Fun Friday: Day After Halloween - Thank Goodness for Prep Time!!

It is the day after Halloween, and other than a screaming fit from my first group of students where I had to yell in order to be heard, the day went pretty well. I am in immense levels of pain from my repaired knee - don't know if it was sitting on the floor so much, CPR recertification, or the weather that has had the most effect on this level of pain, but it is pretty bad. So, here I am, facing physical behavior management training this afternoon with a bum leg and a close to bum back. Can't wait!

Anyway, let's talk about fun things on this Friday.

This week, I have been introducing my 21st century musicians to 20th century music technology. I have managed to break two cassette players, a record player from the 1960's, an RCA cord, and my RCA input in my karaoke machine. I did something really hard for me - I threw out the broken cassette players after trying to open them up and fix them. I hate throwing things out that might be able to be fixed, but I also cannot justify keeping something that is completely unredeemable in the eyes of everyone other than me. So, I put them in the trashcan last evening. I am really hoping that they are gone today when I get to my room.

It is fascinating to watch kids navigate the technology that I remember as state of the art back then. They were unable to understand that you have to press the cassette play button until it clicks rather than just touching the button. Touch screens have taken over, it seems! If I still had a working iPod, that device would have joined the defunct technology timeline, but all of mine just stopped one day - well, except for the one that just broke apart spectacularly - it still kinda works, but is in pieces, so I am not taking that in, but a record player from the 1960s lasted for sixty years?? Planned obsolesce at its best right there.

The way we consume music now fascinates me. I wonder what the next step will be - implants into our brains or ears? Where can we go from here? Now, I know that these were the same questions asked in the past, but it is amazing to me that technology will continue to change and morph and grow.

I have a secret project that happens for the month of November where I get to play around with the ideas of several futures. In this project, I get to use my thoughts and wonderings to create a world. I've moved technology into holographic presentations because, why not?

For now though, I will be putting the remaining devices away and bringing my records and cassettes back to my house. We won't discuss this type of technology again for a long time. I probably won't do this in the next two Octobers that I have left - unless there is a fifth week in October again. We'll see.

Off to shower, drive, and do my work for today.