Monday, September 16, 2013

Spoiled by Technology

I've been a little absent from the internet the last week or so. Remember that class that I covered for the first two days of school? I covered them for the second full week as well. And I've been scrambling to keep up.

On day one I walked in to find a room with desks and that was about it. (Okay, there was one set of books, a working computer, and the usual stuff a classroom should have.) The room was so devoid of stuff that I didn't even have a document camera and projector.  

Yep, I'm spoiled. It's a math class. Math teachers need document cameras and projectors. Otherwise, they end up talking to the board, and that's the quickest way to lose a class.  

Turned out, there was an old, decrepit overhead projector sitting over in the corner. That turned out to work perfectly fine. So, since I had no other options, the overhead projector it was. 

The classes went with it. It was a bit awkward, but we had to keep up. They had a test that first week.  

Then on Wednesday just after 2nd period, I got a delivery. Books. (I had books for one of the classes but not the other two.) Teacher's editions. (I had been using copies.) And a document camera and projector.  

I had about five minutes to get it all set up. As the students were walking into class. But I didn't care. I didn't have to use the overhead anymore.  

Hooray!

5 comments:

  1. I have never ever seen a document camera. Old time-y overhead projectors I am very familiar with, but as my niece reminds me constantly, I am very old.

    Where I used to teach, we had no technology at all except for one television and a VCR that was shared between the classrooms. I didn't even have teacher's editions of my textbooks. I had to make my own. But I was a big enough geek that I enjoyed it.

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  2. Never thought of that before. Standing with your back to the class at the blackboard IS a good way to lose a class! Have a good week (and hope you get back to your writing, too :).

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    1. Thanks. I hope to get back to the writing soon, too.

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  3. No summer's off for you, eh? And yeah, I remember falling asleep in math class...

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  4. If I remember my math classes correctly, we were asleep even with the overhead projectors :).

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