Virtual Teaching

This semester I am co-teaching with a teacher I have never met in person.  I am one of hundreds of exceptional children's teachers in North Carolina who is participating in the North Carolina Virtual Public High School Occupational Course of Study Blended Learning program.  The NCVPS OCS Blended Learning program is a collaborative effort between the NCVPS teacher and the face-to-face (f2f) OCS teacher to teach OCS courses in high schools throughout the state.  It has been challenging to say the least.  I am teaching Algebra 1 and Biology.  These happen to be End of Course (EOC) tests.  I am hoping to provide others with more information on this educational endeavor.  For more information go to:

NCVPS OCS Blended Learning

Webquest

I wanted to find a site that I could use in my English class.  I foundone that I really liked.  The name of the website is CyberGuides:  Teacher Guides and Student Activities.  This website is sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education.  The web address of the webquest that I plan to use with my lesson is http://www.sdcoe.net/score/mufaro/mufarotg.html.  I chose this webquest because it is based on a book that is grade appropriate.  This book is read in the third or fourth grade.  The book covers another culture and fits perfectly in our unit on fables, folk tales and myths.  This story lends itself particularly well to teaching students about diversity. Typically students are only exposed to Anglo-European tales.  Upon reading this tale, it is a good idea to begin by reading the story of Cinderella to the class.  Then have students participate in a whole group discussion about the similarities and differences between the two stories. The teacher should emphasize the similarity in the themes of the two stories. These stories are perfect for exploring the common theme of "good always wins out over bad.”  I further selected this particular webquest because although the backgrounds from which the stories originate are different, this assignment shows that all human beings in all cultures have a sense of right and wrong, a sense of justice and kindness.  I see this as a fun way to expose them to another culture as they learn the characteristics of a folktale such as The characters are all good or all bad, There are magic or make-believe parts, there is a lesson or moral and the story takes place in a long-ago setting.

     This incorporates technology into the classroom, gains and maintains student interest and engagement, and helps to meet many standards.  This webquest does not require many changes.  One of the changes that I did have to make dealt with finding a new website because there was a commercial on that link and the website was too busy and easy to get off track for elementary students.  It appears that the current link would be difficult for elementary students to be able to complete activity two especially if they had some issues with reading.  A more child friendly website is needed.  Otherwise, the links are all working and up to date, pages are attractively laid out and free of spelling, grammar and technical errors.  The tasks are engaging and requires higher level thinking.