Wednesday, July 25, 2007
When technology plays tricks...
When technology plays tricks, you can either give up totally, or you can fight back.
Why do I say so?
My laptop refused to project during my first H2 Geography Lecture. How scary is that? I called the technician... and we worked out all possibilities. We changed the connecting wire, we restarted the computer, we restarted the projector, etc. But to no avail! And all that took half an hour! And I was supposed to rush the lecture as we were already behind time in completing the syllabus! Oh well...
I could have just said,
"Sorry... the laptop failed. Lecture cancelled." and make it up some other time.
But I didn't. I ran all the way back to the staffroom and desperately borrowed a laptop and transferred the data over. And when I plugged it in, it worked immediately! And the surprising thing? The kids cheered! Haha! You would have expected them to pout or whine right? Quite strange, this bunch of kids! Heh. So I carried on with the lecture, entertaining them and having a whale of a time myself.
Later during tutorial, I tried the silly laptop again but it decided that, no, it's not gonna project anything! Mischievous fella... I shall put him in hibernation. See if he freaks out!
I had a bright spark! I sat on the table, put the laptop on my lap and had the kids gather around me, so that they could all see the screen. I split them up into smaller classes, so there are at most 15 in each class. So cozy the tutorials were. Close-up, good interaction and laughter. Students got comfortable at clarifying doubts too. So I thought the tutorials went quite well. Heh.
In addition, I distributed huge world maps to all the students. Got them to identify the convergent and divergent boundaries, and identify some landforms. Makes it stick in their heads, hopefully. And I had a lot of fun getting them to identify this and that, and watching their bewildered faces! Heh. Although I had pretty animation and flash videos to show them, obviously they couldn't see. So I resorted to old-school explanations. Which worked quite well too.
Point was, it was quite cool. Brings out new ideas / innovation, when we are put in situations which do not go according to plan.
And I thank God for the rapport I have with the kids.
Makes everything so much more bearable and even enjoyable! =)
I feel rejuvenated, even though I'm tired. Although this sounds like a paradox in itself! Heh.
Why do I say so?
My laptop refused to project during my first H2 Geography Lecture. How scary is that? I called the technician... and we worked out all possibilities. We changed the connecting wire, we restarted the computer, we restarted the projector, etc. But to no avail! And all that took half an hour! And I was supposed to rush the lecture as we were already behind time in completing the syllabus! Oh well...
I could have just said,
"Sorry... the laptop failed. Lecture cancelled." and make it up some other time.
But I didn't. I ran all the way back to the staffroom and desperately borrowed a laptop and transferred the data over. And when I plugged it in, it worked immediately! And the surprising thing? The kids cheered! Haha! You would have expected them to pout or whine right? Quite strange, this bunch of kids! Heh. So I carried on with the lecture, entertaining them and having a whale of a time myself.
Later during tutorial, I tried the silly laptop again but it decided that, no, it's not gonna project anything! Mischievous fella... I shall put him in hibernation. See if he freaks out!
I had a bright spark! I sat on the table, put the laptop on my lap and had the kids gather around me, so that they could all see the screen. I split them up into smaller classes, so there are at most 15 in each class. So cozy the tutorials were. Close-up, good interaction and laughter. Students got comfortable at clarifying doubts too. So I thought the tutorials went quite well. Heh.
In addition, I distributed huge world maps to all the students. Got them to identify the convergent and divergent boundaries, and identify some landforms. Makes it stick in their heads, hopefully. And I had a lot of fun getting them to identify this and that, and watching their bewildered faces! Heh. Although I had pretty animation and flash videos to show them, obviously they couldn't see. So I resorted to old-school explanations. Which worked quite well too.
Point was, it was quite cool. Brings out new ideas / innovation, when we are put in situations which do not go according to plan.
And I thank God for the rapport I have with the kids.
Makes everything so much more bearable and even enjoyable! =)
I feel rejuvenated, even though I'm tired. Although this sounds like a paradox in itself! Heh.
# posted by Banana Saviour @ 1:15 PM 
