In class on Wednesday I suffered (and I mean that quite literally) a breakdown of the technology that I am supposed to be teaching about. I couldn’t get the Google Docs presentation that I had carefully prepared and that worked just fine at home, to work right. The presentation mode wouldn’t present and the links only opened blank pages. From my point of view it was a total disaster. In the old days when I went out to do a workshop or presentation I carried my computer and a raft of adapters to fit every conceivable projection device AND I printed transparencies of my talk so that if all else failed I could use an overhead projector which every school and office had at that time. It’s been several years since I’ve printed transparencies and cables have been standardized to the point where I can be assured that all I need is a VGA adaptor for my Mac.
Yesterday brought back near disasters of the past… not only
did the presentation and demonstrations not work but, I felt that I didn’t have
an adequate backup plan… nothing analogous to those transparencies I used to
carry. I talked and suggested things to
do with the computers everyone had in front of them but it was not the same as
the screencasts I had prepared and the YouTube videos I’d planned to show. I was embarrassed, to say the least.
Right or wrong I owned up to the situation and said I was
embarrassed. It would have been better
of course if I had a ‘plan B’ ready to implement but I didn’t. As I reflect on the situation I am still
struggling to decide what I could have or should have done. Even with 40 plus years of teaching and
presenting experience behind me I was flustered and fumbling. Should I always have a ‘plan B’? Should I have dismissed class with a lame
excuse that an “emergency had arisen”?
Was fumbling through with only verbal instructions and not enough
content to fill the time available the right or only thing to do? I still don’t know… I’ve got to process some
more.
What this means to you as a prospective teacher is: there
will always be days or classes that don’t go as they should and you can’t be
prepared with a ‘plan B’ for all situations.
However, you can be mentally and psychologically prepared for your own
goofs and the glitches that are bound to occur.
If you kind of expect that someday the projector bulb will burn out or
that the test copies you were sure were in your bag disappear without a trace
you will not totally panic. Further,
you may be prepared to do some self-evaluation to decide what, if anything, you
can do to avoid encountering the same situation again. Also, and most importantly, be prepared to
cut yourself a break and put the situation behind you… we all fail from time to
time it’s called “Being Human”.
I think this post falls under the heading, “Experience
Speaks”. File it whereever it fits in
your schema of teaching advice.
+ Thanks Dave,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your technical difficulty! Thanks for sharing though, because it is nice to hear that we AREN"T expected to be perfect. As a future teacher, I often get stressed thinking everything I do must be perfect. It's nice to know we are allowed to be human after all.
+ Dave,
ReplyDeleteAs you stated, everyone makes mistakes,we are all human after all. With that being said, I appreciate you thinking the situation over but please don't beat yourself up about it. I think no less of you as a teacher! You do a wonderful job! It is a stressful thought though. As a future teacher I do think it is good to have a plan B, but it is hard to tell when to prepare those moments. I guess all the time...there can always be errors in our ways.
Thank you
+ Dave,
ReplyDeleteTo comfort you of the difficulties you experienced on Wednesday I also had a rough experience with the copier at my field placement. Although I had never been shown how to do what I was asked to do, I was still embarassed and slighty frustrated that I could not get it right. But like you said, I stuck with it and it definetly reinforced how key planning and preparation are. Every experience is a learning experience and a chance at getting it right the next time. Thank you for sharing that even experienced teachers have trouble too.
Don't sweat it! We've all, at one point in our lives, have been there! I actually went into my Google Docs to look at one of my assignments I had written and the page came up blank. (It's still doing it!) I carefully checked 3x to make sure it had saved and even kept re-opening it. I'm a little obsessed with losing something I have worked on because of a silly computer error or slip of a button. So in your defense, I think the same thing happened to me! Ugh! Take care, see you next week.
ReplyDelete+ No worries! We are all human, and things happen that we don't expect! No one thinks less of you, and sometimes technology is an annoying thing and causes unnecessary stress. We can definitely file this away and remember to have a Plan B as a teacher, and learn from our mistakes!
ReplyDelete+
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about the issues that you had in class on Wednesday. I know the struggle that you have faced when the lesson you wanted to teach just goes up in flames and you are not prepared for a second way to take care of the situation. It is something I fear as a future teacher and know it is something I need to help prepare myself for. I think in that situation I would have tried to create a lesson on the spot. It may have not been much but at least something as to not waste a day. Specially in a public school setting I can not imagine wasting a day. In other classes we often talk about the importance of thinking on your feet as a teacher. Hopefully everything works out well for you in the future though!
+ Thanks for sharing this with us, I know it's hard to talk about mistakes and it takes a lot to admit them in an open forum like your blog or your classroom. You are right, everyone makes mistakes and we definitely fail sometimes, and I am learning this everyday! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete+ I think as a student I appreciate it when a professor owns their mistake or technical difficulty rather than try to cover it up. Students, no matter the age group, pick up on the situation when something has gone south. Students appreciate when a teacher admits to flaws. This can create a more trusting and emotionally safe environment for both you and your students.
ReplyDelete+ I like my professor more and respect someone not just a professor more when they own up to their mistakes than hide it or cover it up in some way. It is easy to tell when someone is lying or hiding something and as you grow as a student and a person it becomes easier to pick up on it.
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing! i enjoyed this!
I think that you have to remember that you're still the teacher. The technology is purely a visual aide. It almost makes me laugh because those screen casts are just films of you showing how to go through the process, something you can easily still show in class! As far as I saw the class last week, it was hardly a disaster and maybe this can help you be more sympathetic in the future if one of your students has technical difficulties too!
ReplyDelete+ Everyone makes mistakes Dave. Technology can be a crazy thing sometimes and will mess up for everyone at some point. Like everyone said don't beat yourself up over it. Your a wonderful teacher, and I have already learned a great deal from you. It is important to have a plan B, you just never know when you are going to need that plan B.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDelete+Like you said everyone is human and we can't expect everyone to be perfect even our teachers. We learn the most from our mistakes and I think it makes us grow as an individual and in this case makes us better teachers. I think it is important to have a plan B just in case anything goes wrong. I think you handled it very well and I enjoyed being able to catch up on some of the work when we had free time.
+I didn't even know you were having technical difficulties! It's really no big deal. People make mistakes...it's life. I had a friend who was telling me about her first day of teaching. She had a bunch of stuff planned that was supposed to cover the entire day and she finished it all by 9:45 am. She had the rest of the day with no plans. It could have been worse!
ReplyDelete+ I really appreciate you sharing this story. Often in education classes all we hear about is the great lessons, and how you have to be. It is refreshing to know that teachers can, do and will make mistakes no matter the experience level. As for a plan B, I am unsure of that answer myself. It is hard to replicate a presentation based on the use of technology, when the technology is not working. In hindsight, I guess I would have had students work on their blogs and websites and then discuss what they put on their blog/website. I have learned a vast amount so far and find the lessons useful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this personal story with us! You make me be aware of the emergency issue that may occur in class and it is really important to be consider the issue before it happens. I agree that bringing a copy is a good way.
ReplyDelete+ I think your honesty is great! There is nothing with admitting that you "messed up". We are not perfect and that was a great lesson for all of us! Keep your head up :) You are a great teacher and I am learning so much from you!
ReplyDelete+ Even though this was an unforeseen problem with the class it is also a nice lesson for people who may want to rely on technology too much to teach their students. While I admit technology is a great resource there is nothing better than a good old fashioned lecture or free day to catch up on some assignment for the class that you have fallen behind on. I know in our world, with meeting only once a week, it is hard to give out free time like that, but in a classroom where you are with your students everyday it wouldn't be as big of a hiccup as in a college setting. On another note, anyone that thinks less of you for something that technology messed up is just silly.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being the best you can be!
I liked hearing about the technical difficultes that came up and can happen, becase it's nice to know about them and not get too stressed out when they happen. It is stressful as a teacher to try and make sure everything is set up and ready. But you have to remember that we are human and humans make mistakes. Thank you for this post, because it shows that we shouldn't shutdown when we have something that doesn't go as planned.
ReplyDelete