edt400.. so far

Going into this class, I expected the curriculum to be a lot different than what it's turned out to be. It's ended up being a lot more interesting than I thought it would- as the class title makes it seem mundane and pretty awful for a 3 hour class. In hindsight, I really had never thought about how much technology is a part of schools and quickly becoming a huge aspect in students' learning today. From preschool to college, there are some forms of technology being used, and teachers need to adapt to this. Also, because technology all over the world is becoming the basis of many business transactions and businesses themselves (internet based businesses, etc), it's an interesting concept to entertain that the kids we'll be educating in schools we very well maybe be preparing for jobs that haven't even been invented yet. That concept, at least to me, is pretty mind-boggling to think about. Technology is becoming so intertwined with practically everything we do now, that in as little as a few years there is the possibility of dozens of jobs available to those that are tech-savvy that absolutely do not exist today. How to prepare kids for what doesn't exist sure seems like a daunting task.. I guess we'll just have to see how this pans out as it pans out!

where i'd like to end up!

Ideally, I'd like to teach in the 3rd-4th grade area in a town in the northshore of MA, where I grew up. Outside the city about 30 mins in a middle-upper class rural neighborhood where I'd make decent money and really enjoy the kids and the school system I'm working for. Somewhere around Salem, Swampscott, Marblehead or Danvers. My entire family on my mom's side is from Marblehead, and I grew up being in the public school system of Swampscott and Danvers. I'm familiar and very comfortable with the area, have family and friends nearby and feel it's a great place to raise a family. This is highly hypothetical- I'd be extremely lucky to grab a job opening in any of these school districts, but if I could have it my way, I'd rather be there than anywhere else. I'm very much a city girl and would love also to be that close to Boston yet far enough out of it that I can live in a nice, quiet neighborhood. I'd look forward to teaching my class about the Salem Witch Trials and other historic events relative to Massachusetts. I've always loved how rich in history, very exciting history, Massachusetts is and how much I enjoyed going to school and learning all about the great state I lived in. No offense to those of you who are born and raised Mainers, I do love Maine.. just not the state for me! :) I just hope I am able to accomplish this for myself, my ideal setting, and instill the love for going to school in my classroom the same way my teachers easily accomplished with me.

TECHNOLOGY! a blessing and a pain the @#$

It's safe to say that almost all young adults in America, and even most adults over 40 are now reliant on technology whether it be their laptops, blackberry's or other smart phones, ipods, whatever... for basically everything from games, school work, paying bills,and shopping to working. I myself am heavily reliant on my laptop for all of these things with the exception of my job. Mostly, for school. All of my classes this semester are writing intensive and two of the four have all the assignments submitted (and in this class, assignments are posted online as well). Honestly, usually, I prefer this. Less papers to shuffle through and keep track of at home when I go to do these assignments, and less of a pain in the butt to print off papers before class because there's no need for that at all. All in all, a month ago, I was all set to go this semester.

Then, it happened.

One morning, going to turn my laptop on to check my e-mail, facebook, and to get caught up on celebrity gossip, I became increasingly irritated when my laptop screen wouldn't turn on with the rest of my computer. I must have ctrl-alt-delete'd 20 times. My damn laptop, 2 years old, wouldn't turn on. I never downloaded illegally, always paid for my music, etc, so could it have been a virus crippling my computer? Hell if I knew, all I knew was that I was ticked off that it wouldn't turn on when it had been working fine the night before. Long story short, my motherboard was completely fried. For the past month, I've been without a computer because my motherboard has to come from Japan. My step-dad's friend offered to fix it for free if we paid for the motherboard- about $125.00 coming from Japan, where it would have otherwise cost around $600.00 to go through a repair shop. My mom offered to pay for the motherboard, so I couldn't really object to that or the time it's STILL taking to get fixed. Since then, I've fallen terribly behind in the internet based classes I'm taking, I'm late on bills (my cellphone shut off last week, luckily I was on campus so I could get to a computer to pay my bill) and I straight-out feel disconnected from the world. I used my laptop for almost everything, and now without it I'm realizing how heavily I depended on my computer and the internet to live my life. Luckily, my mother lent me her work laptop for a few days to get things done. Here's to hoping that motherboard comes in soon.. God knows I'm suffering without it!!!