Over the years, technology has become a huge part of most people’s lives. I enjoy technology because it allows me to keep up with people without having to really put forth any effort. For instance, if I want to still keep in touch with some of the people I graduated with or with really distant family, I can just become friends with them on Facebook or follow them on Instagram. I can see things that they are doing or accomplishing without having to actually have a conversation with them. I also like technology because it is a good form of entertainment. All of the different videos on Facebook and Instagram can be really fun to watch. There are also lots of technological games to play that are really fun. I dislike technology because it keeps people from interacting face to face with each other as much as they would if there weren’t so much technology. People text all day and tell each other how their day is going and then when they actually see each other in person they have nothing to talk about because they have already been texting all day. Also, when people are spending time with each other, they can get so glued to social media or a game on their phone that they don’t even pay attention to the other people in the room with them. Technology can sometimes make quality time with others a lot less fun.

My favorite memory in high school was being on the elementary yearbook staff my last two years of high school.  I learned how to create a yearbook, which was really cool because when we were finished with it it was like a work of art and it was so good to see that all of our hard work payed off. One of my closest friends was also on the yearbook staff with me, which made it that much more fun. Not only did I get more time to bond with her, but I also formed some great friendships with the other girls on the yearbook staff, as well as with my yearbook teacher, who became sort of like a mentor to me and someone who I could confide in. She always gave great advice and I still talk to her sometimes now. The yearbook class was also really cool because I got the experience to interact with the elementary kids almost every day, which I absolutely loved. Being on the yearbook staff was like no other experience I had ever had in school and that is why I will always remember it.

Over the past ten years, technology in classrooms has changed a lot. About ten years ago, I was in the fourth grade and I remember my teacher always having to roll out her projector on a stand that had wheels on it. It took up so much room that half of the students would have to move their desks to the side to make space for it. Now, almost every single classroom has a small projector hanging from the ceiling that is connected to the teacher's computer. These projectors are a lot more convenient than the ones they used to have. Also, in the elementary that I went to, there is now an iPad lab that students go to once a week and I guess just play on iPads. When I was in elementary I don't think I even knew what an iPad was. My brother, who currently goes to the same high school I graduated from, has a thing called a chromebook that he does all of his school work on. A chromebook, which is like a laptop, is assigned to each student in his high school at the beginning of the school year and the students complete all of their work and submit it using the chromebook. When I was in high school, just two years ago, I submitted almost all of my work on paper and barely had to use a computer to do anything. It is crazy to think how much the technology in my high school has changed since I have graduated just two short years ago.
Here is a link to an article that introduces different ways of incoroparting technology into your classroom: https://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-implementation

There are so many reasons I want to be a teacher. One of the biggest reasons is because I want to work with young people. My mom taught third grade for ten years and when I was in high school, I always loved going to her classroom and getting to be around the third graders. I really liked talking to them and getting to know all of them each year. I also want to be a teacher because it will allow me the opportunity to have an influence on students. Throughout school, I had a lot of teachers who were great influences on me and who helped to shape me into who I am today. Just the thought that I could do something like that for my students makes me so excited to become a teacher. Another reason I want to be a teacher is because of the schedule and the hours that teachers have. I plan on having kids of my own one day and I want to be able to spend as much time with them as possible. The summers and the weekends off and the 8 am to 3:30 pm hours that most teachers have will allow me to do that. As far as jobs go, I really couldn't picture myself doing anything besides teaching. I think it will be the perfect career for me.