Not these …

Or these …

And this is plain foolish to call a charger (cough, cough Google Search) …

These.

The great advantage to computer testing is that test security issues are gone. No more clandestine teacher/administrators huddled in a conference changing bubble sheet answers, no more vanished test books before or after the exam, no serial numbers to keep track of, only the students have access once the proctor has allowed them to enter the test during the actual session and once the students submit the test, the server locks the results and they cannot be altered.

The disadvantage is that the entire testing endeavor is now subject to the whims of the technology gods, who on any given day can be more capricious than the martial Norse or the randy Greek/Roman.

Savvy teachers who have been drafted as proctors, almost every teacher is, know to provide extension cords and power strips because children forget to charge their devices overnight. Indeed, with curriculums moving online as the only way to access the textbook, students are using their school-issued devices all day long and will need to plug in long before the school day ends.

But it is in the nature of a child to break things and to lose things. They now show up for a mandated test, state or district, with a depleted battery and no charger. They ask for one.

To the credit of Grumpy Old Teacher’s (GOT) district, they met this need by providing classroom teachers with a charging device that has a ten-foot panel that unfolds and can lie on the floor or across a back shelf. There are four devices that are placed on the panel each of which has two cords for connection. Strategic placement in the room will handle eight students.

But when there are more than eight without a power source, creative seating is needed so students can pass their cords back and forth to keep everyone’s computer alive long enough to finish a test.

The hidden flaw of the brave new world we inhabit is that everything rests on a power supply. GOT isn’t 100% certain this post is worthy of your notice, but then, who else can you read to get a report of how things really go down in the classroom. Often, this kind of post gets the highest readership.

As GOT ended this week with the finale of the Fall testing window, students needing a charger was the biggest challenge. The topic has been on his mind.