Class meeting Thursday Feb. 11th

After listening to Mark Pinkerton in class today, I learned that teachers do actually use SMART Board and sort of how to use it. This technology, even though Mark doesn't use a lot of the interactive things, has many options and things that can allow you to write up a lesson, for everyone to see the next day, the night before. TI-Smart view seemed like a great addition and could be useful for my technology in the TI-Nspire. I think its really amazing the kinds of technologies that teachers don't bring into the classroom these days. The only technologies I had as a high school student was graphing calculators that we had to buy ourselves and over-heads. One great thing about this is that the notes can be saved, printed, and copied into a .pdf format for those students that may have missed class. Some, however, may not go to a .pdf format, for those that don't, there is a chance to download the free student version of smart board so that they would be able to work with it in their homes.
One thing I am worried about that he said is that he doesn't know if he could teach in another school without it. I would not want to be dependent so much on technology that we could not be able to teach without such technology. I worry that the children we teach will be so dependent on calculators and other programs like sketchpad and some of the other commonly used programs in our collegiate courses. I run a tutoring program for middle and high school students, and they all depend on their calculators. I know some that cannot multiply or divide by multiples of 10 because they have become so dependent on their calculators. As much as I like technology, this session let me know that some teachers and schools become too dependent on these great additions to the technology.
The research session that was presented by Dr. Fonkert, was very interesting in that it showed me the Core program, which just took away separated classes like geometry from algebra and just combined them both. I think this would be a great way to teach. Instead of trying to teach, in-depth, one subject a year, why not integrate multiple subjects at a time. This way you can start with the basics at first and then move on to more advanced things in all of the subjects of mathematics. I feel this wouldn't work in other content areas, and that it has it's advantages and disadvantages. The reason I bring this up in a discussion about the class session we had is because this research done by Dr. Fonkert was done in a very technological sound school. I feel like you cannot focus all your energy on learning technology as a teacher, because you do not know if you will be hired at a school with a lot of equipment or lack-there-of. Her research was about the core program and how it can be beneficial, but she had not been to a school that did not have great technological facilities, and it skews her findings and results.
After all of this, I believe that SMART Board can be integrated into the classroom with great ease. The only thing I think no teacher should do is use only this. Though Mr. Pinkerton did a very good job with this technology and it seems to be working for him. What happens if it stops working, or if he wants to do something that doesn't use sophisticated technology; will he be lost? In a middle school mathematics methods course I had earlier today, we used linear relationships using simple non-technological items, such as a slinky, tennis ball, or plastic cups. I feel that when you teach with technology and technology only, you get away from some of the connections you have with the students, thus creating greater barriers in the teacher-student relationship that must stay strong with, preferably, the least amount of barriers as possible.