In the 21st century speed is everything. We strive to be the first, the best, but most of all the fastest. Each time a new iPhone comes out what does it claim? To be faster than the previous phone. We, as a society, want to get where we are going as fast as possible, without any speed bumps along the way. This is why having "Smart-Boards" and iPads' in the classroom was initially a good idea. It is a great way to get kids involved in the otherwise boring information such as Trigonometry. It puts a "fun" spin on learning subjects that the majority of seniors in high school would never call fun.
Heres the problem: the teachers do not know how to use the stupid things. Ever since 7th grade pre Algebra I can clearly remember having a teacher who was so committed to her Smart-Board, but she did not know how to use it. She would spend a significant chunk of each day assuring herself that it was completely necessary for her teaching, which it certainly was not. That time was wasted. It could have been spent in a productive way, like maybe actually teaching her students the material as she had the previous 20 or so years without the board. Even as a senior in high school my math teacher thinks that using this board will get us involved. Im sorry, but a bunch of seniors in Trig and Related Topics are not going to be excited by some program on the Smart-Board in which we can drag the side of a triangle and see how the angle measure changes with the side. It was initially a good idea, a great one even, but it has been executed poorly. And don't even start me on the new calculator.
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