New Experiences

I'm sitting in the computer lab at school preparing a test that I'm giving my Math 7 class tomorrow and I just witnessed something that makes me realize how much I take for granted as an adult. Two of our 9th graders--Lindsey and Jenni--came in to make copies of a worksheet for Science and they had no clue how to work the copier. I was intently working on my test (actually, I was reading Jen's blog, but my PLAN was to quickly get back to the test!) and wasn't paying attention to them until they asked me what legal paper was. I explained and then I started to pay more attention to what they were doing. They had a paper jam so I had to come over and open the machine to reset it, causing Jenni to comment that I was brave for putting my hand in there! I left them to their own and returned to my test. After it was set, they finished one set of copies, but needed to copy the other page on the back of the first, so an entire conversation ensued about how they should do that. They asked me to come over again to help them figure out the manual feed tray and were SO excited when they saw the paper going in--we'd found the right conversation of flipping and stacking which was celebrated with many "yay!"s. After testing that first page, I left them again and they made the rest of the copies, so excited that they had conquered the copier! I can't remember when I learned to use a copier. I take it for granted that I can figure out most everything I want it to do. It's just making me realize that I'm stuck in a rut and it's time for me to start learning new stuff again. I miss being excited over new discoveries. I'm bored...