A Teacher’s Thoughts

Those of you who read my blog know that I teach middle school science but I also teach some adult education computer classes for our career and technical center. I’ve been at it now for four years and it is hard not to appreciate the courage some of my students have to come to these classes and try to learn these new and very new skills. While the classes I teach have titles like Intro to computers and Intro to web design, my real mission is to deliver quality instruction in 21st century literacy skills to the adults in our valley.

My Really Basic Intro to Computers class has been for people with no experience with computers. How satisfying is it to see the excitement of learning to turn the machine on, using Paint to make and print a picture and then learning how to turn the computer off? That class has been very rewarding. The motto is “from zero to megabytes in 6 weeks” and we do it. We dig into file management, exploring software (thanks to the Cool Cat for a new model in dealing with this one), basic word processing, and intro to the internet and email. Many of these students are elderly and want simply to be able to email their grandkids and look at pictures. They are so delighted when they first begin emailing each other even if the are sitting side by side
“Hey I just emailed you, did you get it?”
“Yes, right here.”
“Did you reply?”
“Almost, wait a minute…there.”
“Oh, there it is!”

It is about as cute as it gets. And the learning is big and very real. I often mention to my 8th grade students how much I admire these older students for stepping out (sometimes way out) of their comfort zone. These people should be role models for the true lifelong learner.