Teaching World Geography at Las Montanas: Mr. Darcy and Laptops
Those who have never taught high school have missed the delight of teaching ninth graders at 7:45AM. Twenty-six 14 and 15 year-olds, for the most part, are neither especially alert nor swift moving at that time of day. Mr. Darcy knows that and he is prepared. The agenda for the first period lesson is on the whiteboard. He has wheeled in the cart of laptops from the media center. He says “good morning” to each student, is bouncy, and full of energy in asking questions and listening to students before the bell rings. A veteran teacher, Darcy’s World Geography class is about to begin a two-lesson mini-unit on oil in Southwest Asia.
Students on one side of the room sit in four rows of four desks; they face a teacher’s table in the center of the room upon which rest his laptop and a LCD projector . On the other side of the room another four rows of four desks face the table. Thus, students sit in rows facing one another. In the front of the room is a large whiteboard