edu629-Kim

I was born in December, 1963. President John F. Kennedy has just been assassinated and it was as important on the news as 9/11 was in it's time. Television was relatively new and people began to depend on this new form of technology. Television was nothing compared to the first man on the moon though. But the reality that technology was becoming advanced and progress was moving faster than we had ever seen before was evident in our society through many new purchases. I had dolls that talked, an electric typewriter, boom boxes were popular, and of course the first Sony Walkman came out. We talked on CB radios, listened to 8-track cassettes and had huge speakers that just looked intimidating! The microwave came out and my mom freaked! It took quite some time before she felt safe enough to use one. When I was in high school we still used the old typewriters that you had to push down hard on the keys. In college I learned graphic design and sweated it out to learn how to type-set. To imagine that in only a few short years we would be using personal home computers I never would have put myself in that stressful situation to learn all that coding just to make an upper-case and a lower-case letter. I eventually bought my first home computer and so excited! "IM"-ing was super cool! But I was completely disappointed that in just a few short years it was out of date. I wasn't able to communicate with people in the same way. If I didn't upgrade I didn't stay connected. Heaven forbid I pick up the phone and call someone. Even the phones had changed. Although I really don't miss my old rotary phone with four numbers for a telephone number, I feel afraid sometimes to keep up with the modern phones. Plus the expense of it all!! I clearly remember my father bringing home the first Nintendo. My brother and I were so excited! We sat on the floor in front of our huge floor TV with a giant black box and two controllers. We played the only game it had: Pong. It was literally a black screen with a green fluorescent vertical line in the middle with two small lines that could move up and down, and back and forth. We hit the "ball" - a square - until we couldn't see. What could possibly have been the attraction to us? In today's terms it is completely simple minded. Actually, it probably was then, but it was new so we did it.

Writing was also a journey for us. It evolved significantly over the years. In fourth grade I so clearly remember writing those book reports. My favorite was on Eli Whitney. I hated looking through the encyclopedias. They were so big and intimidating and had very few pictures. Every home had a set. I remember the encyclopedia salesman coming to our house. My parents were so proud! Then we had to make multiple copies so we used carbon paper. The purple would get all over my hands and clothes. It was easier just to write it over. Typing was always encouraged, especially for girls since they would be secretary's anyway.  My fingers used to slip and get stuck between the keys. I got pretty good at it though. But the drafts and the white-out.... And you could never go back and put the paper back in after you rolled it out. The more I concentrated to not make mistakes I made mistakes.

One day my mother came home with an electric typewriter. I thought it was just about the coolest thing, until I tried to use it. You would type the sentence and it would appear in a box on top. Once you felt it was good you hit the enter key and it typed it. But I could never figure out whether to type or watch the letters and words form. It seemed they appeared in the box above so much longer after you actually typed the words. And if you did make a mistake you had to shift your focus from the keys to the box above to correct it... so confusing! So I went back to paper and pencil.

One of my first jobs out of college was working for the FDIC. My first task: Write a memo. Ok. What's a memo? It seemed to be a new language. I did have a little computer experience, but as it turned out it was all data entry into programs that were already established. I started to sweat at the thought of the typesetting days. When I realized how easy it was I wanted to work on the computer all the time. We worked on WYSIWYG or reveal codes. Eventually I made lots of forms and spread sheets. It seems such a long way from where we are today with Garage Band and claymation.

This past July I bought an ipad. I was very proud of myself. The expense was tough, but now that I have it I can't stop using it. I find I can literally spend hours just trying to figure out the apps. I recently went to a workshop where a woman gave a presentation on Prezi. I put together a Prezi presentation but mine didn't look anything like hers! Mine looked like the average boring powerpoint. Hers was powerpoint on steroids. For me it is frustrating to try to learn this technology at the pace it moves. My 8th grade students help me with most of it, but I realize I need to keep up with it to be an effective teacher. The information isn't anything that you can really build on either. You learn it, it becomes obsolete, you learn a new one.

My students today live in a very different generation. We have more fights in the lobby before school because kids were fighting on Facebook or texting the night before. These are kids who usually have never had a face-to-face conversation with the other person, but behind a computer believe they have super-powers. If I even mention that students do not know how to communicate with people they vehemently argue with me. They say my generation doesn't know how to communicate. Perhaps there is something to this since I don't have a Facebook, I don't use Twitter or Blog, I only text my own kids, and have never Skyped. I plan to change all that this year though. I'll be plugged in and wired for this century come hell or high water!