Today I feel like I turned a corner with Moodle. I was grateful for the time this morning to be able to work. As a result I was able to set up my Moodle site, enroll over half of my students for next year, and set up four different activities for my AP US history course summer work. These include file downloads, video clips and even a forum. I was also able to set up an account for Diigo and Web-Jogger.
After a delicious (and filling) pizza lunch I was able to stave off the food coma by discussing things NOT to do on-line in a jig-saw activity. These were basic common sense items but good reminders as I have been receiving "friend requests" from former students who have already graduated.
Finally I benefited tremendously from the small group discussion with other social studies teachers and I feel that I have a good idea of what I want to do for my Final Project.
Another good day, I don't feel as tired or overwhelmed today as I have in the past.
I after some of the things we read the other day about effective instructional practices as an on-line teacher, I found the 'what not to do' article we did together to elicit the same reaction - sometimes it is good to just review those things that are common place or one might do as a reflex. Partuiclarly since this will be my 20th year as a teacher in this building, and my 26th year in total, sometimes it is good to get it in front of you again. I think it is easy to get sloppy when one doesn't assess or re-examine one's own practices.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest a great book that was meaningful for me along these lines that I just finished. It is by Doug Lemov and is called Teach Like a Champion. It lists habits that seperate great teachers, not from ineffective teachers, but from very good teachers. The habits are things like, 'expect 100% compliance with instructions and what to do when you don't get it;' 'how to set and communicate consistently the high expectations great teachers hold;' 'how to create a superior supportive classroom environment,' etc. It is one of those things that made me go, "I do that!" At the same time I learned simple and easy to implement ways to do it better, to strive for improvement.
I'm looking forward to seeing the presentations tomorrow that use Moodle. This past year, I have heard that site mentioned over and over, but have not had time to look at it. I'll be interested to see what others are using it for. I also thought our article about what not to do was common sense until we really started talking about it. When online, we will need to have an understanding of instant messaging. That also brought up discussion about disciplining and how to do it -- a bit different online. This class has made me think a lot about the social aspects of online learning that I would not have considered prior to this class. I also appreciated the input and collaborating with the other two social studies teachers about our projects. Good input -- another great day!
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