Computers

My computer is back. Yeah! But I've realized just how far behind the times I'm quickly becoming.

Yesterday I substitute taught 8th grade at a local K-8 elementary school. For science, I had the class divide into groups to research different genetic disorders. The regular teacher's directions said to have two of the students to go and bring the computer lab to class, so they could work on the internet.

Like many of the directions teachers leave for me when I sub, this one sounded confusing. Go and bring the lab here? I wasn't sure what that meant, but I figured the kids would know. When the time came, I sent the two kids off, and they returned with a metal cart with doors that opened on the sides to reveal about twenty laptop computers, all plugged in to an electrical panel of some sort. The computer lab itself, when brought into the classroom, was plugged into the wall with a giant, orange cord.

The kids took the laptops from the "lab," unplugging them and taking them to their seats, and I watched to see what they were going to do. Each group was to present their findings to the class the next day, and some began to create power point presentations, something I've never done in my life. And others began looking stuff up on the internet. I thought to myself, no way; and then I realized, yes way. This little country school, out in the middle of the rice fields and completely encircled by its own little levee because it sits in a flood plain, has wi-fi.

I'm only 34, and already I'm soooo far behind. *sigh*

My favorite part of the day, however, came when it was time to put the computers away. Little Nathan, future computer geek in training, was the one who brought the "lab" to the classroom, and who helped the other kids if they had any problems. When the period was over, he looked at the sloppy way in which the laptops were stowed back in the cart, and he actually got the class to quiet down so he could give them a little lecture on the right way to return the laptops to the "lab." Now there's a kid who's going to go places!