Tuesday, 26 February

Sorry, everyone: this afternoon was the perfect storm of events blocking me from posting to the blog.      After school I wanted to help a colleague with a tech problem that was causing in-class frustration.  Then I engaged in a discussion with another colleague about storing data on the cloud and how we might shift from laptops to iPads, or not.  Then I realized that I had only a few hours to give feedback (on an essay) to another colleague/friend who is doing her masters degree in Aberdeen, Scotland - the work wasn't due until Wednesday, but there is an eight-hour time zone difference and I kind of promised I'd get it done.  I got home in time to drive my son to cadets and then returned home to make dinner for the rest of the family (my wife is a shift worker at the hospital).  After dinner I helped my daughter with trigonometry; I hope I was helpful - it's been 25 years since I've thought about tangents.  I started working on my report cards just in time to have to go pick up my son from cadets and when I returned home I couldn't wake my laptop.  I called my colleague/friend from PHSS and I tried to resuscitate it with his guidance over the phone, but sadly the patient wouldn't revive.  And so, I sat for a moment and then realized that, for the first time this year, I had missed a blog post.  I concluded that life would continue even if I failed to post, but I also realized how important the blog is for me as a tool of daily reflection - it allows me to weigh our successes against our frustrations and that guides my plans for the next day.  I realized how important that process has become in my attempt to be a more reflexive teacher.  We'll try again tomorrow.  Let's all hope I can get my report cards off the laptop because my time capsule didn't back up this weekend:(