Bad Timing

I'm slowly getting up to speed in this middle school English class. During the first full week (the first week of school was just Thursday and Friday), one of the major things I worked on was establishing some sort of routine.

I don't have a lot of resources. There weren't many supplies left in the room from last year. (I've been slowly acquiring things. I learned who the keeper of the dry erase markers and paper clips is. So, I've gotten a few necessary supplies thus far.)

The one thing the room did have is a working projector. And the teacher in there from last year left behind his laptop. Well, it's the school's laptop, but he didn't return it, so I commandeered it.

But the laptop was buggy. There was some antiviral software that needed to be renewed, and getting logged in was a trial. I got help from the technology person, and things seemed to be working.

The first couple days the computer asked for a restart a few times. I suppose since the computer was in a drawer all summer it needed updates. But by the first full week I thought I had the issues sorted. I could use the thing.

I've been creating slides for each class. The stuff I need the kiddos to see, like examples and notes, are easier to project.

The kiddos had a writing assignment. I had a slide with an example of what they were to do, and I had it projected while they worked. Then I got busy doing something else.

One of the kiddos got my attention. The computer was doing a restart, and it was way too late for me to make it stop. But it was the middle of the period, and middle schoolers need examples in front of them while they work.

What to do?

Luckily, I had been using a student Chromebook as well. On the first day, I needed to project the school-wide slide show, so an assistant principal got me the cable I needed to connect it. But once I got the laptop working, I switched to using that.

But in that moment, I needed something.

Instead of taking an hour to restart as it had the prior week, the laptop finished its restart in a couple minutes. I switched the projector back to the laptop.

Only to have it decide it needed to restart. Again.

Somehow, the kiddos didn't seem to notice that second restart. They kept working. Miraculously.

Silly technology. It creates as many problems as it solves.