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Session 1. A Screen Everyone Can Read
Objective. Set up a projector or TV so that the back row can read it, and use a 60-second check before pupils arrive.
A screen that half the room cannot read turns a prepared lesson into reading aloud. Fixing it rarely needs new equipment. It needs three small habits: put the screen away from direct light, size the text for the back row, and check from where pupils actually sit. This page explains why distance and light matter so much, and shows how to decide with a ruler instead of guessing.
Key ideas
Know what you have
- A projector makes a big picture on a wall or screen but needs less light on that wall. A TV is usually brighter in a lit room but smaller from the back row.
- Both need a source (laptop, phone or USB stick) and a way to connect: a cable or a wireless link. Learn which socket and which input name your room uses.
- Write the cable type and input name on a small label stuck near the device, so you and a substitute teacher can connect in one try.
Place the screen, control the light
- Put the screen where windows are at the side, not behind it or in front of it. Straight in front of the middle of the screen gives the cleanest picture.
- Reduce light on the screen only: shade the nearest window and switch off the lamps above it. Pupils still need light to write.
- Focus on small text, make the picture fill the screen, and keep people out of the beam. Never look into the lens.
Make text readable from the back row
- Large letters, strong contrast (dark on light or light on dark) and few words. Many accessibility guides suggest at least 24 point in a plain font for a large room.
- Measure instead of guessing: find the smallest letter height the back row can read, then check that your projected capital letters are at least that tall.
- If a slide has too much text, split it into two slides or put the detail on a printed handout.
The 60-second check
- Do the same short check every time before the bell: power and cables, right input, sharp picture and whole slide, glare, text from the back row, sound, today's file.
- If you cannot arrive early, ask a pupil who knows the routine to set it up while you greet the class, and check the result yourself.
- End the check with one question: if this fails, what is my Plan B? Have it printed or ready on the board.
Check from where pupils sit
Distance, size and the back row
Text that is comfortable at arm's length becomes small at six or eight metres. What matters is the angle at which a letter reaches the eye, so a letter twice as far away has to be about twice as tall to look the same. That is why fixed numbers are only a starting point.
Measure instead. Find the smallest letter height your back row can read from the real distance, using the strips from the Activity Kit. Then check that the capital letters on your projected slide, measured with a ruler, are at least that tall. Remember that moving a projector further from the wall makes the whole picture and every letter bigger, but also dimmer.
Light is half of readability
The same picture can look sharp at 8 a.m. and washed out at 2 p.m., because light that falls on the screen lowers the contrast between letters and background. The cure is not to make the whole room dark. Pupils must still see their notebooks and you must still see their faces.
Reduce light only where the screen is: shade the nearest window, switch off the lamps above the screen, and seat pupils so that nobody faces a bright window. Some rooms suit dark letters on a light background and others the reverse, so try both from the back row and keep the version that reads best. Check again when the season or the time of day changes.
Examples from the classroom
The sunny wall in Samarkand
Scene. Dilnoza teaches Grade 7 geography to 36 pupils in Samarkand. At 2 p.m. the sun falls on the wall where she usually projects, and the map labels disappear for the last two rows. She moves the screen to the wall without windows, closes one curtain, and switches off the two lamps above the screen. Then she sits in the last row and checks that she can read the map labels.
Insight. Controlling light on the screen only, and testing from the last row, solved the problem without any new equipment.
Measuring with a ruler
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 5 in Tashkent with a TV on a stand. He pins five paper strips on the wall, and the back row, six metres away, can read the 1.5 cm strip but not the 1.2 cm one. He measures the capitals on his TV with a ruler and finds they are only 0.8 cm. He makes the text larger and cuts each slide to one idea.
Insight. A measured minimum letter height replaced a guess about font size.
The substitute teacher
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 6 in a Russian-medium school in Fergana and is ill for a day. Her colleague Jasur covers the lesson. On the projector shelf Malika has stuck a label with the cable type, the name of the input and a note: 'sound is on the speaker, volume at the mark'. Jasur connects in one minute, and the 60-second check list on the wall guides the rest.
Insight. A label and a written check turn private knowledge into a routine that anyone can use.
Common pitfalls
- Judging a slide on the laptop screen instead of from the back row of the classroom.
- Darkening the whole room so that pupils can no longer write or be seen.
- Putting a paragraph of textbook text on a slide and then reading it aloud.
- Standing in the beam or looking into the lens while explaining.
The Back-Row Test and Fault Cards
- Back-row test (10 min): pin the five legibility strips from your Activity Kit to the front wall, or write capital letters of the stated heights with a marker. From the last row, each person notes the smallest strip they can read. The group agrees on a minimum letter height for this room.
- Fault cards (10 min): in pairs, take the six fault cards one by one. For each, name the first thing to check and one fix. Do not turn the card over to the answer key until you have written both.
- My 60-second check (10 min): alone, fill the table in the kit with the six checks for your own room, including where the light switch, the socket and the input label are.
- Swap and improve (5 min): swap with a neighbour, read their check as if you were a substitute teacher, and add one missing item.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- What minimum letter height did your group agree on, and what does it mean for your slides?
- Which fault card would cost the most lesson time in your room, and what would you do to prevent it?
- Which item in your 60-second check do you most often forget?
Reflect
- When did a pupil last say 'I can't see it' and what did you do?
- Where in your room does the sun or a lamp make the screen hard to read, and at what time of day?
- Who could be your back-up person for setting up the screen when you are late?
Try it tomorrow
- Before the next lesson, sit in the last row and read your first slide; write down what you could not read.
- Stick a small label near your projector or TV with the cable type, the input name and the sound setting.
- Write your own 60-second check on a card and use it for one week before every lesson.
Further reading and links
Check the screen from the back row, control light only on the screen, and use the same 60-second check every day.