Megan + technology: A bRief history
I’ve never been an incredibly techy person, but always managed to have a decent understanding of the technology used during my time as an elementary and high school student. When you’re constantly exposed to the latest programs and gadgets through classes and peers, it feels almost effortless to learn how to use them. I remember scoffing at my parents, not understanding how they couldn’t make sense of whatever task I was showing them how to do on our old family computer. It was a whole new world to them and second nature to my brother and I.
Fast forward to today, ten years post high school graduation, and I’m starting to feel those “old person technology” vibes. Somewhere along the line I got fed up with trying to mentally keep tabs on what model iphone was out or what the lastest update on my computer involved, so I opted to not care. Letting my husband worry about that stuff, and only dealt with what I needed to know technology-wise and stashed the rest somewhere deep in the memory bank. Up until recently, this strategy has worked out okay for me…
Room to grow
Now with online classes, I’ve found myself in a bit of a pickle, quickly trying to learn all of these new programs and find my way around a lots of websites that are completely new to me. It’s been a stressful time (maybe even a wake up call?) and has made me want to become better with it for my own comfort level, for the sake of my future student, and so that I don’t give off the same frustrating parent effect to my own son when he’s old enough to be showing me the technology of his time.
With all of that being said, I’m very nervous about the amount of learning that needs to happen for me in a fairly short amount of time, but at the same time I’m so excited! I know there’s such cool technology out there for elementary learning and I really want to jump in and make the most out of. I also recognize that there are handy dandy online tools out there for teachers, and I love the idea of getting to know them as a student to set myself up for success as a teacher later on.