Day 56: The Thrill of a New Projector
I got a new projector today.
This is a REALLY big deal for me.
No, you don't understand. This is HUGE.
To understand how important my projector is to me, let me tell you a bit about my classroom.
Our high school building is only about four year's old. It's beautiful. Apparently, when they were building, the English department had two requests.
One, that the English classrooms be close to the library. Two, that the smartboards be mounted on a different wall than the whiteboards.
Guess which ones they obliged?
That's right, neither. The library is by the front door; we are on the second floor at the far end of the academic wing. And our smartboards are permanently (they don't slide) installed in the middle of our whiteboards, which means we have about 12-18 inches of writing space on either side. Enough to write the date, objective, agenda, and assignments, but no note-taking space.
Ergo, my smartboard is my only writing space for lectures, and my projector is essential to its operation.
My projector was working okay, although a few weeks ago the telltale white dead spots started appearing, a few more each day. My students counted 24 earlier this week. I lived in fear that it would give out someday in the middle of teaching and I'd be lost. I can teach without a voice. I can't teach without a smartboard.
Today, our lovely tech lady installed my brand new projector, which has two amazing features: first, it isn't in danger of dying, and second, it has a freeze button.
This is really the best invention to hit projectors since, well, the projector. It enables me to freeze what is on my computer screen at any instant onto the projector, then go about my work on my computer while that screen stays up.
Those who use it all the time probably take it for granted, but for the last year, I had to blank out my projector to take attendance, then put it back up for my students to see the bell work and agenda, then take it down again if someone came in late, and I'd always miss emails because even when my students were working they usually use that screen to copy notes and questions and page numbers. Now, I can leave the bell work up the whole time to take attendance. I can check my email while they're copying vocab, or even do lesson plans for the next day while they're answering the questions on the screen. Truly, this is revolutionary. Please celebrate with me!
This is a REALLY big deal for me.
No, you don't understand. This is HUGE.
To understand how important my projector is to me, let me tell you a bit about my classroom.
Our high school building is only about four year's old. It's beautiful. Apparently, when they were building, the English department had two requests.
One, that the English classrooms be close to the library. Two, that the smartboards be mounted on a different wall than the whiteboards.
Guess which ones they obliged?
That's right, neither. The library is by the front door; we are on the second floor at the far end of the academic wing. And our smartboards are permanently (they don't slide) installed in the middle of our whiteboards, which means we have about 12-18 inches of writing space on either side. Enough to write the date, objective, agenda, and assignments, but no note-taking space.
Ergo, my smartboard is my only writing space for lectures, and my projector is essential to its operation.
My projector was working okay, although a few weeks ago the telltale white dead spots started appearing, a few more each day. My students counted 24 earlier this week. I lived in fear that it would give out someday in the middle of teaching and I'd be lost. I can teach without a voice. I can't teach without a smartboard.
Today, our lovely tech lady installed my brand new projector, which has two amazing features: first, it isn't in danger of dying, and second, it has a freeze button.
This is really the best invention to hit projectors since, well, the projector. It enables me to freeze what is on my computer screen at any instant onto the projector, then go about my work on my computer while that screen stays up.
Those who use it all the time probably take it for granted, but for the last year, I had to blank out my projector to take attendance, then put it back up for my students to see the bell work and agenda, then take it down again if someone came in late, and I'd always miss emails because even when my students were working they usually use that screen to copy notes and questions and page numbers. Now, I can leave the bell work up the whole time to take attendance. I can check my email while they're copying vocab, or even do lesson plans for the next day while they're answering the questions on the screen. Truly, this is revolutionary. Please celebrate with me!
Comments
Post a Comment