Thinking About...Thursday, August 6, 2009

Yesterday I was at the beach in Ocean City, NJ, with my mom's friend, Laverne. This lovely lady is very intelligent and has quite a few grandchildren, so it came as a bit of a surprise when Laverne was lamenting about the fact that her son had signed her up for a computer course. "I don't even have a computer. I don't want one, I don't have room for one, and that's that," she stated emphatically while she drove with me to the local store to get a newspaper. I told to tell her she could read the newspaper on line, but she wasn't having any of it. "I need to do my crossword puzzle every day." As we went back to the house, she attacked the crossword puzzle while I sat with my laptop doing my "every day things like plurking. "Do you know a goddess who had horns?" she called out. I quickly googled it and gave her the answer. "Another word for Heat Home?"
This went on for a bit until she triumphantly called out she had completed her puzzle. I smiled to myself. She was happy and I had learned about Isis and Miami Heat basketball team.

Later I got thinking about why I love the computer and others don't, and there are many who don't. Whoopi Goldberg, who probably has a computer but doesn't seem to take to things like Twitter and answering machines, has amazingly creative minds. Laverne would rather paint, redecorate, sew and do other creative things. Both ladies probably also finish every thing they start. I don't. I love to learn things quickly and start many things I don't finish. My friend, Jeff, uses the computer because he HAS to, but given the opportunity, he'd throw it out the window. Meticulous, an end point always in his head, his "I can't do anything else until I finish this" drive me nuts.

So, maybe that's the difference in educators who adapt and use the technology and those who tolerate it. Maybe I need to be more cocnicient of the fact that they are just programed that way, like some of my students. These are the kinds of people we can LEAD to the computer, but unless there is a concrete end for them to see....they aren't going to drink from it.