each participating class pre-pares and sends flipcharts to theother. Alternatively, teachers can cre-ate a ‘Travelling flipchart’ that otherclasses can add to, sharing experi-ences and perspectives on a range oftopics.For more information, please visit

www.PrometheanPlanet.com/ActivConnect

Australia & New ZealandAustralia & New Zealand

Technology for empowered learningActivTeacher ANZ

Train to gainMaking interactive technology a seamless part of teaching pedagogy

Page 2

In the classroomwith…Faraday Pang from Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Sydney

Page 3

Lessons in social mediaWith technologies playing an increasingly fundamental

role in today’s classrooms, more teachers are turning tosocial media to enhance their teaching and to connect withtheir students. ActivTeacher ANZ explores this issue.

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ActivTeacher ANZ 4pp issue 2:Document 1 14/09/2009 15:39 Page 1

As interactive technologies haveevolved, the types and availability oftraining have too, and Promethean ismaking it is easier than ever for teach-ers to get to grips with the latest solu-tions, without breaking the bank.

Local training optionsPromethean’s partner companies in

Australia and New Zealand are fullyaccredited to deliver comprehensivein-school training programmes. Pro -me thean’s dedicated Teaching andLearning Advisor, Kate Bonica, is alsoon hand to provide advice and sup-port in your region. In addition, Promethean and its

partners arrange regular ActivBoardUser Group meetings with theinvolvement of teachers from acrossAustralia and New Zealand. Heldonce a term at a host school, thesemeetings bring like-minded teacherstogether to share ideas on how tomake the most of interactive technol-ogy in the classroom.

Virtual learningVirtual learning environments are

an ideal supplement to more formal training delivery. Promethean’s onlinet r a in ing po r ta l Ac t i v Lea r n ing(www.PrometheanPlanet.com/ActivLearning) for instance, offers teach-ers access to a comprehensive range

of courses from free introductory pro-grammes, through to trainer leveloptions for more experienced tech-nology users. Completed online, at atime and pace to suit you, theseaccredited training programmes area l s o e l i g i b l e a s e v i d e n c e o fContinuing Professional Development(CPD). On a mo re i n f o rma l l e v e l ,

Promethean Planet, Promethean’sonline teaching community of over380,000 members, features top tipsfor using interactive whiteboards andActivInspire software, which are lesstraining based and more focused oninspiring teachers to discover whatthey can achieve with the technologyin lessons.

Endless benefitsTaking a proactive approach to

interactive technology training is criti-cal in creating classrooms that enrichand enhance each student’s learningexperience. By becoming confidentand competent users of collaborativelearning solutions, educators will beequipped to develop creative andinspiring lessons that capture stu-dents’ attention, and at the sametime, benefit from time-efficient plan-ning, effective lesson delivery, and thecompetitive edge when it comes tocareer progression.

Page 2

Train to gainToday, more than ever, teachers are challenged to create lessons that excite learners. With education

increasingly competing for students’ attention over video games, the internet and TV, teachers must ensurelessons capture and, moreover, retain the interest of learners. One way to achieve this is by bringing the tech-nology used by students on a daily basis into the classroom, and making interactive solutions a seamless partof pedagogy.

Waysto train:

Complete an in-schooltraining session – pleasecontact your localPromethean partner for moreinformation

Sign up for a free ActivInspireintroductory or migratorycourse at www.PrometheanPlanet.com/ActivLearning

View video tutorials and toptips on Promethean Planet,and get best practice advicethrough the site’s online blogand forum

Join a local ActivBoard UserGroup. Information aboutexisting groups can be foundon the Promethean Planetwebsite at www.PrometheanPlanet.comAlternatively, please contactKate.Bonica@prometheanworld.com for more details

All schools in the APY Lands (Aboriginal district) in South Australia fol-low an ‘Accelerated Literacy’ programme, designed to enhance students’literacy skills, which consists of a cluster of literacy teaching strategiesthat are taught each day for 60 – 90 minutes.

ActivBoardUser GroupsJoin or establish an ActivBoard User

Group in your local area, and you can:

• Network with other interactivetechnology users

• Share useful tips and skills to makeclassroom life easier

• Get to grips with the latest Prometheanproducts and software

For more information, please contactactivteacheranz@prometheanworld.com

Prometheanin the

APY Lands

For Aboriginal schools, where studentattendance is a key challenge, familiarroutines are useful in that they providestudents with support, motivation andfamiliarity. To date, nine schools in theAPY Land s ha ve imp l emen tedPromethean ActivBoards and are active-ly incorporating the technology into les-sons to support the programme. He lp ing teache r s to u se the

ActivBoards effectively within the class-room, Promethean’s Teaching andLearning Advisor, Kate Bonica, hasbeen travelling around the Lands toobserve the ActivBoards in use and todeliver bespoke training programmes.Kate tells us about her recent visit toMimili Anangu School.

Five days of trainingLocated in the remote Mimili commu-

nity, approximately 70km west of theStuart Highway and 380km south ofAlice Springs, Mimili Anangu School is asmall school of approximately 75 stu-dents, aged three to 17, and six teachers. “I spent five days at Mimili, working

with teachers to help them immersePromethean technology into their intotheir daily teaching practice,” Katesays, “It was clear from the rapportteachers had with their students, thatthey all really enjoyed their jobs andhad a passion for teaching. There are anumber of new teachers at the schoolthis year, so this was their firstPromethean training session. Duringmy visit, I presented a number of afterschool training sessions teaching bothcore and advanced skills. I also intro-duced the teachers to Promethean’sActiVote Learner Response System.”

Enthusiasm in theActivClassroomShe adds: “As the school is relatively

small, I was able to spend time witheach teacher. I met with them theevening before their individual trainingsessions so that they could outline theirteaching objectives and we could thenwork together to plan the lesson tomaximise the use of the technology.The enthusiasm of teachers to experi-ment with the technology in the class-room was great, while students werereally engaged in their learning anden joyed hav ing cont ro l o f theActivPen. Teachers would present anintroduction to the lesson, and thenthe students would work at the board,operating the technology for them-selves. Many of the students at Mimilihave hearing impairments, so the abili-ty of lessons to become more interac-tive and practical has been a keybenefit.”Kate concludes: “During the train-

ing, I saw teachers grow in confidence.Some were using the ActivBoard andsoftware to digitise the focus text andpresent it to the whole class. Othersencouraged students to use the tech-nology to recreate narrative onscreen,using the ActiVotes for decision-mak-ing and interaction. Teachers enhancedtheir Accelerated Literacy lessons byshowing their students how to use thesoftware’s Sound Recorder function tore-enact passages from their focustexts. Lessons were further enhancedby having students take photos ofthemselves and adding them to theflipchart, before playing back whatthey had created.”

ActivTeacher ANZ 4pp issue 2:Document 1 14/09/2009 15:39 Page 2

Planet’s topthemesLooking for inspiration? Want to get ahead with your lesson plan-

ning over the coming months? Well, ActivTeacher ANZ has drawn up alist of top themed events, along with some suggestions of supportingmaterials that can be downloaded from Promethean Planet.

OctoberNew Zealand Book MonthInternational School Library Month

Get your students excited about reading with Planet’s ‘Literature’ theme.Here you’ll find lessons covering a variety of famous works such as The Pearl,Of Mice and Men and Animal Farm.

4 – 10 OctoberWorld Space Week

Planet’s ‘Space’ theme includes a varietyof materials to bring your science lessons tolife, including the ‘Planet and the SolarSystem’ resource pack, the Mars themed DKEyewitness ActivPack, and a series of excitingflipcharts such as ‘History of Space Travel’ and‘Phases of the Moon’.

20 NovemberUniversal Children’s DayBring some fun into the classroom with

learning games and activities from Planet’s‘Games’ theme.

26 JanuaryAustralia Day

Planet’s ‘Australia’ and ‘Heritage’ themes are packedfull of useful materials to help you celebrate thenational day with your students. Resource packsinclude ‘Australia: Scenes and Photos’, ‘AustralianFood, Clothing and Activities’, ‘Famous Australians’and ‘Australia: Maps’. You’ll also find a number of

ready-to-use flipcharts such as ‘AustraliaDay’, and ‘Australian Native Animals’.

6 FebruaryWaitangi Day, New ZealandPlanet’s dedicated New Zealand page

has a host of New Zealand-themedresources to help you celebrate this his-torical event in the classroom.

For even more ideas, visit www.PrometheanPlanet.com to accessthousands of lesson resources that can be easily downloaded in aninstant.

In the classroom with… Faraday Pang from

PLC Sydney

Page 3

Tomorrow’s globalcitizensLanguages are an important part

of our curriculum at PLC Sydney.Although we are a school with a his-tory of over 120 years, we are alsopreparing tomorrow’s global citizens- teaching our students to becomeconfident communicators and devel-oping their understanding of othercultures. Chinese is an elective sub-ject – Junior School s tudents(Kindergarten to Year 7) can chooseto learn Chinese or French, and inYear 8 students must study two lan-guages, choosing from Chinese,French, Japanese, Italian and Latin. InYear 11, students have the option tostudy an additional language, eitherIndonesian or Japanese. Chinese has been taught at our

College for 15 years. China isAustralia’s biggest trading partnerand the Chinese people are our chil-dren’s future partners in all fields, so Ithink it is appropriate that more stu-dents are being given the chance tolearn this language at school.

I started using Promethean’sActivClassroom technologies whenthey were first introduced at PLCSydney in 2004. Since then, nearly60 ActivBoards have been installedand we also use a variety of otherActivClassroom tools, includingActivSlate and ActiVote. We are plan-ning to introduce ActivExpressionlater this year.

Chinese in theActivClassroomSome students find Chinese diffi-

cult because the grammar and struc-ture of the language are verydifferent to English. Occasionally stu-dents believe that only ‘the supersmart ones’ can do well. Therefore, itis crucial to keep students motivatedduring lessons and to make my les-sons attractive to students who aredeciding which languages to study.From my experience, I have foundthat in conjunction with a teacher’sen t hu s i a sm f o r t h e s ub j e c t ,Promethean technologies can signifi-cantly help students to find Chinese

lessons innovative and meaningful.The ActivBoard allows me to fully

utilise the CD-ROMs that accompanythe textbooks I use with my students.When I am doing reading compre-hension exercises with my older stu-dents, I pass the ActivSlate aroundthe class - students can use it to clickon a particular sentence that appearsonscreen to hear how it sounds or tofigure out its meaning. I also use theActivBoard to access online dictionar-ies and websites, and all of my stu-dents enjoy using the ActivPen topractise Chinese character writing.I n a d d i t i o n , I h a v e f o u n d

Promethean’s ActiVote LearnerResponse System to be a great toolfor capturing the attention of thewhole class. I use it for interactivegames and quizzes to help reinforcenew vocabulary and grammar.

‘Activ’ beyond theclassroom

As an experienced userof interactive technologies,Faraday also enjoys sharingher ideas and skills with otherteachers. She has givendemonstrations at severalschools and universities overthe years, presented at anumber of teaching and edu-cational conferences, and isan active member of teachernetworking sites, includingPromethean Planet and otherinteractive whiteboard discus-sion forums.

To celebrate the launch of new premium Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness ActivPacks onPromethean Planet, ActivTeacher ANZ is giving you the chance to win accompanying illustrated reference books from the original DK Eyewitness range.To enter, simply send your answer (A, B, or C) to the following question to activteacheranz@prometheanworld.com, stating your name, and the name and address of your school.

‘Mammals’ is one of the latest DK Eyewitness ActivPacks to land on Promethean Planet. What is the term for mammals that lay eggs? A. Placental B. Monotreme C. Marsupial

All correct entries will go into a prize draw and the winner will be announced in the next issue.

To preview ‘Mammals’ and other DK Eyewitness ActivPacks, please visit www.PrometheanPlanet.com/dkeyewitness DK Eyewitness ActivPacks are exclusive to Promethean Planet and can be downloaded from just $7.50 (US)

Faraday Pang has been a teacher for 16 years andhas held her current post as Chinese teacher atPresbyterian Ladies’ College (PLC Sydney) for eightyears. Faraday is also an active member of the ChineseLanguage Association of New South Wales and waselected Relieving President earlier this year. One ofthe four Asian languages currently being promoted bythe Australian government, Chinese is beingintroduced in more schools each year. Faraday offersher views on this issue and shares her experiences ofincorporating interactive technologies into lessons.

Competition

ActivTeacher ANZ 4pp issue 2:Document 1 14/09/2009 15:39 Page 3

Diary Dates To help you keep your diaries up-to-date, here’s a calendar of some

important educational events taking place over the next few months

In addition to the above events, there will be a number of ActivBoard User Groups takingplace at schools throughout Australia and New Zealand over the coming months. For moreinformation, please contact activteacheranz@prometheanworld.com

What’s new on Planet

• Culture in the classroom: Helpyour students to understand theirheritage and reinforce their culturalidentities, as well as learn aboutdifferent cultures from around theworld, with Planet’s new ‘Heritage’theme. This new theme bringstogether a variety of excitingresources, including weblinks,images and lesson flipcharts, plusadvice on using these resources inthe ActivClassroom.

• Even more to explore: Prometheanhas extended therange of DorlingKindersley premiumresources availableon Planet. ‘Artic andAntartic’, ‘Insects’,‘Mammals’, and

‘Trees’ are just some of the latestadditions to the DK EyewitnessActivPack range, each containingaround 20 ready-made lessonactivities.

• Planet in your pocket:- Planet inyour pocket: Now you can connectto PrometheanPlant whereveryou go with theall-new ‘MyPlanet’ iPhone /iTouchapplication. Thisfree, simpledownload allowsyou to instantlyview Planet’slatest news andevents, forumposts, resources, software videotutorials, and more, using youriPhone or iPod Touch.

• Where’s Flippy?: Use the map atwww.PrometheanPlanet.com/flippyto zoom in and see where fellowPromethean Planet members arelocated around the world, and whileyou do keep a look out for Planet’snew character, Flippy the travellingflipchart. To help you find Flippy, thePromethean Planet team post regularclues. When you’ve found Flippyclick on him to reveal a challengeand download the flipchart provided.Create your own lesson that answersthe challenge and submit it to enterthe monthly prize draw for a chanceto win a choice of three prizes,selected each month by the Planetteam. In addition to the monthlydrawings, there will be a Grand PrizeDraw in December to win acomplete ActivClassroom.

Here are some of the latest resources, applications and competitions toland on Promethean Planet (www.PrometheanPlanet.com)

ANZ

When you have f in ished withthis magazine please recycleit .

Page 4 ACTIVTEACHER

ActivTeacher

To find out more visit www.PrometheanPlanet.com

Date(s) Event Location

24 – 26 September First International Australia and NZ IWB Conference Auckland

1 – 2 October Qsite Conference Gold Coast, Queensland

7 – 9 October ULearn09 Christchurch

15 October Teacher Timesavers – Literacy IWB and Literacy in the Early Years

Hackney, Adelaide

16 October Teacher Timesavers – Literacy IWB and Literacy in Middle and Upper Primary

Hackney, Adelaide

21 October ‘Back to Basics’ ActivInspire Training Course Kent Town, Adelaide

22 October IWB Professional Development Workshop: Google Earth on the IWB

Plaistowe Mews, West Perth

26 October ‘Next Steps’ ActivInspire Training Course Kent Town, Adelaide

5 November ‘Advanced Skills’ ActivInspire Training Course Kent Town, Adelaide

23 – 25 November VITTA (The Victorian Information TechnologyTeachers Association) Conference

Melbourne, Victoria

26 November IWB Professional Development Workshop: Bringing Literacy to Life

Plaistowe Mews, West Perth

28 – 29 January Inspired Impact Teachers Conference Palmerston North

23 – 26 February Learning@School ’10 Conference Rotorua

Promethean’s ActivBoard wasthe star of the show in a recentepisode of popular Australian real-ity TV show, Random Acts ofKindness. The ActivBoard was donated by

Austra l ian partner, EmpoweredLearning as part of the makeover show

that focused on The Shack CommunityCentre on the Sunshine Coast. Theproduction team surprised Pastor DaleDowler, who runs The Shack with hiswife Donna and a team of volunteers,with the new-look centre, whichincludes a state-of-the-art media suite,featuring a Promethean ActivBoard.

The grand unveiling of this newfacility included a brief demonstrationof how to use the ActivBoard, and tohelp The Shack team to unlock thepotent ia l of the accompanyingActivInspire software, EmpoweredLearning has since returned to the cen-tre to provide free on-site training.

As seen on TV

In the last issue, we gave you some advice for getting started onPromethean’s new interactive software, ActivInspire. Now that you’vehad time to explore ActivInspire for yourself, Kate Bonica, Promethean’sTeaching and Learning Advisor, offers some further ‘top tips’ for creatingexciting, interactive lessons, ranging from basic functions and newsoftware features, to sophisticated tips for more advanced users.

Drag and dropActivInspire enables users to have a number of flipcharts open at once in differ-

ent ‘tabs’. As well as making it easier to go between multiple flipcharts, it alsomeans teachers can quickly drag and drop information from one flipchart toanother.

Take a pictureOne of the most

exciting new featuresof ActivInspire is theclever camera tool.Using this feature it isnow possible to take astill image out of amoving clip. Simplyclick on the camera onthe toolbar and selectwhat you’d like a picture of, and where you’d like to still image to go.

Extracting textHighlight key words from a para-

graph of text in another documentor from the internet. In a para-graph, simply select the word youwant to pull out, right-click and goto ‘extract’. This function offers agreat way to highlight key pointsof long paragraphs, and is espe-cially useful for analysing languagein literacy lessons.

LabellingA function exclusive to ActivInspire Professional Edition is the ability to edit the

caption of an image. Simply select the image and go to labelling settings in thePage Browser toolbar. Here you can adjust the font size, background, and evenalter the behaviour of the label. With ‘tooltip’ for instance, the caption will appearevery time the user scrolls over the image – a great tool for revision sessions.

TOPTIPSwith

Kate Bonica

ActivInspire

Discover ActivInspireHave you discovered

Promethean’s latest software,ActivInspire, yet?

Download ActivInspire today fromwww.PrometheanPlanet.com/ActivInspire

and benefit from:

• Two interface options – primary or secondary

• Innovative toolbar that updates automaticallywith your most frequently and last used tools

• Easy integration of media players, images,audio and existing resources

• Instant connectivity with Promethean Planet,the world’s largest and fastest growing onlineinteractive whiteboard community

What’s more, ActivInspire is also compatible withany brand of interactive whiteboard, and can be used

on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms.

ActivTeacher ANZ 4pp issue 2:Document 1 14/09/2009 15:39 Page 4