SOLSC 2015 #20: Why does technology rebel when you have a deadline?

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

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It was crunch time for our Learning Showcase. I made a last minute decision to hang photos of children in the classroom.  This is the ideal way to show families what children are doing during the day...action shots....it shouldn't take very long...I'll just print them in black and white, straight from the printer...the children will love these, too....

Open Iphoto

Open Event,

Scan thumbnails,

Click on choice,

Edit photo,

Select print.

Repeat.

Open EVENT,

Scan thumbnails,

Click on choice,

Edit photo,

Select print.

Repeat.

Open EVENT,

Scan thumbnails,

Click on choice,

Edit photo,

Select print.

I double-checked that every student was represented.

Repeat.

Open EVENT,

Scan thumbnails,

Click on choice,

Edit photo,

Select print.

Repeat.

I double-checked that the photos were "queuing" appropriately.

Repeat.

Open EVENT,

Scan thumbnails,

Click on choice,

Edit photo,

Select print.

I spent some forty minutes painstakingly sorting through all my photos and sending pictures to the printer.  

I rush over to the printer.

My code doesn't work.

I run to another printer.

My code doesn't work there, either.

Why does technology rebel when you have a deadline?

I run to my admin,

"Please, I'm sorry, is there a way you could help me? I see that my photos are all queued, but I can't get any of the printers to accept my code."

"Oh, Learning Showcase printouts? I bet that is stressing you out! Let me see what I can do."

She drops what she was doing and begins to work with me, taking my computer, checking it out. Wow! Would I have been so gracious if someone interrupted me? She's amazing.

The issue is worse than she predicted.

Worse than I imagined.

Worse than I understand.

Worse than I can handle.

After many minutes, my printer code still does not work, so she creates a work-around, allowing me to print without a code. In order to get this fix to work, she reboots my computer.

"There, you can print on any of our printers now."

"But, there are no photos in my queue."

"Oh, they probably disappeared when I re-booted your computer."

Me - thinking but not saying - "But, that means I have nothing to print."

"You'll have to send them to the printer again."

Me - thinking but not saying, eyes watering, "But, I don't have forty more minutes."

"Maureen, it shouldn't take you long...let me show you some Iphoto shortcuts..."

Me -thinking - "But, I don't want to learn something new right now. I don't want to. I don't want to. I don't want to." [Yes, sometimes this preschool teacher morphs into a preschooler.]

Like an amazing teacher, 

perhaps seeing some personally unrecognizable 'zone of proximal development' in me? 

that I was struggling just the right amount?,

she continues calmly and clearly, 

"Were you sending individual photos to the printer? You should create a folder of 'flagged' photos..." 

I am swept along, following her instructions, channeling her patience. She concludes, "And how about you bring your computer to me when you have the photos in one folder and I'll print them out for you. Don't worry about this, today."

She was right, it only took me ten minutes...much faster the second time, with her insightful hints. 

The photos looked great!

The Learning Showcase was great! 

Plus,

I learned something new! I learned something new! I learned something new!

Thank you, Kate!

SOLSC 2015 #1: Let's begin!

Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers  website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge. 

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This is my fourth year of this writing challenge, and I am filled with what I now perceive as "happy trepidation" - a mixture of excitement, fear, and possibility. The preceding days have been quite a crescendo - my computer died and it took another four days before I was able to get an appointment at the "genius bar," four days filled with extreme ideas of me writing posts by long-hand and scanning these with my phone or begging and borrowing computers from everyone in my family each day during the month - how could I do this blogging challenge without my own personal workhorse? Oh my! 

In the end, the issue was minor and fixed quickly; however, I was told that my four year old computer is quite "aged" and that "jostling" could cause the issue to happen again. 

Now, I simply have to go thirty-one days without jostling my computer. 

What the heck is a memory stick?

So, therein lies the fun of the slicing challenge - there is always so much more going on than the very post(s) you are trying to write! 

How will I negotiate life in the midst of writing?

One part of my blogging preparation was reading all the fabulous information that Two Writing Teachers posted about the challenge. Remind you, this is my fourth year…much of this is now "re-reading" for me. Just this past week, Stacey wrote:

QUESTION: What should I write about? Can I write about teaching?

ANSWER: A slice of life storytelling technique that offers insight into an ordinary person’s life.  You can think of it as a small moment story.  You’re not telling about your whole day – just a piece of it.

and I realize -

I haven't been a real slicer.

I haven't been thinking of slicing as a storytelling technique.

I may have written every day for 31 days straight,

but I didn't write slices every day. 

Oh my! Not all of my posts are slices!

Actually,

it hit me bigger than this.

OH MY! NOT ALL OF MY POSTS ARE SLICES!!

Bigger still:

OH MY! NOT ALL OF MY POSTS ARE SLICES!!

Yes, I realize the title "Slice of Life" should have clued me in,

however, I interpreted it as simply - write a post each day.

Truly, it has been enough of a challenge to

make the space for writing each day, to create a daily post, to make my classroom - my preschoolers - the focus of the writing.

For my "slices" [and I now use the term very loosely], I have shared 

documentation of student work, 

what works and doesn't work in my classroom,

summations of training, workshops, lectures,

personal reflections, 

and

sometimes,

yes, 

only sometimes, 

a moment or part of my day;

sometimes,

only sometimes,

a slice of life.

OH MY! NOT ALL OF MY POSTS ARE SLICES!!

Why am I just now realizing this?

Why does it feel as if I am reading something brand new?

Why am I just now understanding? 

Something strikes me very funny about this. 

I am so proud to be in my fourth year of participation, 

I feel so experienced and able,

and,

in a single moment of reading Stacey's post, 

I feel like a total beginner.

As my friend Sybil likes to say,

We don't know what we don't know.

Dear Slicing Community, 

thank you for

taking me where I am at, 

embracing each of my posts no matter how far removed they may have been (and may still be) from a classic "slice," and

being patient with my learning.

Let's begin again.

To slicing!

Tuesday SOL What about technology?

This is a Tuesday "Slice of Life" for Two Writing Teachers. Check out their website for lots more reflections on teaching.

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What are the signs of an excellent technology program at the preschool level?

Lots of iPads?

Computers?

Whiteboards?

Or is it about providing an environment that is rich with time, space, freedom, and possibility?

Children building structures and wondering, what makes this strong, sound, sturdy?

Children learning to use a variety of tools?

Children exploring mixtures and processes and wondering, why did that happen?

Children planning a project, sharing the resources, working together, showing respect for one another's work?

Children moving and manipulating objects and wondering, what just happened?

Children investigating how things work and wondering, how might I make it faster, longer, bigger, better?

Children working with odds and ends, having access to ample materials, and wondering, what might this be? 

Children thinking with their hands and wondering, would it be possible to create something all new?

Children designing and creating devices and wondering, how might I make it do that? 

Engineering - Can you create a sculpture that moves?

Engineering - creating a bridge that supports several toy elephants

Engineering - designing a boat that floats

Children exploring the world through play, making interesting things happen, and challenging themselves to new limits?

Merriam-Webster defines technology as the use of science to invent useful things or to solve problems.  Preschoolers know - instinctively - the best materials for this scientific work. Just watch them at play in the classroom!