I just got back on the job from a month off due to having back surgery! Although I had a great sub who did a great job covering my classes, my students really had a tough time keeping their stuff together and I am currently dealing with some of the worse grades, on average, I've ever had. At first I blamed it on the kids taking a month off while I was recovering, but now I really feel that it was my inability to keep them updated via my hub!
My kids (and parents, and administrators) have all gotten to rely on having the website for reference and support and I was not able to keep up on it during my recovery. There was no homework calendar, no weekly update, no links to the assignments on Google docs and no follow up with kids about whether or not their online assignments were received or not. While the last two weeks have been frustrating getting it all up and going again, and getting the kids caught up I have really had some time to reflect on how important this online endeavor really is!
While some people say that technology is dangerous and has a tendency to suck our kids in (which, admittedly, can be true and is a little scary at times), but it is also their reality and something that they have/are going to have to learn to rely on and it is our responsibility to develop and MAINTAIN a "hub" for them throughout the year. They make their lives, and ours, that much easier! They improve communication, give kids easy access to their work and resources, and keeps us from having to print and reprint worksheets and other assignments as our kids are absent or absent minded!
While I am tired from these last two weeks of catch up, I feel refreshed in knowing that I am doing what is best for kids! This technology thing is not going away and we are learning things through this course that will help our kids succeed now and in the future!
Friday, November 15, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Kicking off my Inspired Learning experience
Hi,
To begin with I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Eric Andrews. I am a middle school science teacher at GMS in Littleton. This is my second year at Goddard, but my 10th year in teaching, with 8 years in Cherry Creek School district. I have my BA in Biology with a minor in Education through MSCD, and my MA in information and learning from UCD. The title of my masters degree does not really give anyone an idea about what my area of specialty is, so I usually tell them that I have my masters in online learning and can make a really good online learning environment to either completely teach my classes online, or simply to provide a great learning environment for additional support for my students.
That said, I am really excited about taking this course, not because I am struggling to figure out how to approach learning with an emphasis on 21st century skills, but rather to bring my background and approach to my online endeavors more in line with the protocol of the district. In the years after completing my MA I had access to a LMS (Learning Management System) called Moodle that I used as my HUB in CCSD. For me it was the perfect platform as it had all of the tools I felt I needed to support my classes. Once I moved over to LPS that was a resource that was no longer available to me so I took a year off of having such a large presence online (which worked out because I was so busy in the new school/district that I would not have had the kind of time I needed to make the online site worth while for the kids:). Now, with year 2 kicking off, I am ready to, again, create and maintain a positive online presence. I have met with Dana to get some pointers about how I could build my HUB in Google sites, and have begun developing my own version of a LMS for my students. This class is going to help me continue to develop that site and enhance it so my students can again have access to as much support as possible to make their year in my science classroom successful.
In the first 3 weeks of school I have developed a very user friendly HUB that the students are beginning to utilize, their parents are visiting and commenting on, and I am feeling confident in. I am excited to see the resources that will be shared with us as the year goes on and to develop an even more helpful online learning environment for my students!
To begin with I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Eric Andrews. I am a middle school science teacher at GMS in Littleton. This is my second year at Goddard, but my 10th year in teaching, with 8 years in Cherry Creek School district. I have my BA in Biology with a minor in Education through MSCD, and my MA in information and learning from UCD. The title of my masters degree does not really give anyone an idea about what my area of specialty is, so I usually tell them that I have my masters in online learning and can make a really good online learning environment to either completely teach my classes online, or simply to provide a great learning environment for additional support for my students.
That said, I am really excited about taking this course, not because I am struggling to figure out how to approach learning with an emphasis on 21st century skills, but rather to bring my background and approach to my online endeavors more in line with the protocol of the district. In the years after completing my MA I had access to a LMS (Learning Management System) called Moodle that I used as my HUB in CCSD. For me it was the perfect platform as it had all of the tools I felt I needed to support my classes. Once I moved over to LPS that was a resource that was no longer available to me so I took a year off of having such a large presence online (which worked out because I was so busy in the new school/district that I would not have had the kind of time I needed to make the online site worth while for the kids:). Now, with year 2 kicking off, I am ready to, again, create and maintain a positive online presence. I have met with Dana to get some pointers about how I could build my HUB in Google sites, and have begun developing my own version of a LMS for my students. This class is going to help me continue to develop that site and enhance it so my students can again have access to as much support as possible to make their year in my science classroom successful.
In the first 3 weeks of school I have developed a very user friendly HUB that the students are beginning to utilize, their parents are visiting and commenting on, and I am feeling confident in. I am excited to see the resources that will be shared with us as the year goes on and to develop an even more helpful online learning environment for my students!
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