So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Cover via Amazon

It's all over including the shooting. The online teaching experience was something I am glad I said I did, but I am not sure I will do again. It was new. It was different. It was grading, grading, and more grading.

I am sure the kinks will get worked out and the process will be refined. Students will learn and teachers will teach.

My greater concern now is to rest a few days before I hit the trail again. My beloved district is under fire, well, actually the teachers (me too) are under fire. Public comparisons of teacher effectiveness are being made at the LA Times. Check out some of my thoughts on this at http://www.thussaithme.blogspot.com.

For now, good night and good luck.

TGIF for Friday the 13th

Image via Wikipedia

TGIF because I have a job.
TGIF because I have a great wife and wonderful children to go home to today!
TGIF because I have learned to teach an online class.


Happy TGIF to you all!

Stardate: August 10, 2010

Image by ~Xu via Flickr

How late is too late?  The struggle for teachers is always how much time do you allow a student to complete assignments. Especially for summer High School summer school classes which I have been informed are "all about credit recovery." Even though I was given a standard grading rating system directly onto my online home page I am directed to score papers rather generously. Whatever, I'll adjust, I'll adapt. Hopefully the students are learning something. At the very least they are learning if they don't do it no one will do the work for them.

Stardate: August 6, 2010 TGIF!

The grading is endless in the Moodleverse...but,
Thank God it's Friday!
I get to take my kids shopping.
Because yesterday was payday and I want to buy new shoes :)

Question: If there is global warming why is cold in SoCal?

Stardate; August 4, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

What did I do today? It feels like nothing. I did have actual live contact with two of my students. I answered everybody else's phone calls (that's what I get for nabbing the big desk by the window). Then there was the paper work, attendance for an online class?

One of my fellow teachers busted a student, mom actually, for plagiarism. Mom, was doing all the work and thought her only mistake was not using quotes on everything. That's why I say that the blockhead doesn't fall far from the cliff. Crocodile tears flowed and another one bites the dust.

I apparently have the most students at our site for an English class. No wonder I'm taking longer than everyone else!

That's all folks.

Stardate August 3, 2010

Image via Wikipedia

Today I actually made an attempt at teaching in the Moodleverse. I am not sure if the student will even read the notations let alone try to incorporate them in the next assignment, but, it's worth the try.

I am developing an ability to "scan" the assignments and spot the blackholes that contain no response or an unrelated one.

After three weeks and nearly half way through the forth and I am almost caught up.

The teacher's lounge is now the entire campus. A few of my fellow teachers were discussing the joys of reading Romeo and Juliet and just how fun it was. Apart from almost making me blow chunks it was pretty funny to listen to. Usually teachers spend most of their time complaining about the bonehead of the day. It's good to discuss teaching rather than classroom management.

We sent out mid-term grades last week, so, we have a plethora of students who have completed squat diddly divided by two suddenly calling in asking if they can turn in their work. Good luck.

Navigating the Moodleverse

Image via CrunchBase

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.