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CD Players for Educational Songs
In early elementary school I remember being taught songs to memorize the days of the week, months of the year, teach about farmers, Chinese New Year, Beluga Whales, etc. Rafi wrote many children's songs that were played in my classrooms. Singing and dancing were a great way to break up handwriting and arithmetic lessons. -
Rainy Day Recess
On stormy afternoons when we were barred from recess, our teachers would roll over a TV set and put on a VHS tape. Sometimes we watched School House Rock to reinforce a lesson--rain or shine! The songs still get stuck in my head. -
Computer Class
My elementary school would give us brief time in the afternoons to use computers in our library. We practiced typing games and occasionally researched whatever topic we were drawn to. I remember using wikipedia at this time and not understanding all the words used in their articles, and having to ask my 4th grade teacher for help. -
Overhang Projectors
The clear paper and wet erase markers made following along the teacher's instruction for a tricky worksheet so much easier! This precursor to the document reader was a huge help for me in sustaining my attention and validating my work in grade school. -
Book Reports
Around 5th Grade or so we moved away from practicing cursive and towards typing reports, especially for English-Language Arts projects. I remember book reports and early essays being typed on school macbooks! -
Photography Elective
I took a photography elective taught by my science teacher who also assigned us a music video project! I had a lot of fun recording shots of my classmates for our music video of "Jesse's Girl" by Rick Springfield. I think the Guitar Hero video game influenced our song choice. We spent time after shooting in Windows Movie Maker to cut everything together. -
Learning MLA in Word Processors
We began learning MLA format in English class and spent a lot of time in word processors like Microsoft word and Google Docs trying to get each detail just right! -
Smartboard in Math class
I remember the year my school got one smartboard installed in our math class and all of us students were amazed. It definitely increased our desire to participate in class because now that meant solving problems with the buzzing pens equipped for our new board--much cleaner than expo markers might I add. -
Incompatible File Troubles
Around this time our school was transitioning between macbooks and Dell laptops which introduced me to my love of the PDF. I absolutely hated when teachers only provided documents as either .docx or .pages because it made working with school computers much more complicated and time consuming since I had no idea how to convert documents. It also created multiple copies of the same files, so tracking down my latest drafts was muddled as well. -
Collaborating on Google Workspace!
My first time using google slides was for a group project and I thought it was amazing that my group mates could all edit the slideshow at the same time from their own devices and their edits were updating (almost) in real time! There were a few lags but the idea that we could all edit the same slideshow was very convenient, and new to me. As an introvert I found this method of working independently-but-together a preferable new way of completing group projects. -
iPads for High Schoolers!
My high school was part of a pilot program with Apple to test out iPads in classrooms. We enjoyed having school email accounts which made "passing notes" much easier and further reaching. There was definitely a learning curve for me in learning how to turn in PDFs that I had filled out or marked up onto a class assignment online. I still have most of my worksheets saved in the cloud today which is fun to look back at. -
Print versus Digital Submissions
One thing my classmates and I struggled with during the iPad pilot program was keeping up with different teachers' expectations for submitting our work. Some wanted us to print and hand in physical copies of our typed work, while others just wanted PDFs submitted on our school portal. I remember our history teacher being very frustrated one class meeting when hardly anyone printed the assignment due that day. There was a long line at the library printer that period!