Navigating the Moodleverse

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Star date: Wednesday, July 28, 2010

OK, this is my third week as an online classroom "teacher" and I doubt if I have done any real teaching. I have, as I have whined before, done a boatload of grading.

On a cool note, I have begun to us a feature called "Elluminate." An Elluminate session is sort of a chat session that I, as the teacher, moderate. Of course, the first few attempts were just learning the ropes and figuring out how to use the different features. I think the greatest challenge so far has been getting the students to correctly log in and participate. What I have resorted to doing is having net-books on site and having students come in and showing them face to face how to navigate the Elluminate session.

What I envision is to be able to have set times for students to log in and ask questions live and I can go over specific elements of upcoming assignments. One baby step at a time, I guess.

That's all for today. See you in the Moodleverse.

Stardate, Thursday, July 15,2010

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Myth: the younger generation is much more technologically adept than some of us older folks. True they can text their thumbs numb and play noentiendo until their eyes glaze over and their minds turn to Jello. But, that doesn't mean they know how to cut & paste or upload a file. Being a "gamer" means you know how to play a specific video game not that you can construct a complete sentence using proper grammar.

As my odyssey as an online teacher continues I am shock that so many students do not know how to perform basic editing functions. I am not sure what they think that squiggly red line under a misspelled word means. But they find it easier to ignore than a parental request to clean their room. So, I must do what all good teachers do; teach them from the bottom up.

I am very impressed with the overall politeness and respectfulness the students are displaying in my face to face contact with my students. I have enjoyed their responses to my daily quotes and pictures. I have found their responses to be humorous and introspective. 

Tomorrow, grading...

Let's Make a Deal

OK campers, the natives are restless and we are making our way to the home stretch. The hot topic around the virtual cooler is what to do with the kids who have already decided to check out? You know the ones that the not so all wise counselor decided to tell them with a month left in school that the stand a snowballs chance in hell of graduating and walking the stage. The parents send them to school because they can't afford a big-babysitter.  I myself try the Let's Make a Deal Approach because the object is to get them to learn as much as they can and are willing to learn.

If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

A Day Off….Campus

Off-campus training can be nice sometimes. Yesterday was almost one of those days. The speaker was great, my colleagues were good, and it was at a local school so I didn’t have very far to drive. But, with all the cut backs we had to have the meeting at a local school auditorium and buy our own lunch. They did have coffee, well, the teacher’s cafeteria version of a coffee-like substance. The seats were hard, cold metal.

Now, I guess I am like Bilbo Baguns, reaching middle age and beginning to be stout. So, being subjected to sitting in a cold, hard metal chair is more of a torture experience than anything else. I just might agree to anything after a couple of hours in one of those devises.

One thing the speaker said that I thought was timely was that we as teachers often forget that our attitude often dictates the mood of the class. She is from the south and in their state they don’t have a union and a surplus of teachers. Her point was that in light of the current economic state we should all be thankful that we have jobs. She’s right. Even in my state and district where we have a union, there are bills being passed that will make it easier to cleanse schools/districts of underperforming teachers.

By-the-way, the training was on discipline. Good stuff.

I am blessed to work at a pretty good school. Most of the staff plays well with others and tries to get along and help each other. I do thank my God, for a job.

Another One in the Books

Tonight was Open House, one of the true “joys” of teaching. This year I have had the absolute pressure, I mean pleasure, of teaching a reading intervention class to struggling readers. One class is my saccharin class, sweet and low. Another class is my future felon’s class. Usually, at an open house only the students who want their parents to see how they are doing show up. Tonight a student and his parents showed up who I’m sure he did not want them to see how he is doing. To his parent’s credit, they showed up and expressed sincere concern. The boy sat down and put his head in his hands. I almost felt sorry for him. Usually the block head doesn’t fall far from the tree. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.


The rest of the evening I caught up on some house cleaning issues and finished some reading. Not bad for a necessary evil.

A Bit Jealous

Sometimes it is hard being both a parent and a teacher. I work in an urban school district. Most of the students come from families of modest means. I live in a nice community with nice schools. This week, at my children's school, it is teacher appreciation week. I think it’s flax jacket week at my school. So, I admit, I’m jealous! This is what the week will look like for my son’s teacher.



Monday: Receive thank you note with a nicety attached. (I may send out detention notices.)



Tuesday: Receive flowers. (I received flowers once from a family, but I think they thought they were coming to my funeral.)



Wednesday: Receive something movie related such as popcorn, candy, or movie tickets.

(I can look at the acceptable use policy for movies if I want something movie related.)



Thursday: Receive something Disney related. (I could take my family to Disney and shell out hundreds of dollars.)



Friday: Receive something timeshare related. No, seriously, receive a gift card.



What can I say? I’m just a bit envious.

A Few Good Shots

Staff meetings....oh what fun it is to listen to them whine....the parents aren't supportive...these kids don't respect me....the administration/district/(insert monolithic bureaucratic entity) does nothing to help me...

I guess I am just surprised that some people expect rock heads to miraculously turn into brain surgeons and rocket scientists or upstanding citizens just because they are lucky enough to be a student of theirs. 

To me the students I have are the students I have. The parents that the students have are the parents they have. The administration/district/(insert monolithic bureaucratic entity) I work for is what it is. I can't pick my students, change their lineage, or get my administration/district/(insert monolithic bureaucratic entity) to do as I wish. All I can do is the best I can with who I have and where I have them. Complaining is a colossal waste of energy and time.

Teaching is a bit like a round of golf. I may not have broken par (or maybe even 100) today but, there was a few shots I felt pretty good about and that is why I will play again. I may not mentor the next president, but a few of my former students seem to be doing well.