I had envisioned this really exciting day where everything ran smoothly. I had worked for days leading up to today and planned really exciting activities. The learning environment was set just right. My class site, learning groups, visual aides, were ready to rock and roll....BUT then the truly unthinkable happened.
My laptop wouldn't turn on! When it did (eventually) the projector wouldn't mirror my screen. As a teacher of tech savvy students on 1-1 devices it's equivalent to code red - the world's about to end!
I'd just built up the hype and anticipation to problem solving challenges...I had the attention of every single one of my students. In the corner of my peripheral vision however (whilst having a mini meltdown), I could slowly see and hear the students lose focus, start talking about issues that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were focusing on. "Whaea what are we doing?" "Whaea my chromebook won't turn" (tell me about it)..."Whaea can I go to the toilet?" Whaea Gaylene so and so said ....." gah! I quickly discovered two things.
2. What the hell is plan B?
Plan B = good old kanohi ki te kanohi teaching.
We spent today going over class expectations, rules, and building positive relationships. Created a padlet discussing our class treaty.
The students were put into groups to compete in differing challenges - perseverance, positive comments, working as a team, devising strategies, respecting one another were key ideas that students identified as enabling them to be successful.
Overall, aside from the hiccups - it was a great day. I'm excited for what lies ahead for the students in my room.
