Doing it by hand...

I'm a technology snob.

Inadvertently, of course.

I still get surprised when I learn that someone doesn't own a cell phone, doesn't have an email address or doesn't have a computer at home.

But more than that...

I have a hard time believing that people survived without technology, especially as a teacher.

A few days ago, the internet server at our school went down.

No internet. No gradebook. No nada.

I panicked. How am I supposed to take roll?

I poked into a neighboring teacher's room and asked her what she was doing to take roll. She said, "I'm just marking who's not here on my seating chart. Don't you have a seating chart?"

Well, yes. But it's saved in Powerschool which I can't access because the internet is down.

Needless to say, after that day, I made hard copies of my seating chart.

So today, as I sat ready to tackle that to-do list on our second day of testing, my Microsoft Word program decided to play tricks on me and only open my documents in an itty-bitty window no bigger than my thumb on the screen.

Hmmm....

How am I supposed to write my unit plan and finalize my curriculum map when I can't see more than 2-3 words at a time?

Then it came to me....

I could do it by hand (at least until our Technology Assistant gets a few minutes to save this damsel in distress).

I realize it was not a novel idea, but it was definitely an eye opener for me.

Here's to doing it by hand (and hopefully not dying of carpal tunnel by the end of the day) - a whole new adventure.