Put away the chalk. 

Fort Worth ISD has become a “digital district." By 2010, Promethean Boards will be in each of the District’s 5,000 classrooms, making it the largest district-wide interactive whiteboard implementation in the nation.

“These whiteboards will help our teachers meaningfully engage our students and assist in achieving our primary objective: to move Fort Worth ISD from a system of many good and great schools to a great school system,” said Dr. Melody Johnson, FWISD Superintendent, in her recent State of Education speech.

The whiteboards consist of a large screen connected to a computer, a projector, and software programs offering literally hundreds of thousands of digital learning and multimedia resources.  Teachers can access information, pictures and video from the Internet, display it for students and then manipulate it in numerous ways with the touch of a finger – the same way one might use a “mouse.”  Teachers also will have access to thousands of ready-made lesson plans.

A highlight of the Promethean technology is its interactive response systems. These provide instant communication between students and the whiteboards. In some classes, students will use hand-held devices to answer multiple choice and true/false questions. In other classes, students will be able to text complete sentences and numerical answers. This interaction empowers teachers by allowing them to:

• immediately assess classroom comprehension
• immediately assess individual student comprehension
• and collect data in spreadsheet format for grading and other record-keeping.

About Promethean: Developed by and for educators, Promethean is recognized in over 70 countries as a leader in interactive learning technology. Promethean USA is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with flagship headquarters in Blackburn, UK. For more information on Promethean products visit www.prometheanworld.com