Searching for Things (mainly on the internet)

Oh! Welcome back. I wasn't expecting you so soon! (I actually was, we all have to do this every week, I'm not kidding anyone). I suppose you're here to hear my thoughts on technology or something? I guess I can indulge you- but only for today (and for the rest of the days in which I am in this class)!

In my educational experience, we were taught how to use a computer in the same way were were taught to use a piano in our music extracurricular, in that they just kind of let a bunch of five year olds into a room with a bunch of sensitive and technically complicated devices and let us have at it- which went as well as one could expect. I never learned how to play a keyboard, but by God, I became a "slamming-on-the-keys-haphazardly" expert. In the same way, I learned technology by slamming on keys until I figured out what sounded or looked right, and went from there. Having a standard like the Computer Science Standard for programs like Word or Excel would have given my peers and I a technological edge, and made our school computer time more fruitful than playing CoolMath for an hour. As an educator, I would implement these standards in the way I wish I'd been taught in an approachable manner, by centering a research project around things the students enjoy studying such as their favorite video game or TV show or book. Based on where I am, being a realist by habit, I don't know if I'd be able to implement these standards quite yet, but being an optimist by nature, I'd certainly like to try. 

Technological resources can be equally helpful for educators and students. Resources for say, social studies in a middle school setting, can help teachers plan accessible lessons for their students that make these stories fell more applicable and real to students. For example, there are many stories in the social studies section of the website that illustrate real stories of struggle and growth within various governments. By making history and government more real to my students by attaching a real story and heart and soul, it would allow students to better understand the concepts that these stories lead into, and interrogate more complicated concepts such as what "liberty" can mean for some people versus others, or how to enact change within a system. Getting students to think critically about subjects as basic as the Electoral College allows them to not only learn these concepts, but attach these concepts to the real world.

I am a bit of an internet detective. I have spent years of my life typing in ever more specific search terms to find the one item I am looking for. Every time I thrift something, for example, I look up the item on the internet and try to find more information about it, such as the brand, typical price, and how others wear it. I don't do this to sell it or anything (I have a great disdain for people who thrift purely to resell items without doing anything to them and making thrifting less accessible to people like me- but I don't think that's a great topic for right now- this is not a platform for my beef). It's a great real-world example of the applications of search tools, and how helpful they can be in a real world context to find out more about the things you care about. Something not covered in the class that I use quite often is Google Lens, which is in the same vein as Google Images, but with real-world items. Truthfully, I most often use it to identify bugs I see on my walks. There are so many, and I like to be able to point and say "Oh, that's a Mexican Silver-Spot buttery!" and have people wonder how I know so much. I love being full of trivia and knowledge. Everyone deserves to be surprised with information sometimes. Little lifelong learning.

Well, that's all for me today. People to see, places to be. You know how it is.