My friend John has been a regular spotlight on this blog. He and I enjoy our visits, I play with his sons, and quite often a computer gets upgraded, or dismantled. John's oldest son is in third grade and we casually talked about me visiting his class. However, John and his family live in Minnesota and driving more than four hours for a 30-minute school visit seemed a little much. However, when you're dealing with two IT guys, more options are available.
John talked with his son's teacher and she was okay with us experimenting on her class. After a one-week delay due to a popular illness, last Tuesday was my time to "visit." I have done a few college classes virtually, but all the students were adults and also joined me virtually. This would be my first attempt with a grade school and I would be the only virtual person "in" the room.
John and I tested technology options the day before and found a good setup. I logged into class at noon on Tuesday, and we had to again go through some testing. Fortunately, we gave ourselves a full 15 minutes before the students returned from recess. With some screeching audio problems quieted, we were ready to go.
After the lesson from Mr. Joel was complete, it seemed like everything went very well. I asked the teacher to take some pictures for me so I could use them for my mother's scrapbook and I could see how it went. Looking at the photographs, I noticed she wrote different terms I used on the board as well as my special instructions of having a barefoot class for writing.
It was a fun experiment and I got to do what I enjoy, teach kids about God's world and different abilities. I'm not sure how I could make it work without John's help, but I'll keep thinking of options. Teaching the quad life virtually could be a great way to help more kids learn, and not just in central Iowa.
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