When I look back to when I was in elementary school and high school in the 1970's/early 1980's, it seems like it was centuries ago, especially in relation to technology. I always tease people by saying sometimes, "Back in the Stone Age when I was younger...." but sometimes it feels just that way. I remember having rotary phones, then graduating to a push button. We had no remote controls, if you wanted the television channel changed, you needed to get up and change the 1 out of only 7 available channels and make sure you adjusted the "rabbit ears" on top if the picture was fuzzy. In school, technology was non-existent. We hand-wrote our reports and assignments, then graduating to using a typewriter in high school which used "correction tape" or "White Out" to fix your errors. The advancement at the time was self-corrrecting typewriters. We did not own our own typewriters, so most assignments were still hand-written. We needed to look up any information from an encyclopedia that we had at home or go to the library to use them or other resources that the library had.
The three types of technology that have influenced me greatly would be my cell phone, computer and television. My cell phone still surprises me. I received my first cell phone about 10 years ago and never used it. It was thick and you had to pull out the antennae from the top. I still upgraded my phones since then, but still never used them too much. I then started hearing from my friends talking about how their teenagers would "text" all of time. This concept was completely foreign to me. I did not understand how it could be so great. I now understand why. Before I attended Montclair State two years ago, I bought a phone with a QWERTY keypad. When I started school and began working with other students on group projects, I began texting and have never looked back. I do not text thousands of messages,however, if I want to ask a quick question or simply "talk" without a whole conversation, texting is so convenient. I do not know how I functioned without it. From there, I just upgraded again to receiving emails on my phone. Again, the convenience is amazing. I can check and send messages quickly without logging in to my computer, browse the internet and my children are showing me which "apps" are cool to use.
I have a love/hate relationship with my computer. I love the ability to look something up easily and I am just getting familiar with You Tube to learn just about anything. I do feel frustrated at times. Sometimes I feel like I do not have the skills to search something easily and because I was never brought up with it, I still always feel like I am going to "lose" something. Since I am back in school, the fact that technology is used so predominately in every class, I am forced to learn. I find that this is a good thing. By having to fill a need for using technology, I am learning many diverse aspects of it. I would never think, for example, that I would be blogging, but here I am and I am beginning to really enjoy it! I still wish I had the ease like my children to just go on and start playing around with no fear; however, I am starting to feel more confident with it. I think about how my professors use their laptops for slide shows, and I am able to print out Powerpoints for notes and far use of technology in school as come. My boys tell me about the use of Smartboard in their classrooms and how they love using it because it is hands on. Learning is not just one dimensional any more, but can be achieved in so many different ways. This is one of the reasons why I am looking forward to using technology in my classroom. I can implement so many diverse applications for my ESL students to use.
I know television has been around for a very long time but with the availability of so many news programs, channels, shows that are "on demand" and the fact that on a cold Saturday night, my family and I can just order a movie on our television set instead of going out to the store. I tell my children of when I was younger and we had no remote control. Then there was the development of HBO and MTV with cable along with a VCR. They are in awe of what was available then and what is available now. We now have news programs 24/7, no longer having to wait until the 6 o'clock news to find out what is going on and they can choose from hundreds of channels at any time to watch a program.
Even with all of the new innovations of today, I still do not feel the need to always be "connected." I do text and use my computer; however, I still enjoy actually writing something down on paper, and I only text if there is something important I want to ask or say. Young people connect more with technology today. With the use of Facebook and Twitter the world is much closer for them. Technology is also very useful in the classroom along with traditional teaching. It makes instruction and learning much more interesting.It is also helpful with communication between teachers and parents, tutoring, or working together as a class on a project,. It is amazing that children can use it and learn from it.
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