Is there such thing as a stupid question?

It is in every teacher's vocabulary that there is no such thing as a stupid question (except the one you don't ask). Tonight, I seriously question myself about that one.

My class is a very enthusiastic group of learners but man, some of them are so dense. I keep trying to think back and remember what my freshman courses were like. To me a 5 page reading with pictures on each page and less than a full page of text seemed like a breeze. Then to top it off with interactive activities and a full week to do it in...These studentst are having a tough time completing it! Am I hardened after coming off of 40-60 page reading assignments each week?

I really like interacting with them but I think I am more of a counselor than teacher. Although, I did have to explain some very basic vocabulary tonight. I didn't have examples prepped (note to self for next week) so I had to make them up on the fly. We had a full hour of a productive seminar again and I asked them at the end if I need to change anything up. They all said no, they like the format (which is good because I don't know how much changing I could do). I need to get better open ended questions in there that make them think but considering how I started this post....that might be wishful thinking on my part.

All in all, 2/10 weeks are complete. Whew! Like it so far.

Grading and Prep Work

Man, I am a softy! I just completed my first unit's grading and I was a wuss. Unless my students completely missed something, I gave them all great grades. The good thing is, I warned all of them that I was easier on them during their first unit and would crack down in unit 2. This is their first term and first online class so I gave them the benefit of the doubt on round one.

After completing my grading and outreach (I have 4 students who haven't participated although they have logged in); I began prepping my seminar for Monday night. Last week I wrote a script/notes and barely followed it. Yeah, I covered all the topics I had wanted and followed my agenda and powerpoint but I found myself tending to the needs of questions about how to do everything. I am glad I prepped because I felt super good during and after the class. So...I prepped the same way for unit 2.

I can definitely see how I would improve my teaching and lessons for a second round. I would start incorporating more outside information to jazz things up but so far, sticking to the basics seems to be working.

Now, it is time to go read Unit 3 so I am ready for questions on Monday about it. Luckily, these units are sooooo much easier than my grad work. I can breeze through them in one afternoon.

First Seminar=Successful

My students love me! Well, at least that is what they say when they are kissing my butt.

Tonight was my first seminar. I worked this weekend making powerpoint slides and an outline. Did I follow them...not really but I was prepared! We had a nonstop seminar for the full hour. There were over 15 students in attendance at one time so that's not bad for a KU online course that doesn't have graded seminars.

Most of my students laughed at my attempts at humor, they appreciated my tips, and asked normal questions I was prepared for. Now, if you ask my hubby, it was a comedy and should be published for that purpose only. I was called Professor Froyd many times (I told them to call me Erin). I was also called Mr. Froyd for quite a while. I had to private message that student and tell her I was a female. They all seem genuinely interested in education but like all college students...I had to remind them to get their work in before the deadline tomorrow.

I was very soft on their first assignment since most just didn't know how to use the software and hardware. I warned them, I won't be so nice or easy on future assignments. I think they are hearing me now...but wait till midterms when they are failing and start whining about it.

I had a good time and really enjoyed teaching them. I hope the remaining 9 weeks keep that energy and enthusiasm up (theirs and mine).

Happy Birthday Jess!

Happy Birthday Jess!

I hope you have a fantastic birthday. Don't eat too much yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Priorities-new list for life

After yet another sudden death of a close friend; it is time to reprioritize life's plan.

1) Family and Friends
2) Work

I would say that was always the order things were in but lately, #2 has been creeping its way to the top. So, starting Monday, no more 12 hour days at work. (The part time teaching hours don't count as part of the 12 hour days-that's only for office time). More time relaxing and doing things that make me happy. Weird I should say that as today I started some spring cleaning on the house. When the bleach comes out and the knobs on the stove come off, you know it is going to be a long cleaning day. I have done 4 hours worth of cleaning and have at least that many to go.

On the school front, I need to answer some posts, do some grades, and prep for my seminar on Monday and Unit 2. Luckily, unit 1 has been a piece of cake.

First day of class

Today was my first day of class! I think I was more excited than my students. I started today with a class roster of 22 students. Pretty decent. Add/drop week is a week long (as the name implies). I expect to see some movement but I hope it stays about this size and doesn't hit my cap of 30. The morning started out with almost half of my students on a block of some kind (FA or Missing Docs) but as of this evening, only one is still blocked!

I have had about a 1/4 of the class log in and post their introductions. I had 3 homework assignments submitted. I returned 2 of them without a grade and asked them to resubmit properly for full credit. It is scary when the first assignment asked them to download a document, answer the two questions, save it with a naming convention, and then submit it via the drop box as an attachment. Obviously, 2/3 students didn't know how to do any of this. I hope they will learn quickly. I am good at second chances for things like this once but if after this they don't get it, I will dock them points. Oh, and I have one that decided punctuation and sentences aren't required (or doesn't know how to write them) on the discussion board. I am waiting for her to post to a few peers before I explain the need for punctuation and complete sentences. It isn't a blog for crying out loud! :)

Other than that...regular insanity at work. I did stop by the mall and do a little birthday shopping for a fellow blogger. I have a little more to do because I ended up buying more for myself than for her!

Between now and Monday, I need to get my first seminar planned out (ppt and all that jazz ready) and figure out what Unit 2 has in store for me. The good thing is that I don't have to be a new teacher and try to figure out how to use the tools. That makes life much easier!

Idol results show is about to begin...I'll admit it, I am addicted. If that show didn't have Randy, Paula, Simon, or Seacrest, it would be so much better. DVR'ing it is a wonderful thing. I can fast foward during their stupid moments.

Work, Comcast, Work, Comcast....

Sorry for the long absence from the blogging world. We have been experiencing some horrible connection problems at home and our computer needs a doctor. Although I had faith in my husband fixing the mysterious blue screens of death...I am tempted to say we might just have to call in a computer geek to fix it. First, we have to save all of our stuff. Put on the list of things to do this month.

I have had Comcast out twice to fix the connection problem. The first time was a trying experience just to get someone here to tell us "the signals fine going into the house." That's nice and all but it didn't fix anything. Yesterday I tried for 45 minutes to get online. I would get on and then 10 minutes later I would lose my signal and then have to reconnect all over again (which usually took 10 more minutes for a signal to come in). I sat on the phone with a nice Tech Support guy who scheduled a technician to come out today. The guy came in, asked about our ancient modem and $55 later, we now have an internet connection that has stayed up for the past 3 hours without a glitch or hiccup!

So, that covers the Comcast portion of the post. The work part...all I can say is super busy, working too many hours, stressed out and exhausted, and I picked up a part time job. Yeah, crazy. The part time job is teaching a course online. I am pretty excited to do it but want to make sure I have enough time to do it right. Last week I worked around 50 hours in 4 days. Not too bad but not too good either. Yuck!

With all of that nonsense going on, I had written a good post about our cruise we took last weekend but due to the internet connection problem and no spare time at work to post, I didn't do it. Summary = cruise was good. Relaxing and fun but not superb. I think it was based on our destinations...maybe a longer cruise or one that somewhere other than the Bahamas would have been more fun. I am not complaining. It was a well needed respit.

This week we had friends come visit from MN. We have been having a great time and glad they could spend time with us. Today I did bail from a bowling event. I wanted to stay home and get some things done for me. I am working on some laundry, picked up the house, blogging, and doing a few things for work that I wanted to get done last week and needed to get done 2 weeks ago.

I promise I will be back to blogging more regularly soon. Tuesday I travel to Chicago (leave at 6am and get back at midnight) so that won't be a walking or blogging day. Walking...Jess and I have been very religious about it and I think it has been good for my stress level. Once I start teaching, I will have actual educational information to blog about again.

I know, this post was boring but at least I was able to get online and post it!

Faculty Training-check!

I just completed my faculty training course. I no longer wonder why our instructors are idiots. Our training course is severely outdated and has many typos. I attended the seminar training tonight even though I have used it for over a year now and am on the team that developed it (and I wrote the training docs) but being a good faculty member, I am playing by the rules and going through the full faculty experience. Also, I took the final exam and barely passed! One of the questions, I really had no idea what the answer was but for a couple others, they had the wrong info and I answered based on real knowledge, not the incorrect knowledge. Oh well. It is good to be done.

Tomorrow I speak with the new department chair and hope to get my schedule figured out. Work has been crazy and I wonder why I am going to do this to myself. I guess it is because I truly love teaching and look forward to it as a hobby. Remind me of that in a couple weeks when I have no free time again and complain about the idiots in my class.

Oh, and only 4 more days until we set sail on our cruise. I can't wait!