Teacher's essay wins school program

Nogales High School teacher George Thomson was the recent recipient of the 2005 Promethean Enrichment Grant Program.

The grant awarded Thomson with the Promethean Collaborative Classroom software, which includes an innovative interactive whiteboard system. The software is worth more than $4,000. The award will allow him to enhance his teaching curriculum.

"It's the next level of the chalkboard, simple but useful as a media source," Thomson said.

Worth about $4,000

The software is designed by Promethean Technologies Inc. and is awarded to teachers who participate in a nationwide contest.

Thomson was one of 80 k-12 teachers who wrote essays explaining how the program would be used to enhance their students' learning environment.

The essays were judged and scored on a three-point scale in nine categories by instructional technology specialists. The categories included content, the profession of teaching, student engagement, classroom management, innovation, assessment, and organization.

Thomson heard about the contest in April at the Arizona Technology and Education Conference.

"I've been looking for a system that will facilitate students' oral presentations, allow me to show information at the class Web page, and primary source documents more easily," Thomson said.

He wants students to learn the software and be familiar with it, he said. He wants the technology to be for the school and said that he would teach other teachers how to use it.

The system includes an ACTIV board interactive whiteboard, the ACTIVstudio 2 lesson development software, and a set of 32 ACTIVotes, a hand-held instant student-response device.

The system will provide Thomson with on-line tutorials that will enable him to brainstorm ideas graphically with students.

The software includes an ACTIVslate, an accessory that promotes real-time interaction by allowing students and teachers to have control of the whiteboard from anywhere in the room.

The Promethean program comes with an ACTIVtablet that allows teachers the flexibility to develop their lesson plans and flip charts when they are at home.

Thomson said, "This technology can vastly improve application of knowledge in the limited time we have in the classroom."

"George is a technology innovator at our school so I'm sure he'll put it to good use," said Mark Valenzuela, Nogales High School principal.