Category: back to school

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I went to my boys’ middle school “meet the teacher night”. It used to be called “open house” when I was growing up.  I didn’t realize that was the only thing that changed when I visited the school.  It’s the same school I grew up in.  The same buildings, most of the same lockers, etc. I’ve been to the kids open house almost every year but there are so many improvements in the way of technology that will help me help my kids more.  If your child has an “Open House” or “Meet the Teacher Night” I highly recommend going.  My kids won’t think to tell me about half of this stuff!

1. Digital textbooks – forget hard cover books and writing your name in the cover (remember that?) most of my kids text books are digital now.  I can even visit a website and read the same lesson my son is learning online.  I guess the “I can’t do my homework I forgot my textbook at school” excuse won’t fly.  It took me a minute as I looked around the classroom to realize, “Hey! There’s no textbooks in here” lol

2.  Touch-screen projectors – ok I’m sure that’s not what they’re called but it’s the best way I could describe it.  You know the projectors with the slides and magnification.  Those are no more.  Now there’s a projection screen that teachers somehow connect their laptops to and they can move things in the screen and change slides just buy using the screen like a touch screen.  I found out not all the teachers have this yet but a few of them do.

3.  Hi-tech Tools for Science Classes – Again I remember slides of the constellations or even just text book pictures.  My son’s science teacher was very excited to show me his newest tool for teaching.  A program that showed the sky right over our town.  He could do time lapse and show the sky hours before or hours ahead.  He could show nebulas, black holes, and all that cool science stuff.  He told me that what I was looking at on the screen would be what I would see if I would go outside the school with a very expensive telescope.  They also have a planetarium in their science classroom.

4.  Class info online – If I want to know if my son had homework and what it was, If I wanted to know what my kids are learning about in school if my son doesn’t want to tell me, or if I just want to get a hold of my son’s teacher, all I have to do is log in to the school website and I can do any of those things.  I can even print homework worksheets out at home if my son forgets his homework.

5.  Digital test taking – My one son’s teacher told me they take their tests on laptops, turn it on on the computer, it’s graded on the computer, and they received their test scores back on the computer. She showed me a locked mobile metal cabinet that held lots of slim laptop all hooked up to chargers in the cabinet.

6.  Lunch tickets are long gone – I remember my mom having to remember to give me lunch money.  We got reduced price meals so I’d have to go in the free and reduced price line to buy a ticket then go through the line to get my food.  As a teenager I remember being kind of embarrassed about that.  Now no one has to know how much you pay (or don’t pay) for your lunch.  I can add money to my kids’ lunch accounts online. When they go through the lunch line they just have to type in their student id number to debit their account for lunch.  Wish that was around when I was a kid.

Attending “Meet the Teacher Night” also give me a chance to meet my kids’ teachers face to face. It lets me see what kind of environment my kids are learning in.  By talking to my son’s science teacher, I found out he majored in 4 different areas and is capable of teaching 4 different subjects at the school.  He continues to learn. He said he’s currently taking a course on black holes.  All the tech in the world can’t beat a good teacher.

What has changed since you’ve been in school?  What technologies does your or your kids school have? What back to school tips do you have?  Share your stories using #FallBackToSchool