Funny things that happen when teaching . . .

[Usenko]

One of my best friends on staff at the school where I work was in the staffroom this afternoon. Both of us had that wonderful thing, a free last period on Friday.

I asked him how his previous lesson (Year 7 - first year of high school) had gone. He pulled out this little gem.

"Well, I wanted to do a lesson getting them to research separation methods [on their laptops]. 2 of them had screens that were damaged, another 2 had forgotten to bring chargers. Nick was in a recursive loop because he couldn't understand why his screen wasn't working even though the lights on his keyboard were still on. And Jacob's computer didn't work, and he didn't have a textbook, so he solved the problem by putting his blazer over his head."

Later on he received an email from the aforementioned Nick, who said to him "Sir, the assignment says to use the Harvard Method. But I'm too young to do things like that."

[Alan Phipps]

How times have changed!

Back when I was in school at about that point in life (not quite as far back as the Dickensian period mind) about the worst that could happen was you breaking your last pen nib and having to use a pencil when researching and copying stuff from books in the school library.

Ah, but this incident shows how far we have progressed!

[Usenko]

The other day I forgot to bring my computer to work. All my day's lessons were on it.

I shrugged my shoulders and went to work, teaching in the time-honoured manner using a whiteboard and pen[1] (You know, like I used to do for the first 10 years of my teaching career . . ).

My Year 7 classes were gobsmacked. None of them had ever seen a teacher teaching without a computer before! They were watching me as though I was performing some impossible feat . . .

[1] Okay, I'll admit it - I'm even old enough to remember teaching with CHALK. But that was an old school with less up-to-date hardware.

[Terre]

How times have changed!

Back when I was in school at about that point in life (not quite as far back as the Dickensian period mind) about the worst that could happen was you breaking your last pen nib and having to use a pencil when researching and copying stuff from books in the school library.

Ah, but this incident shows how far we have progressed!

Some of the incidents I had with Quink, often wearing more than getting it to the intended page.

[Alan Phipps]

Usenko wrote: " I'm even old enough to remember teaching with CHALK."

One of my engineering degree subject professors back then used to write his lesson information and formulae up on a blackboard in chalk with his right hand and seconds later rub it out again with his left hand. It was, he said, his way of ensuring that the students were paying constant attention to him.

[Cpt.Jericho]

Hell knows only one terror worse than the screetching of dry chalk on a dry blackboard. It can be useful in case of a very reluctant class.

[Morkonan]

...It was, he said, his way of ensuring that the students were paying constant attention to him.

Physics prof in college. Would write with his right, erase with his left, and then rub his forehead with his hands, often holding up his left hand in a fist right against his forehead while lecturing...

The result was that, by the end of the day, he had a huge chalk smears over his hands and forehead.

Yes, these were visible, physical evidence that the man taught classes that day. They were observable and measurable and held predictive value.