A FEW weeks back, I wrote about a teacher in a Spotsylvania Middle School who uses a computer and a neat projector to make his lessons come alive with audio, video and even animation.

I thought about him one morning last week when I found myself in the camera's eye in a Commonwealth Governor's School classroom at Stafford Senior High School.

There on a simple task--to talk about choosing and writing columns and news stories--I wasn't quite prepared for the new-age wonders of video- and audio-linked classrooms.

For when I addressed the youngsters in Winona Siegmund's class that morning at 11:15, I wasn't talking just to them.

I was also on a real-time link-up with students at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford and King George High in that county.

A gracious host, Siegmund welcomed me to the camera- and TV-equipped classroom, briefing me on the topic and thanking me profusely for coming to chat.

Then, just a few moments or two before I was to start yakking, she pointed to a high-tech command pad on the lectern and asked me if I wanted to control the cameras as well.

Pretty sure that might mirror the success I have with walking and chewing gum simultaneously, I wondered aloud if I should.

"It's nothing," said Siegmund, fingers flying across the controls like a 10-year-old on Nintendo.

As she did, unseen cameras panned to show students whose questions were picked up by desktop microphones.

"I think I'll let you handle that part," I said. "You do it so well."

Once I started talking, something that comes naturally to me, things smoothed out a bit. I simply shared details on how I go about picking, planning and writing columns and discussed TV and movie reviews as well.

That set off a round of questions ranging from where column ideas come from to my feelings about the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Initially, I handled the questions just fine. Things got a little trickier, however, when they started coming in through various TV sets about the room.