Technology Issues

I'm still not using my probes, motion detectors, and other bells & whistles as much as I'd like to. Partly, it's the issue of moving stuff to a new room. Partly, it's a matter of spending too much time on classroom management issues.

I'm planning on making a big push this week, and into the weekend. Clearing up any incomplete grading, organizing my filing and storage, and getting caught up on planning. It all sounds perfectly dreadful.

I did move ahead in some ways. I've been working on whittling down the grading backload for the last week, and it's a much smaller pile. I've been setting a goal of bringing order back to my desk (not totally successful) before I leave each day. Slowly, I'm managing to develop some routines.

Constant nagging is helping with getting kids to progress, especially making them take responsibility for turning in work, cleaning up after themselves (I swear, most of them must have personal maids), and completing their work before the end of class.

Too many of them resemble the cartoon below:



And, realistically, it takes a lot of self-discipline to reject the fun for the work. Heck, I have difficulty doing that myself - for example, I'm currently writing this post, rather than getting the grading done.