BANTA – Advancements in classroom technology have taken a giant leap forward this year at Banta Elementary School in rural Tracy.

The days of chalkboards and overhead projectors are gone with the introduction of interactive touch screen whiteboards in every classroom.

Similar to a Chromebook or iPad, which students were already familiar using; the 75-inch screens enable teachers to present their lessons with the touch of a finger.

“I really love this board,” said sixth grade Teacher Stewart Tjalsma. “I use it all the time and I am using it for everything. I’m using the whiteboard, I’m using the videos, I’m using YouTube, I’m using the timer, and I use other tools depending on when I need them. I have yet to use anything other than this thing and I use it almost my entire day (of teaching).”

Over the summer each Banta classroom was fitted with a Promethean’s ActivPanel Titanium touch screen whiteboard. Each board has a variety of interactive teaching tools built-in, including apps and the ability to download textbook pages for presentation on the screen.

During a math lesson in second grade Teacher Kathy Jackson’s room, students watched with anticipation as she used a spinning wheel tool that featured each of their names to help choose who would get to use the whiteboard.

Students chosen to participate had smiles of delight when hearing their name called. With a mere touch of a finger, students were able to fill in the blank spaces on the board with their answer.

“All of them have tablets and they’re familiar with tablets, and this is like a giant tablet in a way,” Jackson said. “It is so cool. They are doing really, really well. They love it. They all want their turn up there all the time. The kids love coming up and interacting with it. It creates excitement with them.”

Prior to the Promethean technology, Jackson said teachers had other teaching tools that included the Elmo Document Cameras, which worked like an overhead projector. She said that equipment worked well, but required teachers to undergo several steps to prepare each lesson, such as making numerous photocopies of teaching materials. She said now they are able to download textbook pages, which helps bring the books to life on the screen. 

She said the features built into the new whiteboards are so vast and help educators create a visual learning experience for the students. 

After a week of learning on the new interactive Promethean boards, teachers were not the only ones who were excited to interact with the new technology.

“I think it’s pretty cool and it gets you to learn way more easily,” said sixth grader Yaretzi Badillo. “You can do a lot of stuff with it other than doing it on paper and taking way more time. It’s more clearer than a projector, because a projector is more blurry and while the smart board is more HD.”

Classmate Francisco Diaz said he felt it enables students to learn faster, and he had wished they got them sooner.

The idea to introduce the Promethean technology came after the members of the Banta Elementary School board of trustees toured the Banta campus. Having been familiar with the Promethean boards being used at the two River Islands charter schools, members of the trustees went to the superintendent at the time, Daniel Moore, and told him they needed to start looking at updating technology at the Banta campus.

 The boards were ordered on March 11 at a cost of $73,290 which included equipment, installation, training and a 5-year warranty, according to Banta Unified School District Technology Coordinator Kitty Towers. 

“As a little school we really needed it,” said Banta Unified School District Business Services Supervisor Andi Lopez. “We’re pretty excited; the teachers are excited, we’re excited.”