Wow factor.

Boy, how times have changed.  My son has a book report due this week.  No sense in waiting until the last minute to start.  Well, the book fell apart as he read it, and ended up in separate places.  When he finally buckled down to work today, he couldn't find it.  If that was me, I would have spent days looking for the book.  Instead, I taught him to use Google Books.  Putting in the name of the book (Harry Houdini) and scrolling until I recognized the cover in the images, we tracked down a digital copy of his book.  Truly, if it had been me, twenty-six years ago, I would just not have done the work if I couldn't find the book.  What a different world we live in today, and that my children will grow up in.  My son came home with outline maps of states.  I taught him to use Google Images to figure out the state, and then google "state facts" for the information the worksheet requires.  When I was a kid, we had Funk and Wagnall's encyclopedia.  I remember seeing them on sale in the super market.  Now, more knowledge than that is available to my students on their phone.  My children will grow up in a world that I can not currently envision.  My four year old is watching movies at will on my tablet.  My son is competing in a Lego's Robotics League.  I don't recognize this world.  Simply amazing.  Whatever I want to learn, I google.