My own experiences with technology

When I was a student (which seems so long ago), we didn't have half the technologies that are available to students now. In our classroom we had one lone computer for all 20 or so of us to share. That was the case from elementary school even up through high school. In elementary school our computer was an old Apple that I swear was a black and green screen. I remember playing Oregon Trail on it frequently! In high school we did have access to a computer lab and we had a few more computers available for use in the library but that was the extent of it. The rest of the technologies that were utilized were old school projectors and typical computer programs.

Technology-related skills weren't considered important for us to learn when I was in school. The only time I remember learning something that was specifically computer based or technology related was a typing class that was mandatory so that we would know how to type, where the keys were located, and to be able to type a certain amount of words per minute with limited errors. It was done at our own pace, we had cardboard over our keyboards so that we couldn't see the keys, and it was all time based (the longer it took us to complete a lesson the more horrible we were at it).

I'm very thankful and lucky that I've had the college experience that I've had and taken the classes that I've taken because I would be incredibly ill prepared to work with today's students if I hadn't. Through my class load, my placements within the classroom, and the general knowledge I've been exposed to within school as a whole I've learned quite a bit about technological programs that can be used to benefit my students. Programs such as, Portaportal, Excel, Keynote and Power Point, Noteshare, internet blogging, and Pages are all programs I had not previously been exposed to. I'm hoping to integrate them in my classroom, along with many others that I will have the privilege of learning before my schooling is done.