I heard the gasp and saw the small crowd of kids jump back. Then, they began shouting for me to come over to our old PC cart.
“There were sparks!” one student yelled, in a sort of crazed voice. “There were sparks!”
I got them to calm down enough to realize that one of the power cords had become frayed from the pull and push of laptops coming in and out of the cart. It was nothing the student had done, as far as I could tell. I could see some bare wire near the plug. Sparks had flown. One student gingerly handed me the laptop with the frayed power cord still attached, like passing an undetonated bomb to the Bomb Squad. I turned off the cart and removed the plug from the laptop, and sighed.
I know we are lucky to have this PC cart – if you read this blog, you know I use it a lot with my students for digital composition — but the years are certainly taking the toll. This is the third frayed wire I have had to take off the cart this year. I am out of “extras” at this point in terms of power cords, and so now I am lobbying our tech folks to order a few more “just in case.” They will, I am sure, but it is an uphill battle to keep this cart in good working order as our school moves to become all-Mac, no-PC over time. (We also have a Mac cart and two Mac half-carts in the building).
I felt a bit frazzled myself, frayed around the edges, but determined to keep technology in my room moving forward, not back.
Peace (no sparks),
Kevin
Keeping the tech we’ve been blessed with in working order is a big task. We see the benefits of having computers for our kids to read, write, research, create. We are thrifty people though, willing to get just what we need to keep what we have going. May you get as hadn’t replacement plugs as you need to keep that cart running AND safe. Keep doing the good work you do.
Keep up the fight, my friend. I wonder what will happen to computer usage as districts move to using computers for high stakes testing and evaluating teachers at the end of the school year. (That’s coming in NY)
I think the idea of literacy first will help us.
Bonnie
My guess is that the technology will be used for those things (testing and eval) and not much for classroom experiences, which defeats the purpose.
K
Glad the sparks didn’t ignite something. Much better when the laptops help kids ignite their minds instead:) Had an overhead projector burn up years ago…was quite an event in our classroom.
Technology seems expensive but I think we are reaping tremendous rewards…hopefully someday it will not be any more a big deal than the book series admins have always been more than willing to pay big bucks for.
We believe we have a “ton” of tech in my school, but it’s still hard to get a cart. So often I just go back to the non techie way of doing things.
I always tell people that schools are about 15 years behind. At some point, we will gleefully hand each student a portable computing device. They’ll laugh at us because they’ll have chips embedded that allow them direct access to the internet, and will have no need for our crazy little devices. “How quaint”, they’ll say, and giggle.
Yikes – that would be interesting! Glad you are so invested in technology but good luck keeping it running and in good order.
What a great slice. From reading your blog I know you spark both your readers and your students. Just didn’t know it was literal. Your writing has such a strong voice.
Dude! This brought me back to the day flames literally shot out of an electrical outlet DURING CLASS. Yikes! Thanks for the memories! 🙂
A trip into the technology classroom is always interesting. We didn’t have sparks flying today, but the printer randomly started printing some other teacher’s weekly newsletter, and she was not a teacher in our school! It made great inspiration for writing, though.
Your lead had my attention with the action. I’m glad you are able to incorporate technology into the classroom. Kids so love it.
Your story lead drew me in. Sparks – you are able to ignite passion in your students.
Love how you slipped the self-metaphor in at the end. Sweet! 🙂
Glad the cart wasn’t cause for a school evacuation. Do your students realize how lucky they are to not only have the cart available, but to have a teacher who sees its value and utilizes the technology?
Great title! It definitely got my attention. I loved this line: One student gingerly handed me the laptop with the frayed power cord still attached, like passing an undetonated bomb to the Bomb Squad. I could totally imagine it in m head. It seems like sparks are flying in your classroom not only with the power cords but with all the learning you are doing with technology!