Chalkless

Poly High School teachers perform SMART Board magic

By MARIA T. GARCIA

Teacher Kelly Poelstra's fingers are like a magic wand.

Standing in front of her dimly lit classroom at Poly High School, Poelstra taps on the white board and lines of text suddenly appear. Another couple of taps on the touch-sensitive screen and a picture of Louie XIV emerges.

Her students' eyes remain glued to the screen as she delivers a lesson about world history.

The interactive lesson comes courtesy of a $6,000 gizmo that is gaining popularity in American classrooms, where chalkboards have virtually disappeared.

The white boards allow teachers such as Poelstra to mix technology into their lessons. Poly is one of a few Inland schools using the white boards, reports the Alberta, Calgary, company that invented them. Cal State San Bernardino and UC Riverside also use them.

SMART Board interactive white boards, which resemble a screen, can be bolted to a wall or placed on a floor stand. They are hooked up to a lap top. A small black box on the ceiling projects images on the white board. Teachers can write notes on the board but only using their fingertip or a special pen.

The boards arrived at Poly High a month ago but teachers and students already give them rave reviews.

"It's a lot more fascinating," said student Kerry Watson, 15, a junior. "With just the white board all you ever saw was the teacher's writing and half the time you couldn't even read it."

Poelstra is one of 20 Poly teachers using the boards, which were purchased in an effort to modernize aging school facilities, Principal Frank Paredes said.

"Part of good teaching is getting out there and trying new things," Paredes said. "These teachers using SMART boards are willing to take some risks and that's what teaching is all about."

Math teacher Tom Finwall likes the convenience of being able to control applications by touching the screen itself rather than having to use a mouse on his lap top computer. He can jump between the Internet and a Powerpoint presentation, all projected onscreen for the class, in seconds.

The interactive white boards come in handy when Finwall explains graphing concepts to his class. He can use his finger to chart a curve and never have to worry about cleaning markings on a transparency before the next class.

"In the past, we had to use overhead projectors," Finwall said. "But this has turned out to be a really powerful tool for demonstrating a lot of visual things. It's more engaging for students."

That is one reason why SMART boards are gaining popularity in classrooms across the country, said Nancy Knowlton, president and co-founder of SMART Technologies Inc.

The interactive white boards first became a mainstay in company boardrooms in the 1990s. Today, schools and universities make up a sizable part of SMART Technologies customer base.

"Kids have had a lot of sensory stimulation from video games and the Internet," Knowlton said. "They want to be engaged and entertained in the classroom."

Next door to Finwall's classroom, teacher Diego Cabrera uses the interactive white board daily to access grammar and dictionary Web sites.

He likes using his fingertip as an electronic pen to write words on the screen and then look up their meaning. If he misspells a word, he can always sweep an electronic eraser over and make the letters disappear.

"We still have to teach the same stuff," Cabrera said. "But the delivery is certainly enhanced."

Reach Maria T. Garcia at (909) 368-9455 or mgarcia@pe.com

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