Friday, November 28, 2008

The Great Red Spot

A couple of weeks ago, an email went around the department saying that they had just bought a stack of laser pointers that we could use. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I immediately snapped one up.  It's great for pointing out stuff on the board while standing by the student who you want to answer a question ("What's the tense?" while pointing out the -ing ending, for example, eliciting the response "Er, passé?").

Now I've discovered an even better use for it. Now, any student trying to surreptitiously text a mate or or do the sudoku¹ will suddenly find their phone or paper illuminated by a red spot, as if an assassin was about to shoot it out of their hands. It's amazing how quickly they put their toys away, and I don't even need to say anything.

I wish I'd had one for school last year.



¹ These free papers have a lot to answer for. Students never used to turn up with newspapers back in the days when they actually had to pay for them.

3 comments:

El Gringo Vasco said...

i think i'll ask for a cheap laser pointer for Xmas! thanks for the tip!

by the way, i'm now separated from my French lady. :(

Nik said...

Profs in the U.S. are using the laser pointers as well. It certainly gets their attention.

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