With a Vengeance

[Peter Westall]

I should HATE Technology
...with a vengeance!

"It's all about SHOPPING!" I said in the year 19-something...and until recently I haven't changed that opinion.
"Aha!" the Evangelists will say...."I knew he would convert.'

Pardon the Apostasy, but at the moment I feel that the shopping catalogue is not looking so attractive and I have decided to stick with what does the job - more than adequately! (That's a reference to an Apple Rant /Vista Rant and a salutation to E-bay where I do some shopping, I admit – for spares.)

So there we were –classroom ‘n kids - it was marvellous: "A Learning Journey" - kids came in and shared what was important for them with their parents for an hour during one day.
And YES the visuals shown were courtesy of the Resident Mac Mini – great little gadget.
(We don't have Mac Take-aways here like you people do despite over 4 years of bleating.)

I took a few photos (own camera [natch!]... (it’s the POVO –life of"Summer Heights High" here. )
Later that night I looked at the photos and read the Parent Feedback.

"Have you ever swallowed a hard-boiled egg - whole?
(When I did it for a dare it made my eyes water!)

That's what the photos did.

Of ALL the photos I chose this one.....so much for WHIZZO computers and "weneedtodothisandthat" - I chose a Dad and his Son together - reading some work that had been written in a book wif a pencil! It was just so lovely, so ….I don’t know whether to write “integral” or “complete” and so…OMG LOW TECH....!
Or is it?
You see, this week we had a go at Quizlet - my spelling programme sucks, to put it mildly - and suddenly, after a bit of a Quizlet Promo I had a kid at the end of the week who had looked at 191 words and used most of the other kids' lists to test herself. I had another "weak" kid who barely says "cat,dog,mouse" in class - a person of "few words" - 58 words were practiced.
I can't tell you how excited I am about this! They are doing more than I ever imagined they would do .....I predicted a bit of a surge but not that much!

BUT it was The Learning Journey for the little Year 2s.
They're doing "Dance."

NOW - tell me this - WHY is it that two dance mats connected to a computer work quite well for everyone from little kids - to middle school - to Secondary kids who play on it after school - and ON THE DAY OF THE LEARNING JOURNEY everything completely crashes and kids who really wanted to dance with their Mums and Dads couldn't?
THAT'S why I hate Technology - and I am FURIOUS with the fact that I haven't learned to have a backup when something is SO important...

Now back to the kid reading for his Dad and barely a computer in sight?

Well, a computer is not the BE ALL and END ALL....
As I wrote on our class e-board after I had looked at the photos of the event...."there's a whole lot of Love out there."
I don't care if everyone sneers about that and says how “corny” it is.

I perceive that as true - and while I live, breathe and work as a teacher I'm not going to forget that - but nor will I forget my responsibility to give that kid - and all of the others who all talk at once (!!!) the best that I can do with what I've got; what I know; what I can learn and .....oh!...YES! …buy the NXT Lego Robotics kit…and YES get a 4Gb thumb drive and…and… and…

Let's keep this in perspective. I STILL think it's a lovely photo...despite it representing to me a Personal Conundrum.

Computer?
• fuse in the plug failed!! (scrabble under desk....THAT happened in front of about 60 parents
• Windows logo appears on actors’ faces as computer fails – THAT happened too;
• “At last I can use the printer,” says one of my students– more Scuba Diving to find partially inserted plug…)
...compared to Pencil and Paper.

No points for guessing which one seems like the easier option.
If you could be bothered reading this far you may sniff a “dilemma” too.

I think that despite my wish to make sure my kids are “geared up” as best as I can I want to make sure that I don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!

Aaargh! Enough. I went home after the Learning Journeys and a Trail of Parents.

A kid had written on his blog that popped up in my email, “ I WILL like IT.”

“Water came to me eyes.” (The YouTube link is "um...er...", but the audio is fine.)

I fronted up the next morning – did a round of blogging with a group who are just Toasting Along and re-installed the Dance Mat program for my colleague.
What else was there to do?

Didn’t you guess the answer?
• We had a couple of dances, of course and laughed a lot!

Then after the weekend when the class hosted the Assembly we had two computers on hand.
It takes a while for the messages to sink in, I’m afraid.

[Sam Liberto]

Loved reading your venting. The picture is touching. You bring a lot of caring to your work. Keep it up.