Times Have Changed-School

In honor of the start of school I'm investigating how things have changed in schools through the years.

Those of us in education know that much of our field is trends. Things come in with a force, then leave out the backdoor before popping back up ten years later. One thing that is new and not likely to go anywhere the readiness of technology. Whether the kids in your local school are tapping at computers or researching the world on their iPads this is a trend that isn't disappearing anytime soon. 

It is incredible what can be done these days that was impossible even ten years ago. If we're having a discussion in class and none of us know the answer all it takes is a simple Google search to figure it out. 

What about completing a research paper? Gone are the days of encyclopedias. Now, our kids can go in depth without ever leaving the classroom.

It's also amazing how you can truly tailor your lessons to every level of learner with the innovative programs available. I may have a high reader and a low reader in the same class who both need something completely different from me, enter some pretty awesome programs that allow me to create assignments for each of their individual levels.

Want to create a safe place for students to discuss their responses without feeling intimidated? How about a discussion board? This tool allows students to sound off on a topic without having to say it out loud to a group of their very intimidating peers.

What about if a student has a question while working on their homework late at night? Helloooooooo, email. I love when my students email me questions about assignments. I love that they take the time to ask and dig deeper into a task instead of completely giving up. Email is also an amazing way to contact parents. I bet our ancestors wish they had email when they were contacting parents about Billy pulling Sally's hair at recess.

I could also talk for days about the superbness of social media in the classroom. Need a quick way to remind students about a quiz? Post it on Twitter. Help your kids learn the importance of keeping up with local politics by retweeting the Mayor's tweets. Or create a Facebook page for your class to encourage collaboration.

Today's schools are FULL of advancements that would blow the minds of our grandparents. Stay tuned for the next installment!

TImes Have Changed-Travels

It dawned on me while we were in Denver how times have changed. I think this kind of thing hits us all every so often when we're doing something that would shock our great-grandparents. You know what I'm taking about-the moment you check your phone's Google app to settle a debate or when you make a dinner reservation from your phone. Once I started thinking about it I was off! Today's post is the first in a mini-series of "my, how times have changed" posts. I'd love to hear if you have any additional topics than the few that I cover! Today's topic. . .

Travels

Holy smokes, have we grown by leaps and bounds in this category. The first major advancement being GPS. When those little buggers came out a few years ago they weren't trusted, but once people figured out they weren't being controlled by space aliens they took off. Sayanara, paper maps. When our cellphones started directing us places it was game over. Seriously, when was the last time you asked someone for directions somewhere? I bet you $5 you asked for an address to type in instead. 

That leads me to everyone's favorite advancement, cellphones. Instead of "I'll wait for your flight and hope it comes when it's supposed to", now it's "Call me when you board and I'll pick you up later". Or I can imagine it would be like that if you are a fancy pants world traveler. Cellphones are handy in countless categories, but this is definitely one it comes in handy.

How about when you're in an unfamiliar place and need place to eat supper? Instead of finding a random place on the side of the street or asking your hotel concierge, why don't you check the gajillion apps out there that reccomend places to eat? Or if you're tootling down the road and are craving Chick-fil-A. Hmm I wonder where the closest Chick-fil-A is. . . let me check my handy dandy travel app!

What about when you're heading down the interstate to visit the fam and it's rush hour? Yikes. No one in this day and age can possibly lower themselves to the level of 5pm traffic. Why don't we take a gander at road closings and find an alternate route around this mess.

Isn't this all so crazy?? Stick around for the next installment of how times have changed!