My Experience With Technology

     I come from a small town called Seekonk in southern Massachusetts. In my town, we were always given the opportunity to integrate technology with our learning experience.

     In elementary school, we had a couple of labs and a library with one side dedicated to computers. Back then, we had some Dells but we mostly had the chunky green Mac desktops. Starting in third grade, we would go to the library one or two days a week in order to practice our typing. For about an hour and a half, we would play games on the computers that taught us how to type correctly and how to place our fingers on all of the keys. I remember always looking forward to these types of days and I am grateful that we were able to start learning with technology at such a young age. I believe that this is one of the best practices that we used with technology because it introduced and taught us how to start using a computer properly.

      In middle school we continued to use desktop computers but we also had a few laptop carts. In every classroom we had three desktops that were against the wall. There were never enough for the whole class so we didn't use those often. Eventually we started bringing the laptop carts into the classroom more, so the school decided to take all of the laptops and put them into another computer lab. We had a class called "tech ed" that taught us how to use different types of applications on the computers. However, throughout my schooling we usually only used the computers for web research and website browsing rather than using the applications to their full extent.

      Once I got to high school we started using the laptops a lot more. Teachers assigned a lot of assignments such as web quests or research assignments that required us to go online during class. Laptop carts were in the library at all times and if we signed in, we could use them whenever we wanted. During lunch or free period, a lot of people would go into the library and work on homework. I don't ever remember a time that our technology did not work. If anything, sometimes the network would be a little slow but that was about it. Once I was a junior, the district brought iPads into play. Up until the time I graduated, we didn't really use them because none of the teachers knew how to. In this time it seemed as if they were only there for fun. In the two years that they were in the school I only used them once in astronomy class. By now, I hope that they are being put to good use and the teachers are learning more about technology so that it can be better used in the classroom one day. I look forward to becoming better with technology so that I can help guide my students in the right direction as well.