Emerging Technology 1+ (Medieval Help Desk, Piano, "Aha" Moment)

This video, Help Desk, was hilarious.  I felt like that poor guy with the book five years ago when I went to a Computer Workshop to learn how to use the MacBooks.  I didn't even know how to copy and paste.  Everything kept disappearing on me.  I was afraid to touch anything so I moved by the instructor, because she said that anyone who needed extra help should sit by her.  This was my first year teaching at this respective school and I could tell everyone though I was nuts.  Unfortunately, I still take "baby steps" when I try something new with technology.  It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.  I guess maybe that is how the people whom went from the tablets to books felt.  Anyway, they did a great job with the satire.  My next goal is to find a way to have my students use these short video clips to engage them in their subject matter.  I think the Medieval Help Desk will encourage the more timid child to try new things.  I want to reach those students as well.

Piano Stairs does an excellent job in describing "human nature".  Advertisers as well as teachers  have to be very creative in order to sell their ideas.  As a teacher I am constantly looking for new ways to engage my students.  We still have to teach the "basics" - "Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic", but we need to do it with tools that will make them want to learn.  This gave me an idea for a goal to have the students make a pod cast for their Literature Groups.  They are getting to the point where some of them detest having to share their summaries so they mumble.  Maybe I could spice it up a little.

The "Aha" video made me think  "Yes" I can relate to what they are saying!", a couple of times.  I though of my daughter's first year and the times I had her sitting on my lap while checking my emails each day.  She grew up watching Madeline while mommy surfed the web.
She could log into her little games by the time she was four.  Another "Aha Moment" was thinking about the amount of time young people spend on their cell phones.  My daughter and her friends will sit in the same room at a sleep over and text one another with their earbuds in listening to music and conversing with each other through texting.  It is a different world that our young have grown up in.  As educators we have to be able to interact with this new culture that exists and be ready to embrace it.