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I can remember my first experiences with a computer. There were these gigantic floppy disks, with a big hole in the middle of them. We would go to the library to use them since we did not have one. We would mostly play Oregon Trail on them for hours at a time. As we got older though we realized how much information was actually at our fingertips. I was able to start using them for educational purposes, especially helping me with my math problems. We finally got a computer at home that was a DOS based system and while mom and dad said we had to use it for school; we ended up only really using it for video games. In high school is when I first learned how to really use a computer. We had to take a class that taught us how to use a computer as well as learning to type on the keyboard.

When I went away to college I had never heard of the internet, but towards the end of my college days the internet was used for many different things. We had to email teaches to set up appointments when at first we either called or set up an appointment in advance. The first couple of years in college the computer labs were just kids typing papers or doing lab reports. By the end of college people were not just typing papers but surfing the internet. It is amazing how far technology has come. Now we have mp3 players, GPS devices, and cell phones with just as much technology as our best computers.

I do believe that computers play a vital role in today's classroom. Not only are computers becoming more and more part of our everyday lives, they serve as a tool to help teachers get students to learn materials easier. The ability to have students getting to have another tool to help them understand material at hand, as well as bringing the information they are learning to life. They will get hands on opportunities by getting to use different programs on the computer to support and enforce the information the teacher is teaching. Also with teachers having technology in their classrooms, they will be able to have the proper resources to support their teachings as well as have up to date information on what they are teaching. Smart boards are another technology resource in the classroom that is very important to helping teachers reach kids.

The "Did You Know" video was very interesting. I have done a lot of traveling and I never really realized how much everything around me is changing every day. I thought some of the statistics that were presented during this video were mind blowing. Like the 1 out of 8 couples married last year met online and how China will be the #1 English speaking country in the world soon. It just goes to show you how much technology has influenced the world as well as how quickly everything is changing worldwide. I think that as a teacher it is our job to make sure that our kids are ready for whatever lies ahead of them and one of the things that will help them achieve this is to know what is going on all over the world and not just at home.