Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Back to School
Well, I've broken my duck for this new academic year. After two days in school being cajoled and exhorted to deliver PACE! EXCITEMENT! CHALLENGE! in my lessons I finally got my chance to put it all into practice today.
Exciting lesson? Check.
Variety of tasks? Check.
Meaningful tasks? Check.
I was ready to knock their socks off. I have even rewritten my tried and trusted lesson plans (honed over 18 years of delivery) to include the best and most up-to-date resource material that money can buy (or various freebies at least!).
Therein lies the problem. The technology can't cope. One disk (vital resource to delivery) will only play on my laptop (the IT technicians have only had it 8 weeks to put it on the network!!). Another resource (ditto vital) is only installed on the network machine. The network itself was cloggier than the cloggiest M25. I spent a goodly portion of the lesson ducking under the desk to reroute the projector cable between laptop and desktop. No-one could give me a refresher course in which cable to move to make the whiteboard interactive. If I had been a new teacher I think I would have sunk without trace.
But I'm not. Luckily. A bright, breezy manner, a touch of the old Dunkirk spirit and I just about managed to keep 23 14/15 yr olds engaged using guess what? That right. Good old pens, paper and handouts. I'm keeping textbooks in reserve for the really desperate times!
Ain't technology (and technological systems) grand?
PS. I actually went into school during the summer holidays this year. I NEVER go in during the holidays usually. I think I've been doing this too long.
Exciting lesson? Check.
Variety of tasks? Check.
Meaningful tasks? Check.
I was ready to knock their socks off. I have even rewritten my tried and trusted lesson plans (honed over 18 years of delivery) to include the best and most up-to-date resource material that money can buy (or various freebies at least!).
Therein lies the problem. The technology can't cope. One disk (vital resource to delivery) will only play on my laptop (the IT technicians have only had it 8 weeks to put it on the network!!). Another resource (ditto vital) is only installed on the network machine. The network itself was cloggier than the cloggiest M25. I spent a goodly portion of the lesson ducking under the desk to reroute the projector cable between laptop and desktop. No-one could give me a refresher course in which cable to move to make the whiteboard interactive. If I had been a new teacher I think I would have sunk without trace.
But I'm not. Luckily. A bright, breezy manner, a touch of the old Dunkirk spirit and I just about managed to keep 23 14/15 yr olds engaged using guess what? That right. Good old pens, paper and handouts. I'm keeping textbooks in reserve for the really desperate times!
Ain't technology (and technological systems) grand?
PS. I actually went into school during the summer holidays this year. I NEVER go in during the holidays usually. I think I've been doing this too long.
