Best day of their lives.

Today I want to share with you two experiences. Last Friday, I went to work and I experienced to different situations. I don’t know what shape I can give to this writing. I will just write and describe the moments.

On Friday morning, I entered the school where I work and I ran into the headmistress. She told me that my students, first graders, had just arrived from Casa De Gobierno. They went there to get their netbooks. 

First experience. 

When I entered the classroom, students were all sitting down, in silence and looking straight to the small screens of their new netbooks. The teacher in charge of the course, la seño, asked me to teach them how to turn the computer on and off correctly and to show them how to get an internet connection. She also recommended me to forget about the class I had planned and let them play and use the computer. It was the first time my students were quiet and paying attention to something for more than an hour. While I was helping them to manipulate the computer, Vitto, a really naughty student, approached me and told me "Teacher, today is the best day of my life". I couldn't answer. I just thought about what he said and the quote kept resounding in my mind over and over. It seems something stupid, but what he told me really shocked me. I know he didn't mean it, he is just a child and everything is new for him. I think that they have many best days of their lives. At least, that's what I want to believe. But, how is it possible that the fact of getting their netbooks made their day?   

My students were so excited; they wanted me to teach them everything. And that's what I did. I had no option.

Normally, whenever the bell rings, they go out running and smiling, they want to enjoy their break, they are eager to play and to run all over the playground. On Friday, the bell rang, and they didn't move a muscle. "Ok, children, the bell rang, you have to go out" That’s what I said. So, I made them put the computers in the boxes and only 5 students ran to the door and went out. "Teacher, we don't want to go out, we want to keep on playing" said the rest. Of course I didn't let them. I told them they HAD to go out and with the saddest faces ever, they finally went to the playground. 

While walking to the teacher’s room I thought: do this children really need a computer? They don't know how to write and read. Maybe in four years it is useful for them, but not now. What do you think? I am not against technology in education at all. I strongly believe it's necessary and useful. But they are seven.

I will be looking forward your opinions. 

Now, second experience. Same day, another course, first graders too. 

They had already used the computers in the previous hour, they had been taught everything they needed to know. However, they asked me to use it and I improvised something and said YES. I asked them to open PAINT. Aahh? /peint/? what's that??. They know the program as Paint as it sounds. At least I could teach something in English, ha ha. I asked them to draw their favorite Wild Animal because that’s the topic we’re dealing with. They were all doing it, very enthusiastically.

In this course, there is a student who presents some sings of autism. He is a beautiful and sweet boy, but he is always flying. He lives in his own world. So, all my students were using the computer, drawing and painting. But Bauti wasn't. I asked him to turn his computer on, I opened Paint for him and I asked him to draw whatever he wanted to. He didn't know how to use it, so I taught him. When he saw the first color line I drew, his eyes were bright and his mouth was opened. He looked at me, and gave me a strong hug and he said GRACIAS SEÑO. And he kept on drawing. I was shocked again. He called me several times to show me what he was doing. He was so happy I couldn't believe it.

That day, I couldn’t help thinking about the computers and the different reactions students had. Probably, this is nothing new and this is children’s reality today. But it’s difficult for me to get the idea. They should be playing in the playground but, on the contrary, they are playing computer games.

I don’t know what to think.