So I think that my age is showing.  I'm 22.  This week we discussed a time when kids made the games on the computer instead of playing them, and there are students in my program who remember this.  

What?! I only ever played Type to Lean and Zoombinis.  And allegedly the games that my generation is learning secretary skills.. What could helping Jelly Bean people get to Zoombini Island by winning a series of pattern based games in an enchanted forest possibly do in an office?  Nada.


Anyway, I think that it's interesting how the times have changed - the age gap between me and my fellow students shows how the goal of elementary school students with computers is to teach them to type and save the Zoombinis, while back in the day, it was to teach them how to...use a computer, maybe, and all that you can do on it.  But the reason our technological up-bringings are so different is because of the constant advancements in technology.  


Which leads me to my point: in my last blog I speculated what I would do in a classroom with regards to the NYC soda ban.  However, if I were to theoretically teach this lesson next year (when I'm finished with my program) there will likely be some new form of technology or some new trick that I maybe have to learn!  I like to think of myself as up-to-date with technology, but what if I'm still teaching this lesson 15 years down the road?  Will I still know what's going on? (I would like to think so...)


The lesson received some revisions during class, because I got to bounce my ideas off of the other world language teachers, specifically the Spanish teachers.  The parts of my lesson plan that could be affected by changing technology will be made apparent:

• Goal - Have the students express opinions and recommendations about human rights in Bolivia
• Start with the movie También la lluvia - a film about the water politics in Bolivia, and the conquest..
• Have the students do research on sites like BBC Latino América, http://www.jornadanet.com/
• Have the students write news paper editorial pieces about their opinions
• Langauge assessment - I will be looking for their use of subjunctive, recommendations, use of vocabulary, and the demonstration of what they learned about Bolivian culture and history

The bolded purple is what will likely change with the tech advances.  I don't know that in 15 years BBC Latino América will still be a viable news source, nor can I say the same about jornadanet.com.  I also think that in 15 years print newspapers may become obsolete with the increasing popularity of online news - so perhaps the more likely candidate for expressing their opinions would be a blog post, much like this one.  So when indeed the tech options for my class do change, I'll be waiting with my plans of how to adapt!

That's it and that's all!

I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it. 

     -Audrey Hepburn