Friday, July 18, 2008

Pluto's Not A Planet Anymore, Either

I sit here in my darkened room. My room for just a few more hours. I am finishing my stint as a fourth grade teacher today after five years. The good news is that I won't be going far. I will be heading upstairs to become the Computer Teacher. This won't be a huge stretch, since I have already done that job before. The computer lab has moved across the hall, but it's pretty much how I remember it.
Twelve years ago, when I interviewed for my first teaching job, I was asked if I knew anything about computers. Literally. The principal asked, "Do you know anything about computers?" Since I had just spent five years running a book warehouse with computerized inventory, and had been working with computers at some level in most of my adult life, I could answer "yes" without much hesitation. But that was the end of the questioning. I became the Computer Teacher back then because I knew "something about computers."
Over the next few years, with the help of generous benefactors and patient staff, I rebuilt the Apple II lab into a room full of PCs connected to the Internet, with an abundance of educational software. I also managed to get the rest of the school wired, and created a school web page. That's when the wheels started to come off.
Lots of things have changed since I got here. I can no longer simply name all the teachers that I have worked with, and it takes me a moment or two to recall the succession of principals during my tenure. Many of the folks that I have worked with have moved on, changing schools or jobs. One has even changed gender. Nothing is forever. That's what I told myself when I realized that the Computer Teacher position was being scaled back to a part-time position. I jumped headfirst into the opening in fourth grade, hoping that I could pick it up on the fly.
Now it's five years later, and I have been offered the newly recreated Computer Teacher position. I'm leaving Room Four and heading upstairs to Room Eight. No more desks. Instead of twenty-four kids, I'll be dealing with three hundred. I'll be handling software instead of books. There will be a lot more calls for help, since I know "something about computers." But whether it's Room Four or Room Eight, it will still be Mister Caven's Room.

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