technology

I'm really amazed at the technology our school is using, especially for this class. I mean, we're connected to with other students around the world through these blogs. We also have our "wikispace." I feel like I'm no longer in a traditional English class, but then again, has this ever been "traditional"? I mean, we get graded on quantity rather than quality for our journal, something that's pretty much unheard of in a junior-senior English course. We still haven't used all of this technology enough to really discover if it works. But in all honesty, is writing all of this out on a computer really that much better than the traditional, never-failing, less distracting pencil and composition book?

Even the iPods we use in class are such an advancement. We used them in Spanish to record dialogues and then replay them to the class. I said that that is why kids from our school are considered spoiled, stuck-up, rich kids. Seriously. What kind of school purchases so many iPods and doesn't even use them for their original purpose, to hold music? Or, would it have really been that difficult to actually stand up in front of the class to present our dialogue?

Mr. Watson was telling us how he's skyping with teachers globally and then how he's going to turn it into a podcast. Two years ago, we would have no idea what he was talking about. If you tell this to anyone over forty, they'll also be lost. I never imagined that as a student, I would be part of this transition to an interactive classroom. I mean, with this technology, soon we won't even have to go to class. We could all just stay at home and watch podcasts of each lesson or skype with our teachers and other students while in our pajamas. I guess technology moves way faster than you would expect. I mean, in twenty years, iPods will be antiques, no one will remember when they were the latest and greatest thing.