Many things can go wrong in the computer lab and I've had a string of them in the last week. To begin with, we're on early-dismissal days to allow for parent-teacher conferences. I hate 1:00 days. There is so much overhead in bringing students into the lab, signing on to the network, getting out headphones, and reversing the process at the end of the class. This doesn't leave much time for a lesson. Of course I have a stock of programs that I use for these classes: Google Earth, the Mighty Math series, painting programs. Since the kids already know them, they can go right in without any teaching, which maximizes their time on the program, always a goal of mine.
Things started to go wrong with a group of fourth-graders who were supposed to do Google Earth. This reliable little program suddenly refused to work on most of our computers. As the kids were impatiently fidgeting -- "Mrs. Long, Mrs. Long, my computer won't work." -- I realized that I had caused the problem by switching off a DirectDraw function in order to get Zoombinis Mountain Rescue to work properly for the Computer Club kids. So I ran around frantically fixing it on some of the computers and doubling up the children to use those.
The next day I had a new problem. The Mighty Math Calculating Crew program wouldn't run, even though I had carefully set the folder permissions for student logins. I still haven't solved this one, although I'm sure it can be fixed. It's just that any solution gets multiplied by 26 computers, so if it's a process that takes 10 keystrokes, it will take me a good 45 minutes to implement in the whole lab.
On Tuesday my fifth-grade class came bounding into the lab with an announcement. They were ready to work on their art project! Art project? I knew that my friend Lynn, the art teacher, had a cool idea in mind, but I hadn't yet discussed the details with her and had no plan for teaching it to the kids. But they were so excited about starting it that I gave in and improvised the process with them. It didn't go badly, but it could have been a lot better. And of course it will be with the next group, since I see where the pitfalls are now. PhotoShop Elements is a cool program, and I'm pretty comfortable with it, but there are some tricks in teaching it to kids.
Yesterday my projector died. I use a laptop on a cart with a projector to display my programs on a SmartBoard. (I also have a tablet PC, but have not started using it consistently.) The projector was dead as a doornail. I tried plugging it into another outlet. I jiggled the cord. I fumed. Nothing worked. I called Tom, who keeps our network and our technology lives running, and he agreed that it was dead. I went on with the class, and figured that was that, until Tom came back a few minutes later with an odd look on his face. It seems that another teacher had just called with the same problem -- a dead projector. What do you want to bet that we had a power surge? So we'll see what new adventure happens today. I'm not complaining, mind you. I've never had a real crisis like a child seriously stricken in class. I'll trade that for a bad projector any day.

Left to their own devices (which they are not) my students would come bounding joyously into the computer lab, laughing and chatting. I would like to think that this is enthusiasm for learning computers, and it partly is, but it’s also a function of the fact that they come to my class directly after recess, extremely revved up. So my first job is to calm them down. They have assigned seats, so they know exactly what they are supposed to do as they walk in. Go to their seat, log into the network and wait for further instruction. Sometimes we are continuing a project already started, so that they can open the program and go right in while the rest of the class dribbles in. The problem comes when we are starting something new and I need to wait for most of the class before starting the lesson. That’s when the early arrivals get restless if they don’t have anything to do. They like to change their desktop backgrounds, looking on Google Images for something fun. I allow them to do it, as long as I approve of the background (no gore, no guns, no sexual content). They can make a background picture with Photoshop Elements. I teach them to make a gradient fill, add a little color with the paintbrush, and swirl it up with the Liquify filter. It gives them a chance to do something unique and colorful and creative, all things of which I approve. My students love Google Earth and frequently start it up for a minute or two while they are waiting for the lesson to start. They never seem to get tired of looking at the roofs of their houses. Fortunately Google Earth has good resolution for our area, so they can spot their houses pretty easily. What I like is that my students can sit down at the computer and find something constructive or creative to do, even for just those first few minutes of spare time.