I remember my parents saying this. Of course, I didn't appreciate the significance of that introductory phrase. I now understand it much better. It is a part of history. It's a way of saying, "Look how far we've come since..." It's a way of measuring progress. I find myself saying it to my students to show them what education was like when I was in high school.
The times have changed. During my high school years, home computers were brand new. I started out on a TRS-80 Model I. Yep. Model I. It had a cassette drive and took forever to load a program that would simulate the flipping of a coin. But it was a computer. The internet was not available. We had to use card catalogs, microfilm, microfiche, and actual original documents for research papers. No "Googling" or Wikipedia.
Now, students complain when a website takes more than 5 seconds to load. I don't know if tech has really helped critical thinking and research skills, but I do know it makes it much faster to look up answers to many questions. Pictures of people and places are a few keystrokes away. Communication is just a quick Skype or Facetime away. Text messaging, e-mail, Snapchat, and so many more apps make smartphones just another part of digital life. I remember the old bag phones that were carried around by Yuppies trying to show off their success. I remember the old Motorola flip phones. I remember when my school got its first Apple IIe. It's hard to believe how far we've progressed in the schools since I graduated high school.
Now students write code like it's no big deal. I remember how arduous a task it was to use punch cards to program in COBOL. I know. I'm getting old. But I will note one thing - I am willing to try to reach students with tech they use today. I am constantly learning new tech whether it's augmented reality, in-class polling, or integrating Google doc's into the classroom. It's part of the new classroom. Just as white boards were introduced to classrooms, teachers must now adopt tech and work to integrate what my students are using. We as teachers also need to keep up with the business world so we can teach those skills to make our students more marketable in the professional world.
What does the future hold? Who knows! All I know is that I want to hear my kids tell my grandkids how lucky they are because when I was your age...
The times have changed. During my high school years, home computers were brand new. I started out on a TRS-80 Model I. Yep. Model I. It had a cassette drive and took forever to load a program that would simulate the flipping of a coin. But it was a computer. The internet was not available. We had to use card catalogs, microfilm, microfiche, and actual original documents for research papers. No "Googling" or Wikipedia.
Now, students complain when a website takes more than 5 seconds to load. I don't know if tech has really helped critical thinking and research skills, but I do know it makes it much faster to look up answers to many questions. Pictures of people and places are a few keystrokes away. Communication is just a quick Skype or Facetime away. Text messaging, e-mail, Snapchat, and so many more apps make smartphones just another part of digital life. I remember the old bag phones that were carried around by Yuppies trying to show off their success. I remember the old Motorola flip phones. I remember when my school got its first Apple IIe. It's hard to believe how far we've progressed in the schools since I graduated high school.
Now students write code like it's no big deal. I remember how arduous a task it was to use punch cards to program in COBOL. I know. I'm getting old. But I will note one thing - I am willing to try to reach students with tech they use today. I am constantly learning new tech whether it's augmented reality, in-class polling, or integrating Google doc's into the classroom. It's part of the new classroom. Just as white boards were introduced to classrooms, teachers must now adopt tech and work to integrate what my students are using. We as teachers also need to keep up with the business world so we can teach those skills to make our students more marketable in the professional world.
What does the future hold? Who knows! All I know is that I want to hear my kids tell my grandkids how lucky they are because when I was your age...