My Technology Autobiography

Looking back, it is hard to remember what my first experience with technology is. I was born in 1989 and technology seems to be embedded in my life. My first memory of a new technology would have to be the release of the DVD. I can remember getting our first VCR/DVD player and having it be a huge hit in my house! We were all so happy to have the ability to store our movies in a more space efficient manner, and we had a LOT of movies!

In school, we always had computers. I distinctly remember the Apple computers that came out in a variety of colors; the computer lab in my elementary school was filled with blue Apple computers! In computer lab we learned so much about the function of Microsoft products and how to use them to our advantage for academics. I learned a lot in computer lab throughout my time in elementary school and I still utilize a lot of that information today. At home we had our "computer room", which was really just my sisters and I taking over my mom's hope for a reading room. We were allowed to use the computers, with my mom's watchful eyes, for homework, as well as for recreation. We had so many computer games and were constantly looking for new ones to use. My younger sister, Victoria, and I were always playing math and typing games to see who could get the highest score. AIM was also a very popular use of technology. I remember my sisters and I using AIM with one another while we were sitting five feet away from each other. We would crack up so loud that my mom would have to come in and see what we were doing. It was rarely as funny to her as it was to us.

In high school, all of my friends had cellular phones, except for me. I can remember when my mom got one for my older sister and I was so convinced that I would soon get one, but to my dismay I had to wait. When I did finally get one, no one had to teach me how to use it or how to text message. Using the cell phone seemed so natural to me from all of my prior experiences with technology. The iPod also came out when I was in high school and I remember them as being the newest thing that everybody wanted.

More recently, I have had a large amount of exposure to technology as I finished the last two years of my BA in Early Childhood Education through an online school, Western Governors University. There were so many new websites that I was exposed to through WGU for researching and posting my work. I'd love to say that it was all very successful and I loved doing everything online, but I can't. I had a difficult time finding were everything was and there were so many different websites used for my various classes, that I ended up feeling more stressed out about technology than I ever could have imagined. At that point in time, I had a very hard time see how technology could be successfully used as a major component of academics in schools.

Thankfully, I completed my student teaching with a First Grade teacher who was an advocate for the use of technology in the classroom. She might not have known everything about the SmartBoard and was always learning something new about technology, but she really provided me with a positive experience of integrating technology into the curriculum. Her students loved how she was excited about technology and how she made it accessible to them. I now feel very positive towards technology having a place in schools, and I believe that it can make learning and academics exciting, engaging, and relevant when presented in the correct and appropriate manner.