Smart Boards, what's so great about them?

Image by: Muncie Public Library via www.flickr.com

Smart boards.  What's there to say about them?  Teachers use them for their classrooms and students like them. Big deal, right?  Wrong!  They are a big deal!  More and more schools are buying them for their classrooms.  Teachers love using them because it keeps their students attention on the material instead of doodling, sleeping, texting, etc.  When I was a junior in high school my math class got a smart board and at first I thought it wouldn't work and I didn't think much of it, but there was one day in class where we just sat and listened to our teacher talk about the different things it does.  You can do simple math, write, draw, bring up websites and draw on the websites.  The one we had actually saved whatever work the teacher had done on it on the computer in the back of the room, so if the teacher wanted to talk about it to a different class all they had to do was bring it up on the computer and project it on the board.
I found a website where it has 13 reasons on how the smart board has improved teaching and learning in the classroom. If you would like to view it click on the link.  The one I found most interesting is, "The board can accommodate different learning styles" is because I didn't think boards could fluctuate depending on the different learning styles.  When we first got one in my math class, I heard a lot of parents say that they didn't know if it was a good idea to put those in the classrooms because they weren't sure if every student could operate it because of the new technology.  The only time we got to use it was when/if the teacher called on you to do a math problem on the board.  My whole class loved it by the end of the semester!  The only downfall to it was it wouldn't do your homework for you... :)