I was to start off by first acknowledging that technology certainly has its problems and downsides. There is a lot of nuance in the role technology can play in our lives. In this post, I want to focus on the positives that technology has played in my life especially during the times of COVID-19.

For me, above all, technology has been a tool for connection and enrichment. When I first got access to the internet, I found myself with multiple ways of accessing information that would not have been obtainable for me to learn. Like many, I went down these “rabbit-holes” of info diving learning about as many things as possible. Did you know that Europeans ate mummies? They also had “undressing” parties for the mummies. There is a website where you can listen to radio stations around the world! There are many other facts I’ve learned and interesting sites I’ve found while deep-diving for information, but at the risk of rambling about useless information I’ve found, I’ll turn to technology and connection.

As a child of a military parent, we moved around a lot. Technology helped me keep in contact with the people I met as we moved which was pretty important to me. The song Kiss Me Thru The Phone by Soulja Boy came out in 2008 and it pretty much served as my anthem. I mean not being able to see someone you loved in person was very personal for me, and as it would happen, this theme would be the norm as COVID-19 spread throughout the world.

As everyone found themselves separated from friends and family, technology increasingly became vital for me. Through many different platforms, I was able to stay connected with the people closest to me. We facetimed, had Netflix parties, shared stories, and played games all from our homes across the United States. Like Soulja Boy, we were all sending kisses through our phones (and iPads, computers, TVs, etc.).

Without the technology we have available to us, it would have been impossible for me to maintain my sanity. Obviously, quarantine was incredibly difficult, but I realize that my circumstances were incredibly privileged because I had access to technology that allowed me to maintain my contacts with those outside of my household. Who would have known that a song from 2008 would tell us how are relationships in 2020 would be playing out with technology?

Image Citations:

Featured Image: Photo by Shane on Unsplash

Ties communities together
Educates those with access
Communication across countries
Hours and hours scrolling away
Never can escape it now
Obsessing with how we're perceived
Laughing at our screens
Obsessed with needing the next
Gadgets and gizmos
Your tools to use

Authors Inspiration:

My inspiration for this poem is technology in the ways I have experienced and felt towards technology today. We have all these gadgets and gizmos that we use to communicate, educate, entertain, and do even more things with. We build an online persona that we hope others will like. We are presented with newer models and technology that we desire everyday. Technology is now a norm and we are never going to escape it so we must just learn how to use the tool.

Featured Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Our class POV:
Technology should improve our lives by making things easier for us.

My Proposed Device:
Some sort of scent-catalog

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Why a Scent-Catalog?

Have you ever smelled something familiar,
BUT COULDN’T FIGURE OUT what it was?

Maybe it made you feel something
– happiness, nostalgia, sadness… –
despite not remembering exactly what it was.

Or maybe you’ve forgotten what something smelled like
– a family dish, friends who’ve moved away, a place you visited… –
and miss it.

For some, maybe you even lost your sense of smell
– anosmia from COVID, nerve damage, or something else… –
and would like to re-experience it.

Not everything smells great, but still.
Wouldn’t it be great to somehow be able to smell all of these lost scents again and figure out what they are?

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How It Works

I’m imagining some sort of digital book with several wires connecting to our head. As we smell more things, more scents are recorded in it.

If we smelled something familiar and wanted to know what it was, we would just connect the wires to our head and the name of the smell would pop up on the digital book.

Even if we lost our sense of smell, by connecting the wires to our head and finding it in our digital book, it can somehow allow us to experience those recorded smells again.

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How This Satisfies Our Class POV:
A common theme from our Class POV was that technology should improve our lives by making things easier for us.

By having a scent-catalog, we can more easily be “sent back in time” to reconnect with the things we miss. We can also re-live memories of people, places, and things that we might’ve forgotten about. This can be therapeutic and improve our lives.

Would you want to be “sent back in time”?

Featured Image by Tadeusz Lakota on Unsplash
Two People Hugging photo by adrianna geo on Unsplash
People Eating photo by Zach Reiner on Unsplash
Family Cooking photo by Jimmy Dean on Unsplash
Traveling in a Car photo by averie woodard on Unsplash
Candle photo by Daniel Andrade on Unsplash

Welcome, 5th graders! Today we’ll be taking a look at volume~
Lesson 1:
– What is it?
– What types of things have it?
– Scavenger Hunt!
Lesson 2:
– How do we measure it?
– Practice counting!

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Lesson 1: Introduction to Volume

Learning Objectives:
1.) I can define volume.
2.) I can list and explain examples of things that have volume.

What is Volume?
Volume is how loud or quiet a sound is:
– Example: Hearing your alarm clock at max volume (and not wanting to get out of bed).

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But volume is ALSO the amount of space inside a three-dimensional object.
This is the definition we’ll be using in Math.
Let’s break this definition down! 🙂

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Reviewing Dimensions:
Think of one-dimensional (1D) as lines!
– It’s 1D because only one dimension is being measured (Length)

Think of two-dimensional (2D) as flat shapes!
– It’s 2D because two dimensions are being measured (Length, Height)

Think of three-dimensional (3D) as thicker shapes!
– It’s 3D because three dimensions are being measured (Length, Height, Width)

Let’s look at the pictures below for some examples 🙂

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Let’s go back to our definition of volume, now that we’ve reviewed dimensions.
Volume: the amount of space inside a three-dimensional object.

So, what are some examples of things that have volume?

Let’s look at this Coca Cola 🙂
Is the picture on the left an example of volume? What about the one on the right?
Go back to our definition of volume in green.
Think about it for a little bit BEFORE scrolling down.

Volume: the amount of space inside a three-dimensional object.

The empty glass on the left…
IS an example of volume! It’s 3D (has Length, Height, and Width), and has space inside of it. In this case, the air is the space/volume.

The Coca Cola on the right…
IS ALSO an example of volume! It’s 3D (has Length, Height, and Width), and has space inside of it. In this case, the Coca Cola liquid and the air at the top are the space/volume.

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Now it’s your turn! 🙂
Find some objects around your home that have volume.
Comment WHAT objects you found, and WHY they’re an example of volume.

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Review Lesson 1 Learning Objectives:
1.) I can define volume.
2.) I can list and explain examples of things that have volume.

How successful do you feel with these objectives?
Leave a comment with any questions before moving on to lesson 2 🙂

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Lesson 2: Measuring Volume

Let’s review what we learned in Lesson 1 🙂
Volume: the amount of space inside a three-dimensional object.

So if we’re measuring the space inside of three-dimensional objects to find the volume, our next question is… How do we measure that space?

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Learning Objectives:
1.) I can explain what unit cubes are.
2.) I can count volume using unit cubes.

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A unit cube helps us measure volume. It looks like a cube!
By counting how many unit cubes are in a 3D object, that will tell us what the volume is.
Let’s practice counting 🙂
How many unit cubes are in each picture?

Image 1: One unit cube
Image 2: Four unit cubes
Image 3: Four unit cubes (don’t forget the pink cube in the back!)

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Now imagine filling these unit cubes into a container.
Depending on how many fit in one, that will tell us the volume of that container!

Can you try to solve how many unit cubes make up this Rubix Cube? 🙂
(Hint: Remember our Length x Height x Width formula?)

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Review Lesson 2 Learning Objectives:
1.) I can explain what unit cubes are.
2.) I can count volume using unit cubes.

How successful do you feel with these objectives?
Leave a comment with any questions 🙂

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Featured Image by Zak Neilson on Unsplash
Cat photo by Kate Stone Matheson on Unsplash
Line photo by Alex Holliman on Unsplash
Triangles photo by Joel Filipe on Unsplash
Pyramid photo by boesijana on Unsplash
Empty Coke photo by Dimitri Houtteman on Unsplash
Full Coke photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash
Binoculars photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash
Box photo by Brandable Box on Unsplash
Ice cubes photo by sheri silver on Unsplash
Colorful cubes photo by Sigmund on Unsplash
White Rubix Cube photo by pure julia on Unsplash

I like to consider myself an “old soul,” and I have tried my best to not become too dependent on technology. That being said, my whole perspective regarding my relationship with technology has shifted in the last few days.

As I write this post, I am snowed in by a record-breaking storm, and my power has been out for the last two days. Due to this power outage, I am noticing more and more simple technologies that I depend on in my daily life that are currently unavailable to me: a refrigerator to store food, my oven and stove to cook, my house’s heating system, a lamp to light up my dark room, wifi to connect to the internet, the ability to drive my car on unobstructed roads, food deliveries of any kind, and yes– power to charge my devices. As someone who considered themself “not dependent on technology,” the chaos and anxiety produced by this short lack of power has definitely proven this label incorrect.

“What’s the big deal?” you might ask, “just bundle up and read a book. You don’t need technology.” I would agree with you– if it were not for the litany of assignments and deadlines piling up that all require a functioning laptop and internet connection. During this season of distance learning, technology is the often the only link between myself and my duties as both a student and a teacher. I cannot do my job and teach my students if my laptop batteries dies or my wifi goes out. I cannot call my parents if my phone dies. I cannot email my students, supervisors, or professors to notify them without a device and internet connection.

It is clear that my profession, my studies, and my life cannot currently function without technology. But while technology can greatly hamper productivity when it is unavailable, its absence also produces adaptability and innovation. From my housemates and I putting our food outside in the snow to stay cool, to sitting in my car to get warm and charge my phone, to writing out lesson plans by candlelight, it is clear that technology is a huge part of our lives, but it is not everything. There was a world without technology not long ago, and if somehow the apocalypse hits and wipes out our modern comforts, I have faith that the world would adapt and overcome.

My power has since come back on (as you can probably tell by me posting this), but the recent outage has caused me to reexamine my dependence on technology and reaffirmed that it is not everything. I am thankful for the amenities and conveniences provided by technology, but life goes on without it. Now, time to get started on those assignments!

Prior to this past weekend, I hated technology. I avoided it at all costs. Zoom classes were initially my worst nightmare. Over the last 11 months, however, I learned a lot about technology and how to use it to my advantage. Though I would still try to avoid technology whenever I could, I learned numerous tips and tricks to make it more user-friendly. I also gained a lot of patience for when it would not work the way I wanted it to or if things were downloading slow… or so I thought. As many of you may know, the Portland area lost power on Sunday, February 14th, 2021 around 10 pm. At first, it was your classic power outage: an adventure. My housemates and I were all huddled around a candle making memories. The next morning, the feeling of the adventure was completely over. My house was the same temperature as outside. I could not work on my assignments which were due later that day (fortunately classes were eventually canceled). I could not even watch Netflix or scroll through social media on my day off, because my phone was dead and we had no wifi. I sat in my car for an hour and a half to get my phone charged up to 35%, only to find out my phone service wasn’t good enough to even send an iMessage or respond to emails. I was bored out of my mind, which was not something I was expecting since I did not see myself as someone who spent a lot of time on her phone/laptop. I was very frustrated with my inability to talk on the phone, text, scroll through Instagram, set an alarm, work on homework, check my emails, etc. When my power came back on this morning, I was incredibly grateful to fall back into my normal habits of texting my friends and casually working on my assignments. Needless to say, technology plays a HUGE part in our lives whether we like it or not. When our power is taken away from us, we are all left struggling trying to remember how to stay warm, fed, and entertained.

Who would’ve known… technology would be my blessing in disguise. When thinking about technology, it is easy to jump to the negatives: the astigmatism it’s causing to our eyes, our shopping addiction, an unhealthy addiction to Tik Tok trends and brown fashion trends. BUT thinking further, there is one thing that technology helped me with: Developing my self awareness and self love.

In the start of quarantine when Tiger King and whipped coffee was all the craze, we all had no choice but to keep ourselves occupied. I spent a lot of time looking in the mirror and reflecting on my life, and it helped me make a big realization- that I was ready for a change.

I decided that since I wasn’t able to do some cardio at the dance studio anymore, I could try Chloe Ting’s famous “Hourglass Body in 40 Days” program. I spent an hour a day on a yoga mat following her videos, and it kept me occupied. This source of technology really helped me gain my confidence and gain control over my body again. Although after those 40 days, the progress was minimal because my already athletic body wasn’t challenged enough. Nevertheless, this made me fall in love with working out and growing my strength. After this, I started to get into weightlifting and it changed my life.

And I know what you’re probably thinking, how does this relate to technology? Well, if it weren’t for the accessibility of new work out videos paired with social media forcing me to contemplate my body and how much I truly love it. With the goal in mind to better my body, I think I gained something better- a hunger for growth and a new sense of self-confidence. I am able to post my workouts on my social media to hopefully inspire people that were in my position to feel encouraged to work out in order to love themselves even more, and I am even able to post pictures on my Instagram of myself that I wouldn’t have even considered before quarantine. Not a direct causality, but I do give lots of credit to technology for helping me get to where I am today.

When I think of technology many things come to mind: Instagram, Facetime, Google Meets, Zoom, etc. These are all platforms that I now use on a regular basis but in the last 11 months they went from being my last resort to now being an essential part to almost all aspects of my life. Before the pandemic, I would scroll on Instagram and 20 minutes later a reminder would pop up on my phone and say “hit screen time limit”, I would quickly press “ignore” and continue scrolling. Later I would feel guilty about the hour I just spent looking at a social media platform when I could have been spending time in nature or hanging out with my friends and family. I then would delete the app because I hated “wasting” my time on my phone and would download it again a few weeks later when I got bored. I used to view technology as a curse; it was something that hindered my ability to connect with not only the people right in front of me but the world around me. But since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, that all changed.

In mid-March of 2020 new phrases were coined such as “Facetime dates” or “zooming with friends” or “teamsing with my boss”; phrases that might have not made sense before that time but were life savers during the unprecedented time the world was facing. Technology became an extroverts best friend. Face-timing people became essential to continue friendships, Instagram soon became a means of quarantine entertainment, and Google Meets turned into the platform where I pursued my goals of becoming an educator. All of these things, that once had felt like platforms that took away from being more present in life suddenly became the way in which I lived my life.

After many months filled with Facetimes, Zoom calls and Google meetings I soon came to the conclusion that the thing that used to be a curse in my life, became a huge blessing. While I do still wish I could limit my screen time to 20 minutes a day, the reality is that with technology I have been able to continue doing the things I love, spending time with people I love and working towards my dreams.

Photo Credits:

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Photo by Rahul Chakraborty on Unsplash

Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

Featured photo credit: “Close up person using smartphone” by Japanexperterna.se is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

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What’s this? What’s this?

A phone, a smartphone

Oh, look what you can access!

What’s this? what’s this?

A PC, A computer

Who knew what you could do here!

Oh, look over there!

A screen, a screen

Why, aren’t they everywhere!

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Oh look!

You can chat with all kinds of people, even those from Spain!

Oh look!

Everything is so well explained

Oh look!

How easy it is to watch that game

that show

that film

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Oh dear!

Look how time has gone

On this, I’ve spent way too long

Oh dear!

A crash? A crash?

I was just getting the hang of this!

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Oh, listen.

Don’t you hear the silence?

So quiet

I’m not sure I like it.

This can’t be good.

Oh, dear.

If you knew me in high school you may have heard me spouting off about Lebron James, heard me try and convince people to call me “Domlebron”, or you may have even muted me on twitter come NBA playoffs. If you didn’t, you probably have still heard me talk about Lebron James. Now while most of the times it can be rather annoying, I have found some serious relevance within him, especially when it comes to technological use.

As the first born child in my family, I was exposed to technology and personally electronics pretty late into my childhood. I didn’t even regularly start watching TV until middle school. Because of this when I got my first cell phone I was mesmerized. Even more so when I had a smartphone with web capabilities. This lead to me having an increasingly unproductive and unhealthy relationship with technology. I relied heavily on social media to fill my time and build relationships, as well as a distraction from my homework and other tasks.

Around this time Lebron was on his dominant eight straight finals run. He would do something that he called “Zero Dark Thirty-23”, essentially meaning that he deleted all social media applications off of his cell phone, or even go without his phone for the entirety of the playoffs. When asked about it he said that not only did it block out negative fan interactions, but it also did wonders for his focus. Without his cellphone to emit its untimely buzzes and beeps, he was able to commit himself fully to putting his team on his back and getting them to the finals.

Now my mom is a teacher. Like many teachers, she has a pretty good handle on what is taking her students focus; even more so for her own children. She had suggested to me that maybe it makes sense for me to put my phone up for periods of the day for me to enhance my productivity and lessen the impact that screens had on my eyes. Now I’m in high school and listening to my mom was considered pretty uncool…. Until Lebron had the same opinion as her.

Junior year of high school, I decided to take a stab at Lebron’s way of doing things. I would take deliberate breaks from my phone during the time I was doing homework, preparing for sports games, and on specific times during the weekend. It worked wonders! To this day I still subscribe to this idea of putting technology away to accomplish work that I set out to do. This came out especially during the recent stint in quarantine. I had to work to remain diligent to get my work done, and resist the temptation of my cell phone. Lebron’s mode of work paid of for me however, as I was able to convince myself to get work done on one screen (my laptop) and put the other screen down for a while.

Technology can be great. It gives us access to so many incredible services that can enhance our lives. It allows us to break borders down through communication over long distances and can entertain us for hours on end. And when it comes to our work and education it can open whole new possibilities to access information and applications that encourage creativity and learning.

I have realized over the past few years is that I can categorize the ways I use technology in three ways: Education/Work, Communication, and Entertainment. When it comes to using technology I find that it is a balancing act between these three categories. This balance can be represented using a triangle.

When your triangle is balanced all the sides are equal meaning you are spending equal amounts of your time on each category. But when more time is spent on one or two categories then the triangle becomes unbalanced and the other sides are smaller.

Especially with school being online, I put too much time into my school and entertainment. This means that my communication category lacks and I can forget to keep in touch with friends and family.

Technology can be great but it is hard work to keep it balances in my life.

Launch meeting again,
It’s time to start class,
My students show up,
They just want to pass.

Cameras on, please,
So I know that you’re there,
I hope you can hear me,
I hope that you care.

I love teaching French,
I love teaching you,
But teaching on Zoom?
I haven’t a clue.

Having tech problems?
You’d better reboot,
Log off and rejoin us,
Or mute and unmute.

Learning comes second,
When school is online,
Our morale and our progress,
In steady decline.

Missing assignments,
Here’s another extension,
Please come to class,
Please pay attention.

You may prefer to watch YouTube,
Or play games on your phone,
I know that you’re struggling,
But you’re never alone.

This isn’t the school year,
You deserve or you need,
But if we both do our best,
You still can succeed.

Haunted by COVID,
The gloom and the doom,
It’s hard to be focused,
While sitting on Zoom.

I can’t wait to meet you all,
At the end of this ordeal,
To be there in a classroom,
And teaching for real.

We mustn’t give up,
The tables are turning,
In no time at all,
We’ll be in-person learning!

_{Zoom Desk Photo by Gabriel Benois on Unsplash}