#all my classes are fully asynchronous and online

[morningstar-chronicles]

HALE GO TO BED ????? ITS 2AM????????

3am now actually (i'm being facetious)

[hyperlexichypatia]

Tip: If you want to go to school online, pick classes (or ideally, entire courses of study) that were designed as a fully online distance learning program, not "the online version" of something designed as an in-person class.

Designed-as-online classes are generally more flexible and asynchronous, and, in my experience, the teachers are generally more understanding of realities like "Students have lives and jobs and other commitments besides this class." Instructions and assignments are more likely to be text-based than video-based. There might be one or two proctored exams at most. There will be some disclaimer on your syllabus that "An online class is not faster or easier than an in-person class," but that's a lie; a well-designed online class will absolutely be faster and easier than an in-person class, and if it's not, it's because the teachers and/or administrators felt the need to add a bunch of slow, mandatory videos to essentially pad the runtime.

I'm talking about college here, because that's what I have experience with, but my understanding from other people is that the same is true of k-12 schooling. When all schools went virtual for COVID in 2020, there was already a generation of cyberschooled adults who were pointing out that 8 hours a day in front of a computer, on camera, having your eye gaze tracked, is not how any of this is supposed to work.

[cglacia]

April 26th:

Do you find it easier to communicate online than in person? For what reasons?

I'm more likely to communicate online, technically, in the sense that I'm comfortable with essentially shouting into the void. On the internet, there is (for the most part) an understanding that if you don't want to hear or see what some rando is writing or posting, you can silently unfollow them or block them or just scroll past and ignore them, and the rando in question will never realize you were there unless you deliberately chose to respond (which is usually considered a dick move). When I communicate in person, it always has to be directed at a specific audience or group of people that I can often personally see and hear, and I get wrapped up in thinking about what each person might be thinking about me and whether they care about what I'm saying or think I'm dumb or wasting their time. Online, my audience is everyone and no one, and I find that comforting, actually.

If I do have to communicate in real life, especially if it's something complex or lengthy, I prefer to use textual, asynchronous forms of communication such as text messages or emails, because I can take more time to organize and fully articulate my thoughts. The spoken word is a tiresome medium for me, both using it (have to rely on scripts and not great at articulating my thoughts in very complex ways on the spot) and consuming it (auditory processing disorder).

With that said, in the last few months, I've started to experience anxieties when shouting into the void online, especially now that I'm a homeowner and... perhaps somewhat well-off compared to many people in my general age group. Thoughts like, if I post a picture of some deer in my backyard, are people going to resent me for the fact that I own that property and am in a certain social class? Is posting a picture of a cake that I made tone-deaf because there's people who can barely afford any food at all between student loan payments and rising rents and here I am baking a cake for fun? And the fact that we are all responsible for curating our online experience and that these people should just block or unfollow or ignore me if something like that upsets them isn't reassuring me so much now, because my post still upset them, even briefly.

[honeysuckle-venom]

I'm taking an online writing class over the next six weeks. It starts tomorrow (though it's asynchronous) and I'm very, very nervous. I have a deep desire to write, and someday hope to publish a memoir, because there aren't enough modern voices talking about schizophrenia recovery via talk therapy. But I also have a lot of hangups around writing. I used to write a lot as a kid, and everyone around me considered me a very talented writer. My mom was a professional writer and had always been very clear that she and I shared a "gift." She always kind of took credit for my writing ability, which is sort of funny considering that's one of her main complaints about her own mother. My mom talked a lot about how talented I was and how I would be an amazing author one day, and she put a lot of pressure on me to write. She had really high hopes that she and I would one day write a book together, in fact, and a few times tried to start doing that with me, though by the time I was old enough to start working with her like that I was also old enough to have significant problems with her that kept us from getting very far. My desire to write in my spare time decreased as I got older, I think due to a combination of pressure, burnout, and increasing self-consciousness. And while I did write some fanfiction and some poetry in college, and took and very much enjoyed a playwrighting class in my senior year, I mostly stopped writing creatively by the time I was 20. I haven't finished a short story in nearly ten years. I'm out of practice, and my skills are deeply rusty. But it's more than that. People commenting on my writing ability can be really triggering for me. It just brings up all this really complicated past stuff with my mom. My therapist has been urging me to write for a long time, and I have very mixed feelings about that, which she is aware of. Every time she tells me I have a way with words and should be writing I'm simultaneously proud and somewhat triggered. In the past I couldn't stand to hear her say that, it would send me into a panic attack. These days I can handle it and sometimes appreciate it, but it also causes a certain amount of anxiety and discomfort.

Deep down I agree with her. I've always preferred expressing myself verbally, and I used to be a good writer, and it is important for me to have a medium to express myself, and writing is probably the best choice. Getting back into creative writing would probably ultimately be very good for me, and that's why I've decided to try to do it. But I'm also very afraid that it's not just that I'm rusty, it's that I've completely lost the ability to write and will never be any good again, even though that's unlikely and writing is a skill you can practice. Irrational or not, the idea of having entirely lost the ability still scares me. And underneath that is a much more complicated fear, a twisting shameful resentful terrified tangle of feelings about my mother and our relationship and our similarities and our past and our future. I can't even fully explain what about the concept of writing is so triggering, but it just brings up all of these feelings and memories from the past in a way that's really difficult for me.

And I was prepared to deal with that and push through it and take this class, but when I signed up a few weeks ago I wasn't in nearly as precarious a place as I am now. I wasn't psychotic, I was feeling relatively stable. In fact I was stable enough to be bored and seek a class for some mental stimulation. But now I'm back in psychotic survival mode, and I'm really nervous about trying to deal with this class at the same time. It'll be okay, even if all of my homework sucks the only person who will see it will be the teacher and it's not like I'm working towards a degree or anything. I'm doing this to help rebuild a skillset and for "fun." I just have to remember that I guess.

[diced-sugar]

JUST REGISTERED FOR MY FALL SEMESTER AT MY NEW COLLEGE!!! WOOHOO!!! I'M SO HYPEDDDD!!! IT'S TIME TO TAKE MY UPPER DIVISION CLASSES AND REALLY START MY MAJOR :D

And also, because I went to a transfer workshop last week, I made a new friend! My major is pretty small there (environmental and occupational health), so when I went to the workshop, it was actually only the two of us through the whole ~50 people who showed up who had the same major! Because of that, we had a pretty special experience and went together to talk to both our advisor and even our major's department chair. Now that we're both enrolled in our classes, we'll be sharing all the same ones having to do with our major! :D And I even scored two fully online asynchronous classes! Oh yes... I'm so excited for the new year!!!

[jdenvs3000w24]

Week 5 - Anything on my mind

This week with no prompt I'll admit it was hard to think of something for my weekly post. So I've decided to sit down and just write anything that comes to mind. 

To start I have to say I was excited to see “nature interpretation through science as the topic of our lesson this week. I'm a little disappointed that the majority of the content was for the other assignments we were working on but it is what it is. Seeing as I want to work out in Canadian parks. Science, at least I figured, would've been the vast majority of what would've been used as a backbone for my excursions. Having gone through five weeks of this course's content it's evident I need to be more mindful of risk, privilege, and the differing skill levels of the guests. I've always assumed I would mix in the indigenous stories and mythos with the science talk to really paint a picture on nature walks. So I’m a little surprised the science talk is a seemingly very small part of this course. 

Something I had meant to mention in my initial post on this blog was that I live with a lizard. I felt that since this was a talk-about-anything kind of week this would be a good time to introduce him. His name is Echo, the leopard gecko. I love looking at Christmas lights and fingerpicking guitar. Because he only eats live insects I also have those guys living with me as well. Sometimes these little creatures, including Echo, are the only living beings other than my roommate I'll interact with in a day. So while they live with me, they are all wild creatures and it interesting observing how they go about life in a safe (relatively safe until they aren't in the case of the bugs) environment far from harm.

A thing that has bothered me, and please let me know if this bothers you all too, is that this course, ENVS 3000, a Distance education course, has components of the course that do not fit the format well. For instance, the synchronous meetings we must attend this week, which is only available for a few timeslots for different groups. This, in my case, had to be scheduled between five different group members to line up with the available time of the TA. I work part-time while taking a full course load, most of the time that isn't accounted for by classes, I'm working. The times given to us weren't released until after it was too late for me to book time off for this meeting. I think it's completely unreasonable for there to be any synchronous parts of a fully asynchronous class. Even the group work itself is on thin ice for me. What if a groupmate was taking this online class from a very different timezone? For the TLDR of that paragraph, the meetings are unreasonable and could've been an email chain with all groupmates cc’ed. 

Small aside as well, this whole Tumblr blog could've been on course link through the discussion posts like every other DE class, But I digress. 

I didn't mean for this log to end up just being a complaint post, but I know some of you have been thinking the same thing.

[thoodleoo]

You had to do virtual teaching during peak COVID days, yes? May I ask if you have any advice for how to make the most of that kind of limited space? I know there’s a lot of articles about that exact thing but I’d like to hear your thoughts since I really admire the way you make your subject accessible and engaging. Thanks :)

aww thanks anon!

i think the 2 things that were most helpful to me when we were fully online were 1. maintaining a really large library of resources for my students and 2. providing asynchronous lessons combined with office hours

it makes me want to pull my hair when my students tell me that im one of the few teachers they have who puts a lot of online materials for them because it is SO HELPFUL to have lots of extra activities/videos available for them regardless of whether i'm teaching online or not. i record all my grammar lessons and post pdfs of my slides for students so they can always revisit those resources, and if i find a useful video, i'll link it for them! this is a lot of work upfront, but it will make online teaching so much easier.

tying into that, it was also a lot easier for both myself and my students to not expect them to show up for a synchronous class. instead, i posted videos and assignments for my students to complete on their own time (within a deadline; usually i gave the kids an outline of the vocab quizzes/assignments for the week), and then i held a couple of "office hours" a week for each class so students could pop in and ask questions. i feel like running things that way made it so much easier for my kids to stay engaged without forcing them to be on their screens for an excessive period of time

of course, you have to find what works for you and your students- some classes are probably going to need more hands-on lessons- but i think it's crucial to give online students a way to learn at their own pace

[thetinypsychologist]

A GUIDE TO STUDYING ONLINE/ONLINE SCHOOL

Hello all! Since I’ve started university now I thought I’d make a post on how to survive online school/studying!

SYNCHRONOUS VS ASYNCHRONOUS

Synchronous - taking part in online classes live via Zoom, MS Teams etc. It basically means also that you have to be at your computer or at least on your phone every time you normally should be at campus. This also means that you can interact with the teacher, ask questions but may also have to be prepared and be able to answer questions.

Asynchronous - taking part in online classes via some kind of communication tool, for example email, or your school’s e-drive. Teachers can send powerpoints, documents or even a video of them explaining a topic. You will have to finish the assignment until a certain date and either upload it or send it to them. The advantage of this is that you can save time if you are faster than the normal duration of the course. Furthermore, you can decide for yourself when you are spending time on this subject and work at your pace. 

MAKE A TIMETABLE / TO-DO LIST

Make yourself a timetable or write down in your planner when you have to be online for which course and with what kind of tool (Zoom, Teams, email). You can also add in times you’re going to do your asynchronous work. For example on Tuesday’s I have a free day from synchronous lectures so I will catch up with asynchronous work then. Alternatively, make a to-do list whether it’s for the day or for the week. Mark the tasks you have to do the soonest with a certain colour or with a symbol beside it. If it’s not clear from the assignment itself, also write down to which subject or module the assignment belongs and how to submit it (for example upload to Teams or sending it via email). Learn to prioritise your tasks. TIP: make a folder for all your  subjects/assignments and organise by module/topic. Edit: So now all my lectures are asynchronous, and I have on campus seminars so what I’ve done when making my timetable is: write in all timetabled/on-campus/synchronous sessions, and then from there I can see when I’m free to slot in any asynchronous lectures - and I’ll timetable these so I don’t forget to do them. I’ll also take into account when my seminars are e.g. if I have a social psychology seminar on Tuesday, I’ll make sure I get the social psychology lecture done before that seminar, rather than doing it on Friday when I have a free day.

TAKING NOTES

It can be hard to take notes on the laptop while in synchronous teaching. You can either go online with your phone and take notes on your laptop, take notes by hand or you can also try splitting your screen (which is what I do) between your MS Teams/Zoom and MS Word so you can see/hear what is being streamed while taking your notes. Many universities also enable a rewatch function,or they record lectures so you can watch the stream multiple times. If you have the possibility (and time) to rewatch the lesson, focus during the live stream only on understanding the topic and on asking questions if necessary. Take your notes while listening to the stream for the second time. This way, you will understand the topic better because you can fully focus on it. By listening to it a second time and writing down the important things, you also have your first revision! Only do this if the rewatch option of the stream is available and you have the time.

CHOOSE YOUR WORKSPACE WISELY

You probably already have one or multiple study spaces at home that you are used too. Probably (or hopefully) they are also practical - however, what is practical for studying in private might not be practical for synchronous teaching. Make sure the lighting is right so if you need to put your camera on - your face is recognisable and the light doesn’t cast shadows that may affect the call/camera. Make sure you also have enough space for your devices, pencil case, planner, drinks, notepad etc and make sure you have your chargers and you have a sufficient wi-fi connection!

FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THE SOFTWARE

Whether it’s MS Teams, Zoom, or your school’s personal portal - familiarise yourself with how it works and where everything is found. This makes uploading work easier for you and helps you stay organised.

FIND A ROUTINE

Find a routine that works for you in terms of keeping up to date with your work, maintaining your social life and keeping some free time. Whether that’s a timetable by above or just settling into a routine - find what works best for you. E.g I wake up usually about 90 minutes before my first online session, take notes and in-between sessions, make sure I’ve uploaded everything onto my workspace in Notion (let me know if you want more info on this!) and then when I have more time I’ll check emails, plan blog posts etc etc. Make sure to try get at least 8 hours sleep every night and try maintain your social life/free time!

I think that’s everything I can think of! I do hope this helped! Please remember that we are all in the same boat with online learning and don’t be afraid to ask your teachers/peers for help!

[la-pou-belle]

Professor Blanket Accusing Students of Cheating - is this normal?

A little more than a month ago, like 2/3rds into the semester, the professor for my elementary statistics class left his adjunct position to work somewhere else. He was replaced with a new professor, who I'll call Professor C.

The set up for this asynchronous, fully online course remained exactly the same as the first professor set it up, with three total exams for the semester and homework assignments on Cengage (and only Cengage--we did not use MindTap.) The first two exams went by without a hitch and were graded fairly quickly by the first professor, and he reported absolutely no concerns of cheating.

However, Professor C sent out an email to what, I believe, are all students in his Spring Elementary Statistics course. I'm super confused about the wording for what this means for me, so I'm posting the entirety below because I think exact wording is important here:

" I apologize for the delay in final grades being posted, but unfortunately there has been a lot of cheating on the final exam and the process of gathering evidence of cheating has slowed down my ability to grade. Right now, I have a sizable list of students who cheated and therefore will be failing the entire class and a Violation of Academic Integrity report will be filled out about the incident.

But, if you email me and you tell me in detail how you cheated, who you cheated with, and you don't withhold any information, I will make you a deal. In return for admitting to cheating on the final exam, I will give you a zero for the exam, I will not investigate the previous two tests for any other evidence of cheating, and I will suggest to Academic Integrity that no further action must be taken after getting a zero on the final. So if you cheated on the final exam, it would be wise to come clean now.

I am working as fast as I can and I hope to have your grades posted soon. I will try to email everyone once they have been submitted. If you have any questions, please let me know but it may take me a bit to respond to everyone. "

My first question is - is it normal for professors to send out emails like this? Again, I am not advocating for cheating, but sending an email out like this feels unethical at best.

Secondly, since this course uses only Cengage (not MindTap) and Blackboard (with no proctoring extensions or browsers)... what "sizeable evidence" could he be even be referring to? I think accusing students of cheating without any type of proctoring to back it up doesn't make sense, and again, feels super unethical. If he really had this evidence he's talking about, why would he offer us this type of deal anyways? Wouldn't a professor typically just report it and move on?

And lastly, he mentions early on that he'll be "failing the entire class and a violation of academic integrity report will be filed". I did not cheat, but I don't know how I'd PROVE that I didn't cheat. I really need this class for my future plans, and I don't know if I should be worried, or what I can do to 'protect' myself.

I know he says if we have questions that we can email him, but he seems extremely overworked, and if I'm being honest -- I'm a reluctant to email him because I do NOT think he has my best interest in mind.

Tl;dr:

Brand new adjunct professor talks about collecting evidence of cheating on the final--UNproctored--exam of an asynchronous, fully online course. He essentially gave us all a "plea deal" if we admitted to cheating, and detailed how and who we cheated with.

Is it normal for professors to do shit like this? How can he even gather evidence of cheating when we didn’t use a lockdown browser or download any proctoring extensions EVER? WHAT IS GOING ON

[liu-lang]

I took a few sips of my boyfriend’s coffee this morning and I’ve been jittery with a headache for the past 5 hours.

A big factor in my panic today is that the semester starts tmrw ! I’m taking 16 units (3 classes). Calculus is 5 units, python (computer science) is 4 units and linguistics is 3 units. Only python is synchronous as this is the first time they’re offering it ! Calc and ling are async and don’t have mandatory live class meetings. I looked at the syllabi for all my classes and know that as long as I am organised and disciplined I can handle this on top of my full-time job. Last semester I took precalc and data structures and the semester before tt I took Java and databases. So, so far I’ve been okay with 2 classes.

I really miss linguistics and this intro linguistics class is meant to be a refresher. I even used the same textbook in undergrad - an older edition though. Everything in the syllabus is familiar to me.

The python class has set class times Monday and Wednesday from 18h to 20h10. This is the same as my precalc class. Last semester, having live precalc class and a professor who concurrently was a full-time high school teacher was really good for my learning. The live lectures gave me an opportunity to ask questions and since he also had a full-time job outside of teaching us, he had very flexible deadlines for homework (just turn it in by the end of the semester). I was able turn my hw in on time every week until about November 2020 (so the last month of the semester) bc covid cases soared at work, my new boss was hired and I had to stay past 17h more often.

My data structures class was a struggle. It was asynchronous. It was the first time the prof was teaching this subject. She was very disorganised and didn’t publish or mark homework and quizzes on time. We went from 40 students to like 15 by the end of it. The syllabi was basically null where we would have multiple chapters overlap even though it was supposed to be 1 chapter per week bc she would publish things midweek. The keys to her exams were wrong and we would have to write her and justify why we should receive points for questions marked incorrectly. The only reason I survived was bc of the discord my classmates created.

I am afraid that I am taking on too much not because my job is intellectually difficult but that it is very tiring and the hours can vary. I wish I could use the bulk of my waking hours and energy on school instead. The part of me that has very high expectations for myself wants to do the best in all my classes and work and I know I can’t do that.

My calc class has optional live lecture on Mondays from 13h to 14h but I absolutely cannot stealthy participate. If I had a set lunch hour and a private place maybe I could. But I don’t have those, I pretty much work through my lunch and sit in an open shared area and I don’t want my employer to know I’m in school for something unrelated to my job. Everything will be recorded and viewable later. I wrote to the prof and asked about exam protocol. Luckily there is no live exam tt will be invigilated over zoom. We just have to turn the exam in before midnight on Friday. I am debating if I should I use my floating hours to maybe leave work 1 hour early on exam days ? The past semester I only took time off for the final exams.

If I wasn’t such an overachiever, I would be able to settle for just python and calculus. That seems like a more doable balance. I’m trying to convince myself tt my ling class will be an “easy” class but there are readings and discussion posts and essays tt you have to write. Another reason I’m piling these classes on now is that this may be the last semester tt is fully remote / online. Bc of my job I otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend these classes if they were offered in the day time.

I’m already panicking a bit and tempted to just drop all my classes and focus on work. I know all these choices are in my power. I get to choose what I want to do. I am in a privileged position where I have a full-time job and with this money I earn I can attend community college on top of already having my BA. But I also think about people who have the luxury and financial means to not work and just focus on school. I think about ppl who are born into generational wealth and they don’t have to be as pragmatic about what they do, they can ~follow their dreams~, they don’t have to think about supporting their family members or sending money back home or wonder about how/if their parents will be able to retire.

Every time I think about just working and not doing school at the same I’m reminded that I’m an immigrant and my mum did not bring me here for me not to try my best, for me not to make the most of the one life I have.

[neizel27]

Dear Diary,

As usual, I woke up at 6:00 am at morning, do some stretches and exercised a bit. Do some chores. Then at 8:47 am, I received an email from our beloved teacher saying that we will be having a asynchronous class only. In which she'll be sending us a recording of our lesson today.Fastforward, at the afternoon I received the recording and watched it. At the last part of the recording our beloved teacher instructed us to do some reflection about the song Forgiveness written by Matthew West.

From the lyrics I choose to reflect with is this line "Show me how to love the unlovable Show me how to reach the unreachable Help me now to do the impossible Forgiveness". Last year, 2020, that year was one of the most memorable year for me, it was the year of love, I spend my whole year with my special someone, we shared, we laughed, but most especially we shared it together with our family. But that suddenly changed when she found someone new, new to the fact that the person she have fallen with is exactly the opposite of me. And the most saddest part of it is she hid it for months, until I suddenly find it. My mental, physical state was devastated. I was so down for the past 2 months that I have thought of lacerating my own body, which did not happen.

My family feed me with negative thought saying the reason why she left me etc... Unexpectedly, my aunt, helped me to rise up from my sadness by letting me enter her business which is online. It was to keep my mind busy from sadness. During the days of me entering the business I reflected my self on why did we ended up like this and days passed. I suddenly accept the fact that all of it will be a memorie which will be stored at my heart and mind. From the lyrics I choose, I could say that even though it so hard to forgive someone who hurted you so much to the point you wish you never existed at this doomed planet. We should forgive because, it is the only way for us to be free from our prisoned past.

My take away for this day. It may take days, weeks, month, and even years for our minds and hearts be healed.Just remember forgiveness is the key to success and key to happiness.

One day you just laughed that it happened, I mean all of it has a purpose, a purpose of us becoming more better and happy.

Have you ever met a person who seems to be so complex that it is difficult to fully understand him or her? What makes this person a complex character?

Yes, I think it's because of his social anxiety. I mean he hates being with a lot of people, he hates noisy places. And also, he hates he's well being, he often questioned himself if he is worth it and effective person. People around him somehow ignores he's existence like he never existed at all. From which I have thought with, thats what makes him a complex character.

- 🌟Tgreat🌟

#Diary 2

[theannaredfield]

So as some may know, I graduated in 2020 and started college last fall.

Well anyway after having 2 semesters worth of fully online classes, most being asynchronous (for those who don’t know, that basically means I just get the work and do it, no meeting time) I now have 3 timed classes, one of which is in person

I do not like because I like just kinda doing the work on my own time and not having to sit in an hour long lecture (2 of my classes are like 3 hours long. I shit you not it’s like 9am to 11:30 and 12:30 to 3:15)

Just Uhg.

And worst of all, one of the classes is on Wednesday, which I usually use as my day off day. So I gotta figure that out

[vngelacademia]

University Life: Online Edition

~Hello hello!

I only have one full month left in this semester until Winter Final Exams in December and then boom--my first college semester is officially over and done with.

Last school year, I was a senior in high school. We went online after March 12 and never returned again. This semester of university has also mostly been online, asynchronous learning. Let me tell you how it has gone so far!

Quality of Education

If I’m being honest, online school is difficult. It’s easy in the sense that I’m able to be on top of everything and maintain a high GPA, but difficult in the quality of the information I am genuinely learning and retaining. I’m merely experiencing the “plug-and-chug” mindset at the moment.

Motivation wise, I became immediately overwhelmed within the first two weeks of school, which severely affected my performance. However, after I had adjusted, I began to excel.

There’s a long list of pros and cons that I could go on and on about when it comes to my first year of college and online learning, but I think that this is a proper summary of how it’s going so far.

Extra-Curriculars/Student Associations

Due to online learning, I had to utilize all of the virtual platforms I could in order to better engage and immerse myself into the community. I joined the following clubs:

PRIDE Club

Penguin Ideals Club

I’ve also joined the following Student Associations:

DNSA (Nursing Students Association)

KAPAMILYA (Filipino-American Students Association)

I’ve met some really unique and interesting people through each and every single one of these organizations so far. In my opinion, it’s the best way to interact with anyone from the university.

Work Study

Luckily enough, I managed to land a remote work study position this semester. It took a while for it to begin, but so far it’s been going great! I work as an online/virtual after-school tutor which would normally cater to elementary school students. However, they transitioned their program online, so that they could still get the help and the attention that they need.

Honors Program

As stated in my bio, I am also an Honors student. I have not been able to fully experience all of the amenities that come with being an Honors student, but it’s truly been a blessing and a privilege so far. Tentatively, I will be taking three Honors classes next semester, as I am only taking one this semester. I’m very excited for them, as I really like my Honors professor this semester.

I applied for their Honors program shortly after I received an acceptance letter. It required a resume and a 3-4 page paper responding to one or more of their prompts provided. It also required a specific High School GPA in order to be accepted.

Scholarships

Along with my acceptance, I was rewarded the university’s highest-merit scholarship. It was a renewable $25k annual scholarship that essentially pays for half of my tuition. Of course, I must maintain a specific GPA every year in order to be able to be eligible to renew this scholarship as well.

Transfer Credits

Currently, I have about 16 transfer credits/units from the APs I had taken in high school, alongside the the community college course credits I had received the summer of my rising senior year.

16 credits/units is equal to an entire semester, and four of these are going to my Statistics prerequisite. The other 12 will be going to general elective/minor units, and it has helped me to determine what I will be potentially minoring in my third/junior year.

That’s all for now!

Stay spooky~

- vngelacademia

[eigenshit]

i finally read my spring course evaluations and they were mostly fine, the criticisms were pretty much expected (disorganized, talks too fast, doesn’t always know how to solve the exercises...), except for one that said that i continued to "enforce" the 7:30am class time when we switched to online recitations.

but i literally didn't!!! i didn’t require or even record attendance when we switched to zoom!!!! i gave them a way to asynchronously participate in group work, specifically so that students who couldn't come to the live sessions would still be able to get the supposed benefits of math recitations (collaborative problem solving and all that) and stay looped into the weekly progression of the course (since the lectures went fully asynchronous). and although some students did go out of their ways to tell me about their situations and explain why they weren’t gonna be able to make it to class, i never asked for that! they weren’t required to give me an excuse in order to get out class attendance!

and i feel bad because that comment seems to indicate that i didn’t do a good enough job communicating expectations and requirements after the switch. and i know that i kind of avoided saying explicitly “you don’t have to come to class live if you don’t want to,” particularly to the 7:30am class, because i was scared that nobody would show up! and that was a bad move and it affected students and that sucks. ugggh.

alright but, step back time: that was one student’s comment. there were several comments indicating that they appreciated the actions i took to adapt after our school went online, and regardless of how much i fumbled through it, that they could tell i was trying to promote both their learning and wellbeing. for now, that’s enough for me. i can do better, but all things considered, i think i did okay.

[eatpraydig]

i’m not teaching in the fall but my university sent out its ‘plan’ for a ‘public health informed’ residential term which honestly is the WORST but now they are being wishy-washy about what will actually happen and how much agency grad students will have in deciding whether to teach in person (no one should have to IMO) or to teach entirely remotely

i kind of understand the idea of having hybrid courses but it seems like a HUGE burden on faculty, staff, and grad students to have to work so hard over the next few months to create equitable and inclusive courses which have both in-person and asynchronous online elements to them. i feel like either the in person part of the class or the online part of class will lose out in the end, and it would definitely be stressful to have to juggle both elements as an instructor (i am getting stressed out as it is and i don’t even have to do any of this)

i think it will be interesting to see how many students will actually return to campus in light of this announcement, and even more interesting to see how many of them actually choose to come to class in person (should this actually end up being an option for...anyone). there was a screenshot someone sent me earlier that was basically saying that by the beginning of sept (classes start on aug 31) we’ll be fully online because there will inevitably be students who don’t follow any of the guidelines and go out to giant parties and hike up the covid numbers in an instant and i’m...not happy about it but i also wouldn’t be surprised if this actually happened

anyway. i’ve been thinking a lot about equitable and inclusive teaching recently and even though i won’t be teaching this fall i will continue to think about these things and attend webinars and workshops and pass on any helpful information i can to my colleagues and to you all (!!) because honestly we’re all in this crazy mess together :-)

[achilds2012-blog]

Cumulative Assignment

Current available technologies in your classroom/school.

Hardware:

6 Laptops

1 cell phone (mine)

Mimio Teach

Document Camera- Old and New

Projector

Printer

Software:

Microsoft Office

Outlook

Firefox

Explorer

Chrome

Websites and/or database:

Scholastic.com

Stemscopes.com

LearningA-Z.com

Tumblebooks.com

Science4us.com

IReady.com

Firstinmath.com

Web 2.0 tools and/or applications

Google

Pinterest

Technologies I would like to you use next year

MimioTeach portable interactive whiteboard

Document Camera

Stemscopes.com

Use

Both teacher and student

Both teacher and student

Both teacher and student

Affordances

MIMIOTEACH-  Teacher- I will use the Mimio to keep my students engaged by allowing them to interact with the lesson that I am teaching. I searched online and found a lot of premade lesson plans, that are standard based, that can go directly with the Mimio. I will continue to look through these resources and locate which lessons I want to use in the classroom.

Students- The students will use Mimio by coming up to the whiteboard and interacting with it by answering questions that I give them.

DOCUMENT CAMERA-   Teacher- I will be able to project information and instruction from both the lap top and paperwork. This will allow me to project the information and teach using different learning styles in the classroom.

Students- Will be able to come to the document camera and participate in activities and concepts of the standard that they are learning. They will be able to be part of their own learning.

STEMSCOPES.COM- Teacher- I will use Stremscopes.com to teach my science standards. There are interactive videos to engage the students and resources that can be printed. There are tabs where I can get reteach and enrichment resources. It also has questions that can be directly asked to the students to teach the standard. I will assign work directly on the site for the students to complete.

Students- Students will be allowed to complete assigned work that I give them. There are also science games that I can allow the students to play to encourage quality work.

Limitations

MIMIOTEACH-As with technology I am sure that there will be times that Mimio will not work correctly. In addition, I will have to make sure to setup times where all students will eventually get a chance to use this technology. After doing research I also learned that Lovell and Phillips (did a research and discovered that daily interactions with the whiteboard can hinder and also interrupt the daily flow and pace in the classroom.

DOCUMENT CAMERA- The document camera can sometimes be blurry and needs to be adjusted. You also cannot always fit the full paper that you are trying to project. When using the document camera to project a worksheet, you may need to zoom in, in order for the students to see the full details.

STEMSCOPES.COM- Stemscopes.com is an online site so the students need to learn how to login to it. Students also may have an issue transitioning between the different portions of the site.

MIMIOTEACH-Before I start using it in the classroom I should attend trainings on how to properly use it to successfully and effectively teach lessons.  Researched and these class and webinars are free. Each on is about 60 minutes long. The students need time to learn how to properly use the device to write with. After the initial set up, the device is easy to setup.

DOCUMENT CAMERA- I am used to using a document camera, so it will just take some time to learn the new capabilities that come with this new one. There is a 15 minute video online that will train me with the new capabilities. It will always be contacted to a power source. Students will not be directly touching the device, just answering questions that will be projected.

STEMSCOPES.COM- Stemscopes.com takes time to learn. There is a day training to help with this site. Students need to be taught how to navigate and get access to the program. This will take weeks, depending on how much it’s used, to master this. BCPS already has a contract with the company so there is no additional fees.

Reliability

MIMIOTEACH-This technology is reliable, however, like with all technology, it has its chances on not working correctly. It can also be outdated and need updating to do certain things.

DOCUMENT CAMERA- Since this connects to a projector, I have to worry about the projector not working correctly also. The bulb could got out and the lightening needs to be correct. The document camera can also go out of focus and need adjusting, just like the projector.

STEMSCOPES.COM- If the internet is out, this site will be inaccessible. If the web browser is outdated, it will need to be updated in order to use this sight.

Supports

MIMIOTEACH-Operating systems: Mac 10, Windows Xp, Vista, or 7-10. Need to connect to a dry erase board. Need space for it to remain in the board.

DOCUMENT CAMERA- Need a projector. Needs something to sit it on. Need space for it remain.

STEMSCOPES.COM-Need a laptop to go to the sight, Needs an updated operating system.

Similar Products

MIMIOTEACH-White board, Dry erase board

DOCUMENT CAMERA- Elmo, Epson USB Documents camera

STEMSCOPES.COM- Science4us.com

Collaboration

MIMIOTEACH- Groups, individually, asynchronously, synchronously

DOCUMENT CAMERA- Groups, individually,

STEMSCOPES.COM-Individually, asynchronously

​

Final lesson with all three TIM levels

Text:

Pete the Cat and His Magic Glasses

Suggested Number of Sessions:  

2

Author(s):  

James and Kimberly Dean

Illustrator(s):

James Dean

Genre:  

Fiction Fantasy

Connection to Conceptual Topic (IUS):

Good Citizen

LAFS Standards (always embedded):

LAFS.1RL.1.2

LAFS.1.RL.1.1

Connected Content Standards:

SS.1.C.2.2

Describe the characteristics of responsible citizenship in the school community

Academic Vocabulary in the Standards:

Characteristics, responsible, citizenship

Domain-Specific, Content Vocabulary from the Text:

Feeling

In this lesson the domain specific content is incorporating ELA and S.S standards. With Pedagogical Approach, the students will be having open ended questioning, co-operative learning, and integrated learning. Students will also be interacting with each other through talk and share.

Main Idea/Theme of Text:

Theme: “Don’t focus on the bad things in life, look for the good every day.”

Unknown Vocabulary:

Select words that might not be in students’ oral vocabulary that teacher will need to explain or define during the reading, in student-friendly terms. Make sure the word(s) selected is/are not supported through context clues within the text (print and graphics).

Grumpy-

Bad tempered (grumpy)

Frustrated-

Feeling annoyed because you can’t achieve or change something

Session 1

LAFS Focus Standard (select one): This is the standard that is going to be taught. It won’t be fully taught with just one session with this book. Goals will change with different readings.

LAFS.1.RL.1.3 Describe the characters, settings, and major events in a story.

Academic Vocabulary in the Standard:

Describe

-To give a description of something or someone

Events-

Something that happens at a certain place or time

Goal from the Literacy Continuum:   This is the goal that was chosen for this lesson.

Talk about what is interesting in a photograph or illustration

Essential Question(s) from the Prompting Guides Part 1 or Part 2:

Invite students to talk about the text.

__ Thinking Within the Text                      _X_ Thinking Beyond the Text                  __ Thinking About the Text

What do you think is going to happen next in the text?

Introduction of the Text (to include the following):

** Teacher will project the text through PowerPoint. Therefore, all the students can have a clear look at the illustrations in this text. Teacher will point out parts of the illustration with a laser.

 ENTRY LEVEL OF TIM

Teacher: Students we are going to read a book titled Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses by James and Kimberly Dean. James Dean is also the illustrator. The genre of this story is Fantasy Fiction.

Additional features specific to this text:

Teacher: I see a familiar animal on the cover of this book. Who is this animal? Where have we seen him before? What is he wearing? Teacher will point laser to the illustration. Maybe those are the glasses that are going to be magic. I also see a turtle upside down. It is not easy for a turtle to get off his back. He might be unhappy because of this. I am going to start reading this story and see what happens.

First Reading of the Text (read to the students):

Teacher reads text and invites students to make predictions and notice important details. Indicate page number(s) where students will predict or teacher will point out important details. Teacher will continuously point to the points of the illustration that she is speaking about.

Pg.2 Teacher says: Pete is not happy. The text says he has never been grumpy before. Does anyone know what grumpy means? Teacher will then give the meaning of grumpy. Class I want you to turn to someone and talk and share about the reason you think that Pete is not happy.

Pg.4 Teacher says: The story says the frog always wore a frown, can everyone show me a frown?

Teacher will also ask students do they notice anything on frog? (glasses)

Pg.8 Teacher says: How does Pete seem now, is he still sad, is he happy? Give me a character trait to describe Pete.

Pg.10 Teacher says: Everyone show me a mad face.

Pg.14 Teacher says: Is squirrel sad now class?

Pg.26 Teacher says: I notice a pattern in the events that take place in this story. Raise your hand and tell me about some of the important events that have taken place so far in this story.

Pg.28 Teacher says: Oh no! Pete broke the glasses. Turn and talk to your partner about what do you predict is going to happen next.

END OF TEXT: Teacher says: Pete did not really need those glasses to see the good in every day. Next time we read this story we will discuss that information (then teacher will break students off in small group and centers)

Connection to Independent Practice (independently and/or collaboratively with peers):

Indicate how teacher will connect this lesson to an activity in which students will apply their learning.

At a center, students will first reread the text and discuss different things they noticed in the illustrations. Then the students will practice acting out a part of the story.

While students are working, teacher will go to each center and walk the students through using a PowerPoint. Teacher will be in control and guide the students on the steps that they need to complete. At the end of the demonstration, students should be able to open the PowerPoint tool, pick a slide theme, and know how to insert a picture in the slide through the tool.-

Adoption Stage

New TIM level

Extend the Lesson:

List possible connections from this interactive read aloud to connected content standards (lessons or activities).

Students will be put in groups of three. Each group will be guided to the website tumblebooks.com. The group will be allowed to select a text that they want to read and portray in a play.  Students will put on a play to go with the online story they chose. Students will determine each role they will portray.

Each group of students will have to make their own prompts based off the illustrations from the text.

I am going to remove this part to add technology.

In the small group they will have to discuss character traits and inferences that were made about their character. Then the students will have to put on the full play using all the inference and traits they learned to help him/her brig their character alive. Now that students are aware on how to use basic tools on the PowerPoint, the students will use it independently. While doing this assignment the students will be using a PowerPoint to add a back drop to their play. They have to include at least two different settings for their play. When the students do their play, I will project their interactive backdrops made through PowerPoint - Adaptation Stage

Why I choose to modify my lesson in these ways.

In my 2nd lesson (the one that I modified), I was using a PowerPoint to display my text and then had my students incorporate Tumble books to enrich their lesson. This time I wanted to think about how I can use technology to further my lesson. In addition, I wanted to make sure that my technology used in the lesson plan climbed up the TIM matrix. I took account the technology that my students have access to, and what their level of expertise is with that tool.

In my modified lesson plan, I wanted the students use a PowerPoint themselves. I modified my lesson by taking out the craft that the students were using to make different prompts. Instead, they will be using a PowerPoint to make a setting for the background of their play. When the students put on their play, I will project their backdrop. This will not only enhance the lesson, but it will enhance their play.

Tim Levels

Adoption- Students have already been introduced to a PowerPoint. It was used during the reading of the text through the lesson. However, they have not used to PowerPoint themselves. Therefore, I moved up from Entry level to adoption level by guiding the students through the basic usage of a PP. I chose the technology they were using and I guided the students step by step on how to use it.

•Adaptation: Once I explained the basic usage for the PP, the students now had to use the technology themselves. I was there to support them, but they had control. This allowed the students to move up on the TIM level again.

Reflection

I want the thank you for this opportunity to be a part of your class. I have learned so much in this class. I have learned the meaning of all the components of the TIM matrix. I learned how to move up, or down, the levels. Whatever my lesson calls for determines what the levels are and how they are used. In addition, I learned that different levels of each TIM and the components that go with it. I learned how they are used by both the teacher and the student. When looking for technology tools to use in the classroom, there are different things that I need to look into. First I need to make sure that it is going to enhance my lesson, go with my standards, and have meaningful learning in the classroom. I need to also make sure that is it affordable.

One of my favorite parts of this class was when I was forced to look into technology that I have access to already. I have had a Mimio for the last four years and have not used it in the classroom. When I looked into the usage I saw that there is so many things that I can do with it. It is amazing, I cannot believe that I had access to this technology for so long and have not used it. I will be starting to use it this year. I will also continue to look up lesson plans that this tool can enhance.