Chapter 4: Diversity, the "Did You Know?" video, and Peace Corps

Did you know?

After seeing this video in class this weekend, I had to come back home and rewatch. I had this overwhelming realization while watching this that put things into perspective: in college, while I wasn't what you would call "tech savy" I was comfortable with technology and used it frequently in my daily life.

After college, I joined the Peace Corps and lived and taught for two years on the island of Lifuka in Ha'apai in the Kingdom of Tonga.

the village I lived in, Koulo, on the island of Lifuka

map of Tonga

This island, approximately 2 miles wide and 7 miles long, did have it's own airport (in my backyard!) and a small branch of a regional college, but most homes, mine included, did not have electricity or running water, not to mention internet. In Pangai, the main town of this island group, there was intermittent internet access for those who could afford it, and I biked into town a couple of times each month to send emails and update my blog. In my village, I recognized the disadvantages growing up without internet had on my students, and I designed an introductory computer class that I was able to teach in the computer lab (donated by the Japanese and Australian governments) at the University of the South Pacific for a small weekly fee, to pay for the cost of electricity. I wanted my students to, at the very least, have some experience with computers and technology, and for many of them, this was their first time using a computer.

at the Ha'apai branch of the University of
the South Pacific for our computer classes

class 6 students on the computer for the first time!

While I understood the detriment of growing up without technology for my students, I think I failed to fully comprehend the impact that such limited technology used would have on my life, once I returned to America.  When I got back in the fall of 2010, I underwent culture shock in almost every activity I did in my daily life, from extreme (going to a supermarket) to mundane (the weather!). However, the most lasting impact, I am still realizing, has been regarding my ease and comfort using technology. When I left the country in 2008, there was no twitter, and facebook still required a .edu email account. When I returned, I was completely overwhelmed by the presence of technology in the lives of my friends and family, and, I still don't feel as though I've fully caught up. I still haven't been on or visited twitter, and I find checking my personal, work, and school email all in one day exhausting and overwhelming. My discomfort in using technology, specifically social media, in my daily life is something I am slowly working to understand and remedy. However, I am left to wonder what the impact of my experiences without technology, and my subsequent unease have in terms of my job teaching 5th grade, and what the broader implications are for how I both learn and teach in the 21st century. Watching this video brought these questions explicitly to the forefront, and my ah-ha moment came in the full realization of this fact.