NATCHEZ — At least one McLaurin Elementary teacher has noticed more lightbulbs of learning shining among her students this year.

The Promethean board installed over the summer in her classroom keeps students more engaged, fourth-grade reading and language arts teacher Loran Scott said.

“More hands go up in the air. There’s more ‘Ooh and Ahh-ing,’” Scott said.

In addition, class time is used more efficiently because of the new technology, and Scott said she is better able to track student progress.

By midspring, every classroom in the Natchez-Adams School District should be equipped with a Promethean board like the one in Scott’s classroom, NASD Federal Programs Director Marilyn Alexander-Turner said.

Promethean boards are interactive white boards that run on learning software.

In addition, Scott said the board’s access to the Internet helps students make real-world connections.

Scott said the Promethean boards also help her organize her lesson plan.

“The biggest change is that it saves so much time,” Scott said.

Federal American Recovery and Investment Act dollars from Title I funds, as well as regular Title I funds, are paying for the boards, Alexander-Turner said.

She said when the school district discovered it would receive funding for equipment, the principals of every school in the district requested Promethean boards.

Six classrooms at Natchez High currently have the boards, and Alexander-Turner said the high school should have 34 boards by the end of the school year.

“We have 14 ordered, and after that we are ordering additional 14 (for Natchez High),” she said.

Robert Lewis Middle School was the first school to host the cutting edge, interactive boards.

Robert Lewis librarian Cindy Peterman said the school just received four more boards in addition to the approximately 35 boards they already had.

“I would say 95 percent of our classes have the boards,” Peterman said.

Alexander-Turner said Robert Lewis now has 40 boards, which is enough for every core subject and then some.

Morgantown currently has 20 boards and should receive 10 more before April, Alexander-Turner said.

Frazier Primary has two boards, and 22 boards have been ordered, Frazier Principal Vera Dunmore said.

West Primary has two boards and 12 more are on order, Alexander-Turner said.

Alexander-Turner said the classrooms in which core subjects that appear on state tests are taught receive priority for receiving a board. But the ultimate goal is for every teacher to have access to his or her own board, she said.

The consensus of local educators is that the boards help teachers engage students, collect useful data about student progress and allow for interactive learning.

Frazier Primary has a Promethean board in one classroom of first graders and one classroom on second graders.

“I’ve been in to observe, and (the Promethean boards) are wonderful,” Dunmore said.

“The children love to move things around (on the boards).”

One valuable capability is virtual field trip, Dunmore said. For instance, students at Frazier once visited a pig farm using the Promethean board, she said.

Peterman said school children these days are part of a “generation of gamers,” so using technology as a medium to learn works well because it involves skills in which young people tend to thrive.

The school district has hired a company called Technology Solutions Provider to train teachers to use promethean boards.

TSP representative Roxanne Batson said at a Dec. 9 school board meeting that 91 percent of American teachers are behind their students in understanding and use of technology.

A handful of teachers had prior knowledge of how to use Promethean boards or a similar technology, McLaurin Principal Alice Morrison said, but TSP trainers are training most teachers.

Peterman said they have not yet taught the teachers how to use the student-response systems, but it is a useful tool.

Student response systems allow every student to interact with the board via a hand-held clicker to participate in polls or take quizzes.

When a teacher asks a question, instead one student answering, every student can pick a multiple choice answer and see graphs and percentages of the class’s results, Batson said. And since only the teacher knows which clicker each student is assigned, it spares students the embarrassment of answering questions incorrectly in front of their peers, Batson said.

Alexander-Turner said by the end of the year all teachers should have completed advanced training, which includes training in the student-response system.

The cost of a Promethean board set is approximately $5,300, NASD Technology Coordinator Dewana Strauder said. The package includes approximately $3,000 for the board, $1,300 for the student response system, $600 for installation and $300 for a teacher tablet.

Scott, who is in her second year teaching at McLaurin and taught in Tensas Parish for seven years before, said the boards do wonders cutting out wasted minutes handing out worksheets or writing on the whiteboard.

She can now prepare presentations before class and upload it to the Promethean board software, making transitions much faster, Scott said.

Scott said teaching lessons with the board is more meaningful because the children are more involved.

“Just the board itself gets (students’) attention,” Scott said.

“It’s really a blessing.”