I was really having a hard time coming up with something to write about this week. Then I realized how truly reliable our society is on technology. We have friends that come to our house every Sunday after our evening church services. We always kind of assume that their coming. It was a couple of Sundays ago and we assumed they were coming. I spent Sunday afternoon preparing for them and then when they got to church Sunday night they asked me if I had gotten their e-mail the day before that they weren't able to make it. I reminded them that I did not check my e-mail daily on the weekend. I thought for a minute you could have picked up a phone and called. WoW, it dawned on me what a technology reliable society we are!
I left last Wednesday night appreciating the work we had gotten to do on making a video of a book for a book review. It is amazing to me how differently creative we all can be when given thirty minutes, flip video camera, and the Iowa State Campus to use to review a book. It made me stop and think about how I could really use this in my classroom. I have what I call Coffee Talk on Fridays in my classroom and I decided that at least once a month we would use the video and watch recordings on one Friday out of the month and learn about new books.
I also very rarely check my email on the weekends-which proved with you to not always be a good thing! Sometimes I feel that I need a break from all the technology I normally use and just enjoy the world around me-family & friends. Although I do need to think about how my family and friends are all glued to their technology so if I want any communication on the weekends I have to give in!
ReplyDeleteI bet your students will love the video aspect of your coffee talks...you'll have to blog and let us know how it turns out.
Believe it or not, I am lucky to check my email once during a weekend too. I spend all week dealing with technology that I like to take a break too! But, I do work with other technologies it seems. One thing we do know is true - technology is not going away and as we become more and more dependent on it, we have to think about alternatives. And what about individuals who don't have access? Are they just left behind? Technology they say makes our lives easier, but it complicates it as well.
ReplyDeleteI loved the story you shared because I have become one of those people who constantly check their email in case I miss something. I have become so dependent on this type of technology! I'm going on a trip during Thanksgiving break and probably wont be checking my email often if at all. I'm so worried that I'm going to miss something because in some cases that's my only contact with people. It is kind of sad how much people rely on it. Even cell phones. I cannot imagine a world without cell phones, but when I think about it people lived just fine without them! Thanks so much for sharing this story. Also I really like the idea of "coffee talks".
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