Comments on: True or False: Smartboards are an Expensive Distraction

By: Brian Rombough

Brian Rombough — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:48:22 +0000

Dude… you lose all credibility when you use (it’s) instead of (its). Maybe a Smart Board would have picked this up… probably not since its processor does not comprehend grammar.

Let tech reign!

By: samjshah

samjshah — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:01:09 +0000

@Gavin: Thanks for your comments. And I’m glad you like the blog! (As for the difference between SB and just having a digital projector, for me, it’s minimal. I rarely manipulate. I do clone a lot, though.)

By: Gavin

Gavin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:08:48 +0000

I have had a Smartboard-equivalent (a Promethean “interactive whiteboard”) in my class the last couple of years. At first, I took the “slides” approach wherever I could, meaning that the lesson was essentially planned out and contained in the digital presentation. However, over time I came not to like that approach as I felt it too prescribed for my liking. A technical aside: writing on it is a pain in the butt. Regular whiteboards have much better resolution and don’t require calibration!

I still consider this technology indispensable, though. The bulk of my lessons takes place on the normal whiteboard (and I like using worksheets to develop ideas), where the lesson essentially unfolds with the participation of the students, rather than the lesson being “delivered”. However, for creating and manipulating geometric diagrams, graphs, number lines and many other mathematical objects, the interactive whiteboard is invaluable.

For me, a data projector alone would be (say) 70% sufficient. Manipulating things _on the board_ instead of standing behind the computer is not crucial, but it is important.

I agree wholeheartedly about your comments on force vs. inspire. It’s a constant source of pleasure for me to see the many different ways maths staff at my school use the technology we have, and to share ideas. Not one of our styles could or should be bottled and forced on others.

Just started reading this blog; thanks for the entertainment!

By: If you teach geometry… « Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:50:53 +0000

[...] of my goals for the year is to do the same for my Smartboards with either Algebra II or Calculus. There aren’t a lot of Smartboards out there. And maybe, so it isn’t so daunting, I’ll try to post them continually each week [...]

By: samjshah

samjshah — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:10:03 +0000

Ah, I also looked around last year, and there are a lot of activities/games for elementary math, but very few (well, none) “everyday” lessons for high school math.

And I think it’s a great idea, to have a repository for good presentations we make.

My four concerns are the following:

(1) Technological: I use a bunch of different fonts, that I download for free, but the SB notebook wouldn’t appear right on unless you had those fonts!

(2) Ulp!: Sometimes I crib pictures from the net to use and I don’t really give credit. I’m hoping to change that. (I do that with this blog too — eep!) But I feel like that could be a problem.

(3) In a similar vein, I use a lot of problems from the textbook we use — largely because students leave their books at home and I don’t want them going home saying “what?” So I wonder if that would ever be a problem.

(4) When I design a smartboard lesson, I think about what I’ll be saying in each slide. So even though I know what’s going on, and why each slide is there, I don’t think a random teacher would “see” it like I see it.

Still, with all this said, I can’t but help agreeing a million percent that it would be great to create a small archive of files. On at least some set of traditionally taught topics. I’ll make it a goal to try to do this and post them on a page on this blog.

Sam.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:46:07 +0000

Are you willing to share your smart files for other math teachers to use? I have been searching the web and a lot of new math teachers are looking for some help with this?

By: MJS

MJS — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:33:27 +0000

Sam–
The notebook software allows you to include hyperlinks to animations/applets on the web and store attachments with the file… e.g. when I teach about Aristotle vs. Galileo and falling bodies, I “clip on” a video file of an astronaut dropping a feather and a hammer on the moon…. no rooting around through files–the relevant clip is attached to my notebook document.
Also, consider the added power that comes with moving text and images–more so than a write-on ppt. It is great for geometry (pull up the protractor and rotate it!) and more.
-M

By: samjshah

samjshah — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:57:36 +0000

Good point. Yes, I’m using it as a regular projector. Maybe I should have called the post: “In Defense Of Digital Projectors.”

As for the the projector-PowerPoint combo, the only thing I don’t know I would be able to do is write on it. I write on it a lot. Lot. Lot. We work out problems up to wazoo. And then students have copies of those notes.

If I could do that in PowerPoint, then they would be completely equivalent. In fact, PowerPoint would be better, because the SmartBoard Notebook software leaves a lot to be desired.

By: eyeingtenure

eyeingtenure — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:17:24 +0000

Are you using SmartBoards like a regular projector, in that you create slideshows in advance?

In what ways does a SmartBoard do what a regular projector-and-PowerPoint combination can’t, and in what ways are those new features valuable?