Gettin to Know You

I am in a unique position because I teach at four different schools.  Through interactive television, I broadcast to area schools throughout the region.  For the most part it works pretty well - but there are a few glitches I'm working on.

1.  My eyes are terrible.  The pixels on the screen make it difficult for me to see the kids, and I'm not confident that I know whom is whom.

2.  The audio is troublesome for me and the students.  I need to be sure to write more notes - and in print - my handwriting isn't easy to read over the tv screen - so this is not an easy task for me.

3.  Because I don't know  whom is whom - there isn't a real student/teacher relationship with the kids - and that's really hard for me.  I really like getting to know the kids; it's really important to learning for students to believe that their teachers care about them and even know their names.

I decided I needed to meet these kids.

Before Christmas vacation, I went to one of my schools where I have 8 students in Spanish 1.  I brought Allison with me because she didn't want to stay home with Natalie - (Al is a momma's girl, too) I brought donuts and their supervisor brought me some coffee...  :)  I was a little late, so they decided to ask permission from their next period's teachers to stay and visit with me.  In that short time, I think I really got to know those kids.  They entertained me a bunch that day as they told me about where they were getting their senior pictures taken - and showed me the Christmas presents they had for each other.  One thing I like about this group is that  they always let me talk and tell them stories - and they do a real good job and at least pretending to listen. ha!

Last week, I met with another school.  I brought cookies.  It really took me a long time to get their names straight.  These kids are a bunch of jokers - - sometimes pretending they have a new exchange student from England - named Donna - or what have you....  I found out the glitches with them...  Of all things, I need to talk louder - turns out they have a difficult time hearing me at times - ha - who knew? - I'm a loud talker and laugher - so surprise surpise there...  I guess I'll have to figure out my microphone with them....

My job isn't easy.

Of course it's not - but as I'm winging my way through it - reviewing my Spanish nightly - I'll have to learn how to perfect this ITV broadcasting as well.