Technology Autobiography...It began with a typewriter

Peck, tick, peck, tick…ding. My typing class in high school is the only class I have ever dropped. It was the typewriters and their endless noises that drove me out of the class, not to mention that weird white correcting tape. If you get right down to it was a combination of the noisy machines and the fact that in 2001 it was archaic to be taking a typing class on a typewriter. Compared to my parents’ trusty Gateway (though probably operating a snail’s pace now) the machine was painfully slow and unforgiving. The sound too, was deafening and endlessly distracting. So I dropped the class and leaped forward into the world of technology- well, maybe I didn’t exactly leap.
Personally, I find myself having pretty ambivalent feelings on technology- I have never had cable but can’t live without my cell phone. I find I keep up with friends in distant places better with email than letter, yet, like my grandmother I still find letters entirely more charming than emails and frequently write and receive them. Despite my complete lack of directional sense I have resisted the urge to buy a GPS. I have decided that it might make me stronger to learn to use a make or, better yet, the sun or stars to guide me through Louisville. Thus, I embrace some of the luxuries of technologies while trying to resist living life in front of a screen
Perhaps dating back to the horrible typewriter experience, I feel more compelled I use technology more in my classroom than in my personal life. With the JCPS middles schools science modules students are expected to obtain lots of information through experiential learning which isn’t the style of some of my students so I have found summarizing lesson with quick videos or applets can be helpful. Nonetheless, I firmly believe it is silly to completely replace a simple lab-like rolling a ball down a ramp with an applet.
I have also been amazed to see during the course of this year; students who refuse to work on a daily basis sit down and complete a complicated web quest. More than once I have been baffled by the computer’s ability to “entice” students into learning. The students have also been enticed on some inappropriate websites when they have, in the 10 seconds I turned my back, hacked the schools blocking system. Managing students on computers can be exhausting, but at the same time technology has saved me tons of time as a teacher. I have been astonished during the course of my first year, how much easier teaching is when you’re using shortcuts like Netrekker and online grade book.
Writing this reflection has made more aware of my mixed feeling on the role of technology in my classroom and also in my personal life. Despite its lure of instant access, information, and communication I still firmly believe it cannot, and should not, be used as a substitute for many experiences or human interactions. This conclusion has made me think back to an article I picked up at a friend’s house last fall called “Is It Time to Unplug Schools?” (http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/334/) It is a little extreme but a good piece to get you thinking if you have time for a read….