When you go to a school with computers for everyone, your relations have all sorts of questions. At the start Mum and Dad were worried I could be tracked by what they called "predators" who I might accidentally give my address to? (We learned about birds of prey last term and I know for absolutely sure that falcons, eagles and other predators don't use computers and they can't read.)
Meanwhile, Granddad worried that my handwriting would get worse than it already is, and I would get "square eyes and a round bum". The rule according to Granddad is that nothing we do is as good as when he was a boy.
Even my cousins worried! But that was only because they thought I get be better at Minecraft than them as I would be on it all day. What a joke! Minecraft isn't even on school computers.
But none of the adults or any cousins would have picked that the biggest worry was the teachers. Why didn't anyone see the danger of letting them loose on YouTube to find all kinds of videos and ideas they think we'll love? I do like some of them - especially about nature. Sharks trying to eat divers in cages, erupting volcanoes and a snake swallowing a frog whole were really cool. We kept asking to see them over and over.
What makes us groan is when our teacher says, as she sets up her laptop and the data projector, "I was searching on YouTube last night and found this clip. I think it'll be a great learning opportunity for you all if we used this for an inquiry." The "whatever" video is played and we're off on a new learning investigation.
So what my class saw when we were walking to the library the other day shouldn't have been that surprising. More proof of how dangerous YouTube is in the hands of teachers. We were walking in our usual "ducklings" line (teacher at the front and us all following behind in single file) to the library when we came around the staffroom corner and "YOW!!" I banged into the girl in front because our waddling ducks line came to a crashing halt.
We all stared then laughed at what we saw. A Junior class jumping up and down on pieces of plastic!?
Our teacher was smiling as she asked, "Hello Mrs Collinson, what are Room 10 doing?"
"We're doing our fitness exercises!" Mrs Collinson said as she also jumped up and down on plastic puffing a lot more than her class was. Who needed the fitness?
One of my friends couldn't help it and called out, "Why are you jumping on plastic?" I think Mrs C was too tired to answer so someone in Room 10 said, "It's bubble wrap. We're popping bubble wrap. Mrs Collinson showed us it on YouTube."
We continued on our walk leaving the sounds of popping and puffing behind.
I know who the biggest worry in a digital school is.
