hamilton's high school students weigh the value of more technology in the classroom - what is a smart board

HAMILTON —
When Lorraine Heisler, a Steinert High School teacher, needs to visit a student who was born to solve her geometric problems,
The problem is that she did not ask her students to raise their hands and volunteer.
Instead, she turns to the app on the smart board and touches
The screen board connected to the projector and computer.
The "random word selector" app is pre-
There is the name of the student.
Whenever she needs a volunteer, she presses the Start button and lets the app choose, eliminating the possibility of picking the favorite student.
"It's like a Russian roulette.
They said, 'Please don't choose me!
Please, please! Says Hessler.
Hessler, a teacher in the Hamilton School District, accepted the use of new technologies in the classroom, and the government is committed to expanding the use of computers to promote learning.
$184 in the region.
The 6 million-year budget passed last month requires the purchase of more than 152 smart motherboards, 200 computers, 900 laptops and wireless Internet access funds per school in the region.
But it's a scale.
The back version of the original proposed $1.
3 million technical initiatives by director James Pará.
He praised a group of high school students for saying they wanted more money to update textbooks and sports instead of more technology.
"My experience is that the students themselves are very skilled in technology, so I really expect them to accept a significant increase in technology in the region.
"So, I was surprised when they expressed doubt about it and said it wasn't the best way to spend money," Parla said . ".
On February, students gathered at a school rally to tell Parla that they wanted new textbooks and some campaigns that stopped due to budget cuts.
"Without spending all this money on technology, it could be spread out and spent on a wider range of projects," said Nottingham High School senior Matthew Gallo . ".
At the request of the students, the current budget also includes funds for the high school winter track and the junior high school stage
College hockey in different grades and new textbooks for social studies, mathematics, finance, Spanish and geography.
"We cut the technology plan, but we are still moving forward because it is important and we will also provide more professional development, parla said before the school board passed the budget.
Hessler says she uses her smart board "all day, every day" to help other teachers feel comfortable, but some teachers have difficulty integrating the technology into their classes.
"Students teach teachers how to open them.
Our period is 40 minutes.
We spent 15 to 20 minutes in class working on how to install something on the smart board, how to open the SMART Board, and how to properly connect everything.
When everything is done, we don't have enough time to learn . "
Hessler learned from other teachers how to use the features of her smart board, both during Steinert and during student teaching at university.
"I saw how other people built their lessons and things like that and found something that worked for me," she said . ".
Not all teachers have a smart board in their classroom.
Steinert senior and student government chairman d' jalma Lopez said that in the past two years, he has used only one of the eight teachers.
"People who don't do this, the way they lecture and teach is as good as we have a smart board," he said . ".
He said he was happy that the area would purchase updated books as his AP course was using a book published nine years ago.
"Our AP Government Manual started in 2004 and since then we have elected our first black president, the tea party has started.
Things have changed a lot since Bush and Kerry ran, "Lopez said, referring to the 2004 presidential election.
All the students in the Hessler class said they would rather see the school invest in sports than the school invest in technology.
"Technology will keep going out of date, so it doesn't make sense," says freshman Zach Padron . ".
However, some students want to know if sports and other extra-curricular activities will help students prepare for college.
"There are some conflicting views.
On the one hand, we have sports and everything is great because it involves students.
On the other hand, scholars are the first. "Lopez said.
Anthony Berg, one of Hessler's sophomore students, agreed.
"As a student, everyone has their own point of view, but education should be a priority for the school because of what it is for," Berg said . ".
The smart board enhances some of his classroom classes in Nottingham, garho said.
I want two governments.
Enter the class, when something happens, we can go directly to the computer and look for something on the political website.
"It's good for those things, for the current events," he said . ".
But Lopez said there was a dynamic classroom discussion in his government class.
No technical help.
Also effective because students need to pay attention to the news at home.
The advantage of using the smart board is that the information on the website can be projected onto the board for the whole class to see.
Heisler says anything on the board can be highlighted or underlined in a different color.
Many of the new technologies in the area will focus on primary school students, said Parla, who said they have adapted to learning on computers and tablets.
"I'm not sure, but I think they're born, you know, so that's what they know," Parla said . ".
While students can't say if the smart board really helps them learn more, they agree that they are happy that Parla takes their concerns seriously at their rally, and incorporate some of their requirements into the new budget.
"The Dean came and the children were very impressed.
He took our advice and tried to weave it there.
We are very happy, "Lopez said.
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