Arm Strain From Slapping Self On Back
As previously stated, I used to teach computer classes for a living. From 1998 through 2002, I traversed the length and breadth of the country, setting up computers in public libraries and training the staffs how to not blow them up. While I had little in common with the more anal retentive or hyper-organized of my fellow trainers, I always managed, at least, to remember my lesson plans and handouts for classes. When I quit my job and went to work in a public library, I continued to teach computer classes (albeit weekly instead of daily) using many of the same lesson plans and handouts I had used at my previous job.
For the past 15 months, however, I’ve been teaching computer classes to kids, none higher than 5th grade. With no previous experience at this, it was a steep learning curve, especially since many of these kids have missed lots of school throughout their lives and are behind their normal grade level for reading. Many of the kids are also severely ADD and have numerous psychological issues. The upshot of all this is that handouts became useless in this environment, requiring a more visual, “look at the bright shiny lights!”-type of approach. I’ve ended up using the overhead projector a lot.
This morning, however, was the first day of weekly classes for parents of the kids, requiring a sudden reversion to my previous method of teaching. However, this time I had no lesson plans or handouts to fall back on. I had to create my own handouts from scratch and pull an hour and a half long class out of thin air. To make matters even more entertaining, two of the parents had never touched a computer in their lives, and one spoke not a word of English.
It all went off without a hitch.
Yep, still got it.
