I borrowed three 'piece 'o crap' compasses from one of the sixth grade teachers today to help round out my set (since I didn't quite have a full class set) for a project my fourth graders are working on with my student teacher (more about her in another post). My students managed to break two of the three.
When I returned them and apologized, promising to buy new ones, he said not to worry about it. He knew they were cheap and worthless and said that they never use them anyways.
Compasses are not used in classrooms anymore. Rulers are rarely ever used, either.
I better hurry and order a new class set before the district warehouse stops carrying them!
Talking about the lack of compass and ruler use these days got us talking about other things that are dying out. Another sixth grade teacher in the room with us said that e-mail is dying out in the 30 and under crowd. They are using social networking sites and texting as their primary form of communication. I thought about that and realized that it is true for the 'under 30' crowd at our house. Helena checks her e-mail MAYBE twice a week, but checks Facebook daily and texts more than I care to count. I don't know if Will even checks his e-mail at all. He is on Facebook and texts, too.
Another technology that will be going the way of the cassette tape is the DVD/Blueray. These days it is all about digital movies. On sites like Vudu, you can either rent or purchase movies. If you purchase, it saves that movie in your account for viewing whenever you choose. A Vudu account is free. Or, if you want, you can download it and store it on a hard drive of your own. Like that terabyte drive gathering dust in the corner. The funny thing is, you need an Internet & Vudu capable platform in order for this to work. Our platform? The bluray player. Oh, the irony.
And, of course, Netflix and others (like Vudu) have replaced the brick and mortar 'video' rental store. I won't even do RedBox because it is too inconvenient to have to return the movie!
How about the computer? Some people are saying that tablets are the future. Forget laptops. You say you hate to type on tablets? Wireless keyboard using bluetooth technology. I personally think that projected keyboards are way cool.
I do know that we will be seriously weighing the pros and cons of tablet vs. laptop for Helena's college computing needs. And finding a WiFi integrated printer.
The future is amazing!
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