Light travels faster than sound

So, today I was in class about to do some French with the big ‘uns and I thought I’d just quickly login to my Google Docs account to get access to my lesson plans and some weblinks that I’d saved. Imagine my surprise:

Though, to be fair, I guess surprise should have been the last thing to cross my mind. Given the prominence GLOW has been/is being given it should barely have raised an eyebrow. Of course I should be storing all my information on GLOW. Only it doesn’t always work. Sometimes - last week in French for example (J’ai l’impression un modèle ici*) - it just asks me to login all the time. I appreciate this may be the fault (blame culture? Moi?) of our recent ICT re-fresh - you have to say it like that; it’s not a refresh, okay? - but by golly is it ever frustrating.

I’m rambling, I realise. This isn’t the first time this sort of web-policing has been a problem for me. At home my own children make use of the excellent BBC Bitesize website - through choice I might add, probably because it’s so engaging and really good fun. I’ve used it in class too and with pupils with whom I’ve worked on a learning support basis. It’s brilliant. Really well thought out resources which promote genuine learning, enquiry and discussion. This [Bitesize], you’ll gather is clearly something I see as “a good thing.”

So imagine my surp…oh, you’re way ahead of me.

Not “denied” per se but more inaccessible or unusable due to the limitations of our reeeeefreshed laptops. “You do not have the required media player to use this content.” No problem. I’ll just click on this wee link…oh. “You do not have sufficient priveleges to install this application.”

Trust me - I should be allowed to do this kind of thing. Technically I’m capable of it and professionally even the Scottish Government tells me it’s the sort of thing we teachers should be taking responsibility for:

Curriculum for Excellence allows for both professional autonomy and responsibility when planning and delivering the curriculum

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/226155/0061245.pdf

So why, then, won’t my own local authority permit me to act like an adult and make the choices which - from my perspective - will best meet the needs of the learners in my care?

I’ll not mention the fact that the valuable links, strategies and ideas I get from my VPLNoT (Virtual Personal Learning Network on Twitter, see what I did there?) are forbidden me or that I can’t join the - irony of ironies - GLOW Facebook group in school because you probably wouldn’t believe me…