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Kindergarten - Television
On Tuesday, January 28, 1986, all of the afternoon Kindergarten classes, followed by the 1st and 2nd graders, crammed into the school library to watch the Challenger Space Shuttle launch. We counted down and cheered on lift-off. Moments later, the room went silent when the Challenger exploded, killing everyone on board. The teachers started to cry, and the children were shuttled outside for an extended recess. -
1st grade - Record Player
Mrs. Oliveria played "The Breakfast Song" on her record player every morning. We'd stand up and dance when the song mentioned something we had eaten for breakfast that day. Partway through the year, I realized that Mrs. Oliveria provided breakfast during first recess for the kids who didn't stand up to dance. -
2nd grade - Overhead Projector
The overhead projector allowed the teacher to use transparent sheets or a roll of transparency and fill it with guided notes, math problems, or fill-in-the-blank questions and project them on a screen. It was a step above using a chalkboard because you could use different colored dry-erase markers and keep the notes to reuse another day. When it was frigid outside, I would ask the teacher if I could stay in during recess and clean transparencies. -
4th grade - Mimeograph Machine
Mrs. Bosel loved her mimeograph machine. Although my school had officially transitioned to a Xerox machine, Mrs. Bosel kept her mimeograph machine running until she retired. She never had to go to the copy room. She had everything she needed in her classroom. We had an abundance of math tests during 4th grade in the familiar mimeograph-blue-smudged ink. -
8th grade - Calculator
In the 8th grade, we were allowed to use calculators for the first time in Algebra. I remember saving my summer babysitting money to buy the required calculator. -
8th grade - Computer Elective
My junior high school purchased 30 computers in the early 1990s. In computer elective class, we spent most of our time learning to type in Word Perfect. The rest of the time was spent learning DOS commands, none of which I remember today. -
Senior in High School - My 1st Email Address
I got my first email address through Hotmail to keep in touch with friends after high school. -
College Freshman - First Laptop
My first computer was a Dell Latitude laptop that ran Windows 98. I did not take it to class often because it got heavy and didn't have a long battery life. But I wrote all my research papers with it, saved them to a disk, and then printed them in the school's computer lab—the printing line was ALWAYS 45+ minutes long. I learned to plan accordingly.