Today, one minute into class everyone went woooooo because the electricity failed. We lost the lights, the aircon, and, of course, the powerpoint. Normally, losing the powerpoint leaves me whiny and anxious in front of the class. But today, I'd literally minutes earlier just finished giving the same pair of lessons to two other classes and the whole of it was right there in my mind so I thought what the hell, got out my paper notes and started the class like normal albeit submerged in winter afternoon darkness. There is, I discovered, a palpably different quality to the attention the students focus on you when the ppt is off. They're present, I'm present, we're communicating with words. It was invigorating. About ten minutes later the lights came back on, someone launched himself at the on button for the aircon, and I started up the computers. There's nothing really notable in the students, nothing obvious that shows their locus of attention has changed, but it happens like switching on a light. Just like that, I was standing next to their attention rather than inside it.