I recently spent two months teaching from a distance using video technology to beam my face and voice - and when I wanted to my computer screen or document camera - into classrooms. That process is worthy of reflection, but what struck me most was the difference in the schools I was teaching to. I had two schools on screen at the same time, geographically about a half an hour away from each other, 9th grade and later 7th grade.
Despite being the same age - outwardly in fact indistinguishable - they could not have been more different. At school A, most students did most of the work assigned, they were prepared for and active in class; they paid attention; they emailed me when they had questions. In school B, most of the students d not do the work; they were unprepared for and inattentive in class. I never head from most of them. I showed a short video - a 4-minute performance. The students in schools A watched, listened, learned; the students in school B laughed. I had occasion to visit both schools - it was just after hurricane Sandy and we could not connect electronically. The feel of the schools was very different. School A felt alive; school B felt subdued. The walls spoke to me as well, school A's covered with posters, school B's bare. I have always known that a schol - the teachers, the administration, every aspect of it - has a meaningful impact on the students. What struck me was how great the difference can be, and because I was teaching at both schools simultaneously, the difference was evident every day, inevery aspect of
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AuthorAfter teaching for 10 years and using lots of technology, I have decided to move into the technology side of education. Archives
December 2015
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