With Teacher Appreciation Week in full swing this week, we’re taking a fun and somewhat whimsical detour to celebrate the educators who boldly solve tech problems in the classroom.

Ever experienced that sinking feeling when the projector just couldn’t connect right before a big client presentation? For teachers, such tech meltdowns can happen daily, threatening to derail carefully planned lessons.

Cast your mind back to your own classroom experiences, when a much-anticipated slide show turned into a no-show or when the last-century-installed set of speakers started crackling at the worst possible moment. Without tenacious teachers adept at overcoming all kinds of technical glitches, many lessons would have come to a screeching halt.

Here below, we shine a light on a few typical classroom situations that probably sound familiar (ring a bell?) to many of us. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane (and maybe a few current classrooms) to see how teachers brave the technological trenches to keep the lesson flowing.

Wi-Fi Whisperer

Students engaged in classroom through teacher's use of interactive whiteboard.

Mrs. Johnson in third grade has a sixth sense for when the Wi-Fi is about to cut out. When life throws you lemons…well, she always has a backup plan ready to engage students offline. Somehow, she never fails to have a treasure trove of scanned teaching materials on her laptop, ready to be retrieved and shared in class. What’s more, after class, she follows up with a link to her very own instructional video that students can view at their own pace, covering anything missed due to the Wi-Fi woes.

Whiteboard Wizard

Students playing interactive learning games with tablets in classroom.

Over in fifth period science, Mr. Svensson’s classes used to be the usual drab of students taking notes of whatever he scribbled on a plain whiteboard. But ever since he started using an interactive display, classes have become an immersive adventure, as mundane topics are transformed into captivating learning experiences. His secret weapon? A desk drawer overflowing with extra cables and adapters. No matter what technical hiccups appear, Mr. Svensson is ready with a MacGyver fix.

Sounds Good

Frustrated by having to shout over classroom chatter and wearing out her voice before the day is over, Ms. Lee convinced the school to invest in a classroom audio streaming system. This setup includes speakers and wireless microphones to amplify her voice no matter where she stood in the classroom. No more vocal strain, just focused students thriving in a sound-controlled learning environment.

Charged Up

Mr. Esposito’s students use tablets for everything from digital storytelling to coding exercises. But a classroom full of depleted batteries can quickly derail a lesson. Mr. Esposito, however, is prepared. He has a charge & sync cart and a system for rotating tablets to ensure battery life doesn’t get in the way of everyone getting a chance to participate. Now that gives a new meaning to “powering education”!

Remote Pro

Ms. Patel is a master of remote learning. With her distance learning camera, complete with auto-tracking and zoom features, every student feels involved in class activities, no matter where they are joining from. She has a knack for keeping her lessons exciting, mixing up various activities like break-out sessions, group projects, and games. For remote students encountering connection difficulties, as part of her standard operating procedures, Ms. Patel has become quite familiar with providing technical support resources. And for plan B, she has an archive of pre-recorded lectures and other asynchronous activities to help optimize time management.

Picture This

Tired of crowding around his laptop to see demonstrations, Mr. Yamada requested a wireless visualizer (aka document camera) for his HyFlex classes. Now both his in-person and virtual biology students have a clear overhead view of dissections, experiments, and more from any angle in the room. (PS. Visualizers come in many forms and can be paired with a host of software to transform image capture and group presentations.)

It takes a special kind of patience and problem-solving skills to roll with the punches that EdTech can throw. To all the teachers hacking solutions to ensure that classrooms are wired for wonder — thank you! Take a well-earned break from troubleshooting to be appreciated. We see you, and we’re grateful especially on this Teacher Appreciation Week for the ways you bring lessons to life through audio-visual magic.