Breaking the plane

​In Doug Lemov's book, Teach Like a Champion, ​he spends a few pages on discussing circulation.  Now, it's old knowledge that teachers need to be able to circulate and have access to their students.  Do you remember how you straightened up in class when your teacher walked by your desk?  I still remember that feeling.  What Lemov does point out, which I hadn't considered before, is that teachers need to "break the plane" and get out into the classroom within the first five minutes of class.  Now, this isn't always the easiest to do when you're setting up warm-ups or do nows, taking attendance, and dealing with tech.  I know in my practice, the more I rely on technology, the harder it is for me to break the plane.  I feel this pull to be closer to my laptop.

But, thanks to technology, there are easy ways to break the plane while still using tech. A simple solution is installing a keynote remote on an iphone.  It takes minutes to set up, though you do have to make sure your computer and phone are linked each time you come into a new wireless territory.  I didn't initially have Keynote on my work computer, but decided it was worth the investment for $19.99 to install it as well as the Keynote remote for $.99.  Now, I'm free to break the plane and still use slides when needed.  It's nice to be able to step away from the computer at the front of the class, yet still have access to it in my hands, even from the very back of the classroom.​