My first experience with a home computer was in elementary school when my dad brought home a Texas Instrument computer. I only used it to play TI invaders, which is basically just like Space Invaders. I'm guessing it was probably around 1982 and Atari was the coolest. Technology in the classroom was pretty much unheard of--at least in the small Michigan town I lived in.
I first recall learning about technology in a middle school computer lab when we went to play "Oregon Trail". I loved playing the game, but I still did not see computers as any more useful than this. I did not have cable television at home and cell phones were these huge weird things rich people carried around in brief cases.
In high school I took a typing class--on a type writer! Imagine that!
When the Internet came out everyone was jumping on board, except me. Even my parents had email addresses before me! I was also the last person I knew to get a cell phone. It took m0ving across the country and being cut-ff from any hope of accessing a land line to get one.
A passion for photography finally lead me to embracing technology. I obtained a bachelor's degree in journalism and became the photo editor for my university newspaper. After many hours with instructional manuals I taught myself how to use Adobe Photoshop and how to manually operate a digital camera.
Now that I am pursuing a career as a teacher I avidly believe that technology is a gift in the classroom, but that it can also detract. I've seen teachers play around with students surfing on youtube and all kinds of inappropriate behavior. Personally, I've created several PowerPoints and used email to contact parents, but other than that I have not used much technology in the class. I'm looking forward to learning more about it!
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