When is it time to retire?

I haven't even started teaching yet, and already I am wondering about when I should retire! It's not that I am burned out or anything....

I went to my Mom and Dad's house because they finally got high-speed internet. I set up a gmail account for my Mom so she can start e-mail her lovely daughter, and we sat down so I could teacher her how to use it. I was SHOCKED to find out that my intelligent mother doesn't even know how to double click. I felt like I got punched in the gullet. When I asked her what was wrong with her (it wasn't quite worded that way), she said she has never had to use a computer. She taught for 37 years and said she knew it was time to retire when her 5 year old students knew more about computers than she did (like how to turn them on and off).

Students in my classroom know more about computers than I do, so is it time for me to retire?

Students' view of Technology

While in my ed tech placement, several of the students asked me why I was observing their classroom. I responded to them by saying that I was there to watch how they use technology in their class. Nearly every time I said this to the students, they would say something along the lines of "we NEVER use technology in our class." What? These are the kids who make podcasts and use digital cameras on a daily basis.

This made me wonder what students actually consider technology to be. When I asked them this, they mentioned gadgets like iPods, iPhones, and video games. We have seen some examples of how teachers can incorporate these devices into their lessons. What concerns me more is that it seems like teacher will never be able to keep up with kids and how quickly they use technology. What is going on when students don't even consider computers to be a special technological tool?