Do you remember life before the internet?

I discussed my middle school days with my middle school students.

How we watched slide shows and videos on the BetaMax and VHS tapes. We loved when the teacher entered the room with the TV cart.

How we gave the librarian our microfilm and microfiche requests so we can research our projects. This is after looking through a big wooden file of cards that had every subject, book and author.

How we kept change in our pockets when we were away from home. It was used to call my mom to pick me up.

“That doesn’t make sense Ms Ro” ,my students responded.

PAY PHONES. Found on many corners and gas stations. Sometimes we had to walk/run a few blocks before we could find one (that worked).

Paper and pencil or pen was the norm. We wrote out everything. No study guides or fill in the blank notes.

Bored? We read books, played tic tac toe and hangman, made fortune tellers ( called cootie catchers in my day ) and desk top football .

https://youtu.be/PAZKv_PVcn0?si=Dqg_9yjsMhDkEzPY

https://youtu.be/-EjiPv-A7bI?si=UENdUAWy7-o4F4Wx

We did go to this one place on occasion. It was called OUTSIDE

One can imagine how much more creative we got with jump ropes , jacks, hopscotch, a tetherball and a wall .