The New Promethean Planet

You may not have known this, but Promethean Planet has been working on redesigning its website. It's finally here and has some improvements! Searching for resources is much easier. It now displays 20 results at a time and the left side contains many filtering options that weren't there before. I also feel that information is displayed in an easier to read format. There are more community features and online storage of your files so you won't lose them if anything happens to your hard drive. Their store also seems to have more products.

There is also a "My Planet" feature that is a big part of this remodel. I can enter in biographical information, share with friends, and show my recent downloads. It is similar to a facebook page, but is a networking tool among promethean users.  (You can even log in using your facebook account.) I just visited around today, but will have to get my profile up and running soon. Hopefully I'll be able to connect with other teachers all over the world teaching and sharing the same things. I am excited about the possibilities.
Go to Promethean Planet, log on, and click around. Tell me what you think!

Other than ActivInspire....

I haven't meant to neglect posting, but have hit a creative roadblock as end of the year tasks pile up. Testing and a different schedule has thrown us off course. Not to mention a second virus on my laptop and the time to fix it and re-upload software. I have not used ActivInspire much in the last few days, but have still utilized the board and features. The size of the board and the side speakers made showing a Discovery Education video on multiplication a big hit. I'd been trying to show the students 2 and 3 digit multiplication, but hadn't had much time to make a good flipchart to demonstrate. The kids were getting sick of listening to me, so I showed a video that walked them through the steps and even highlighted fact families and problem solving. It asked a lot of questions and kept the kids interested. After the video, I asked students to demonstrate what they learned on the board. They could do it! Though a flipchart with different interactive activities was not used, the video was interactive enough to keep student attention, help them work out problems at their seat, and then use the board as a means to assess student learning. I'd say:  mission accomplished.