What's the point?

I don't want you to get the idea that I'm a technology cynic. I do see the benefits of using technology in the classroom, especially since most of our students are using it already. There's a SMART board in the classroom at my placement that I've seen my associate teacher use twice so far. Today it was used to show part of a movie during the first half of nutrition break (a better way of saying 'snack time'), and it was used during the language lesson. The worksheet that the students were working through was projected onto the SMART board in a similar fashion to the overhead projectors that dominated my elementary school years. The same worksheet was handed out in paper hardcopies to each of the students and the teacher also held his own paper copy. I expected something to be done with the sheet on the screen, but it just sat there. Even when we switched the page, the image on the screen remained the same. In this instance, I don't think that technology was used effectively. What was the point of having it on the SMART board?

I had to answer the famous question of, "Why can't I use my calculator?" today at placement. The grade 4 students are currently working on their multiplication tables and their math textbook asked them to estimate some tough questions, ex. 56 x 7. The young man who asked this question has his desk in the back corner of the room, right by my table where I was sitting and observing during the lesson. His headphones were on and although he was raising his hand with the others to answer the questions, he kept slyly pulling out his iPhone to change the song. After I successfully got him to turn it off, I ended up having to take it away when it was time to work, as he was using the calculator to get all the answers. We want them to be able to do multiplication in their heads, obviously, but this student was pretty right when he said that you won't need to do this in high school. If I have a mathematical problem in my daily life that needs solving, I'll pull out my phone to calculate it if it's anything more than single digits or an easy double digit problem. I do advocate for memorization of multiplication tables and mental math, but in "real life" we typically just use technology to figure it out.