DFI Week 7

 Picture the scene. It's 8.10am. Karakia has been done. We're in the bubbles. It's going great. And then my phone rings...

(Rule #1, never answer the phone)

"Hi Kate, we need you to come into school there's no relief teacher available for your classes..."

I was so gutted about missing this session. I had borrowed a chromebook and ipad from the school library and wanted to put them through their paces in this session in real time. 

I had a bit of a sneaky plan actually. I had deliberately asked out school librarian if I could borrow the oldest, crabbiest, out of date, most battered, battery depleted and unreliable chromebook she had in the school collection. 

I wish you could have seen it. It was sky blue, cracked casing, half the keyboard had been replaced so it looked a bit like Frankenstein's keyboard, it was literally held together with sellotape, with no charger, and it took more than the 10 minutes I had in order to boot up and switch on. 

I have my own chromebook at home which would have been the backup participation plan if this monster from the deep had failed me, but I felt it was important to do this. 

Why? 

Because this is the reality for many of my students who don't have their own chromebooks available to use in class.

But they should have their own? 

Yes they should, but they don't for a plethora of reasons: due to damage, insurance issues, loss, awaiting repairs, living between two (or more) houses, being removed from home, being new to the school, their own being battery flat by period 2, the list of reasons goes on and on before we even get to the innate disorganisation and unreliability of teenagers.

For the past few years, I have taught some of the most challenging students in the Grey High repertoire. And what I learned is that you can't depend on them to do anything. Because for some of them, it's too much to handle. They don't have pens. They don't keep books. They don't have paper. They don't bring chromebooks. They don't know their passwords. And the combination of these factors become one of the most sophisticated avoidance tactics known to man. By the time you rattle through that list, 15 minutes of the lesson have gone and they've made zero progress (or attempts at progess) and it's easier to just say 'Here use this one' and have some on standby. 

And when we ask the library for spares to have on hand, this is what we get.  

I wanted to see how the bottom of the school chromebook barrel held up against all of the shiny tasks and ideas and apps on offer during this session. I will go back and look at them again, but now it might have to wait until after the seniors have left us in term 4, as we're heading into exam prep time with MAXIMUM STRESS once we hit term 3 (our first Maths exam is in September, not November). 

I will borrow an iPad and have a look at Explain Everything as several of my students have talked about using this in primary school. If we can utilise that in class, we might be on to a winner in terms of continuity of experience and expectations.