Technology in the Education Arena

Last week was TV Turn-Off Week or some are now calling it “Screen Turn-Off Week.”  Sorry to say — I didn’t participate.  I did, however, keep very busy last week around the home (we had school vacation) and didn’t get to watch too much TV anyway or work too much on the computer (compared to what I usually do).  But, it got me thinking about “TV” Turn-Off Week and how it isn’t so much TV anymore.  It should be called “Digital” Turn-Off Week — no computers, no iPods, no cell phones, no blogging, no updating your wiki.  I can honestly say, I am not sure I could have that kind of discipline.  Maybe I could do it for a day or two but a whole week????

So, it got me thinking about why I couldn’t do it.  Well, if I have a question or need a definition, where do I go — the Internet.  A few years ago I didn’t want a cell phone, but now I do need it to keep in touch with my daughters.  I am taking a class right now that is (yes, you guessed it) online.  Every day I go in and read all the blogs I subscribe to.  This has become part of my professional development.  We have four computers in our house all connected wirelessly and if one computer is not working, it is given top priority because we love our digital world.  As my one daughter notes — we are a family of geeks (at least 3 of us are — other daughter would not want to be labeled in that category).  At work — I could never give up the computer because that is my job.  It got me thinking about how excited the kids are with computers.  The other day I went into a 3rd grade classroom with the SMARTBoard and a fraction lesson I created.  They were all excited about getting their turn to go up to the SMARTBoard — they didn’t care they had to do a math problem but instead they wanted their turn to use the whiteboard — all the while they are learning math.  Next day, I went into the same classroom and they were using the Fraction Jeopardy game I just created.  Talk about fun!  Yesterday, I went into a 2nd grade classroom.  The teacher had already set up our mobile laptop lab and a projector.  She wanted to show the students how to format text in Microsoft Word (something very basic for us but very exciting for these students).  I love going in to the classroom to see the big smiles on their face when they change their font for the first time.  This is their world now and it is so exciting for us and them.

Maybe I should just take a week’s vacation to a remote island or cabin in the woods?  I think I could do without “digital” if given that option!