Teacher Cindy Schimel watches a student drag words on a Smart Board to form a sentence in her classroom at McKay Elementary School in Pendleton.<br><I>Staff photo by Kathy Aney

Cindy Schimel’s eyes sparkled as she sat on a stool in her second grade classroom and watched the magic happen.

Clutching a long wand, a blonde girl approached the interactive whiteboard – a combination chalkboard, computer keyboard, and movie screen. Three columns of words and silly phrases appeared there. The little girl tapped an icon at the top of the left-hand column. The computer randomly highlighted a phrase and the she sounded it out slowly.

“Cind-er-ella …,” she read.

She tapped the second column of phrases and an action phrase lit up.

“… set off a stink bomb ….”

The girl tapped the third column.

“… in a dark wood,” she finished.

The other McKay Elementary School students, sitting several feet away on the carpet, burst out in laughter. A boy leaped up to take his turn and set to work with the wand.

“Mrs. McCaughery … met some aliens … at the seaside.”

The reading group busted up again.

Schimel laughed along with them, correcting pronunciation when necessary and lending a hand when a student gazed stumped at the word “dungeon.”

“Do you want to phone a friend?” Schimel asked.

The girl nodded slowly and nodded at a boy who supplied the correct pronunciation.

Yes, this isn’t your grandmother’s reading class and Schimel couldn’t be happier. Gone are chalkboards, handouts and students drifting off on the wings of daydreams.

Schimel received a Promethean Board (also known as a Smart Board) and a box of 32 handheld Electivote pods last year after writing and receiving a Wildhorse Foundation grant and started using them in her classroom.

The equipment allows her students to interact with lessons that she creates. They can write, highlight or drag words or numbers. Their mouse-sized pods allow them to take multiple choice tests as a group and have instant feedback.

Schimel marvels at how the technology has engaged her students and nudged up their assessment scores. The interactive nature of the technology is powerful, she said.

“They would rather stay in here and finish a lesson before heading out to recess,” Schimel said. “This is how kids learn best.”

The teacher wanted to share the joy with her fellow teachers. Schimel applied and received a $7,602 Wildhorse Foundation grant for more Smart Boards and Activote pods. She helped with another $7,400 grant from the Qwest Foundation awarded in November.

Schimel spearheaded the grant writing, said McKay Principal Laura Miltenberger, who helped Schimel along with teachers Colleen Stewart, Deborah Straughan and Michelle Herburger.

Each board costs about $1,500 and a box of 32 Activotes runs around $1,800.

The boards won’t go into Schimel’s classroom.

Instead, they will go to other classrooms at McKay and Sherwood Elementary Schools. Schimel expects her colleagues to love the technology as she does and to notice an upsurge in student enthusiasm.

Schimel’s enthusiasm is contagious, Miltenberger said.

“She loves it so much,” she said. “She’s constantly telling people about the benefits of Promethian Boards.”

In addition to helping secure these grants, Miltenberger said, Schimel attended a train-the-trainer workshop this summer and mentors the two other teachers in the building who have boards.

Schimel said she loves how her students now embrace testing, rather than reacting with groans.

On this day, Schimel’s students clutched Electivote pods adorned with buttons labeled A through F, each corresponding with an answer on the whiteboard. The students studied the question on the screen relating to their latest book, “Charlie Anderson,” punched in answers and waited expectantly. Within seconds, the correct response flashed on the screen.

The group cheered and shot fists in the air when they saw that 100 percent of students had nailed the question.

“I find out so quickly who understands and who doesn’t,” Schimel said, adding that kids don’t know how their fellow classmates scored.

Paper and pencil tests just don’t have the same impact, she said.

“By the time they get it back, it is out of context,” she said. “It’s too far removed.”

Her children are hooked, she said. Last year, her students sold notecards and donated their $500 to another class to go toward a Promethean Board.

“The second graders believe in it,” Schimel said. “They want it for their future classrooms.”