Ms. Vicco Blogs

From Virtual School to Traditional School...How to Communicate Effectively

2008-04-18T23:48:00.003-04:00

The primary reason for focusing on communication during this internship was to learn how I can become a better communicator with my students and their parents. What is interesting to me is that I can do many of the same things as the virtual school even though I am a teacher in a traditional school setting.

This article from LearnNC (UNC-Chapel Hill's College of Education) made it clear to me through a few of their suggestions that I can accomplish my goal of communicating better through the same tactics the VHS uses.

A few suggestions:
(1) "Start from the first day"
Sending an email home the first day of school with a welcome message can start the teacher/parent relationship off to a solid beginning. Think of it this way (perhaps it is a stretch but go with me on this). When someone you do not know very well approaches you and begins to tell you negative things about a family member, what do you do? I'm assuming the answer is something along the lines of "get defensive." This is perhaps the same reaction parents may - and do - have when a teacher communicates with them for the first time and it is negative. We are more likely to consider someone's opinion if we have more of a relationship with him/her.

(2) Be "caring, professional, open and organized"
This ties into the first suggestion. By proving you have a caring and professional manner, you continue to build a relationship with parents. I know I have said it before but I will say it again. "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

(3) Use a web page to communicate with parents
There are web services out there that are FREE and provide access to a number of features. I personally use Freewebs to post my class agenda, notes, a small blog, as well as other downloads that aid the students. Freewebs also provides a mailing list to send to all subscribers. After making one - or a ton - of changes to the website, I can send an 'email blast'. It sends one email to all the subscribers. It is efficient and effective.

Here are some other resources from UNC-Chapel Hill's College of Education on communicating with parents.

Communicating with Parents - by Kathleen Casson http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/ParentComm1

Communicating with Parents at the Beginning of the Year - by Kristi Johnson Smith
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/firstyear-parentcomm

Helping Parents Understand - by Gretchen Buher
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/buher-parents0701

For many other resources, check out the 'Search Results' for communicating with parents.

'Til next time,
ms. vicco

Parental Involvement in Schools

2008-04-17T21:30:00.002-04:00

In focusing on communication in the virtual school, I realize the importance of seeking out other methods for communicating with parents of my own students as well as finding methods for increasing parental involvement in schools. It is no secret that parental involvement decreases as students move from elementary school to high school.

Through a basic Google search, I found this article from Education World.

It offers several resources for increasing parental involvement (from "Bring Your Father to Work Day" to asking for their help in school fundraisers). The article provides a short summary for each of the links and provides a bit of excitement (at least in this educator) for including parents and really having a 'team' to improve the school community.

Enjoy!

'Til next time,
ms. vicco

The Gong Project

2008-04-13T21:06:00.003-04:00

Through a bit of searching on MERLOT (thanks for the resource Virtual Science Classroom), I found an interesting website with FREE software. It can be used as a stand-alone program or a module in Moodle.

The program is "The Gong Project".

Gong is a great way to communicate within the virtual school. It has the opportunity for real time text/chat similar to using an instant messenger program. This feature also provides the person creating the chat to create a public or private chat session and even a broadcast session (where only the person who created the chat can have the voice feature). Classes with Moodle have the opportunity to join an online lecture of sorts if the teacher created a broadcast session.

Another great feature is that it allows selective playback of certain words and phrases. I thought this feature was great for ESOL teachers. Teachers can record a lecture and students can highlight specific words in the text format that they would like to hear again. The feature does require more work for the teacher because the text must be typed in order to use the feature.

Gong even has the feature of recording the chat sessions. If VHS (or even the school where I teach) used Gong, I can see how it can be used even as a Q&A session for parents/students at the beginning of each semester. Perhaps discussing in more detail the inner workings of the class the student is taking as well as reiterating the importance of self-discipline in online classes.

I would love for you to check this out and give me your thoughts or ideas.

'Til next time,
ms. vicco

The Ultimate Multi-Tasker

2008-04-11T12:16:00.003-04:00

While observing Ms. A the other day, I noticed several organizational skills that she uses when contacting and keeping track of parent/student phone calls. At any one time, she has four different windows open on her computer. This may not sound like much; however, this is for contacting parents alone. This does not include other documents she decides to use in order to keep order.

Below are descriptions of the windows Ms. A utilizes with each contact:

(1) The Virtual School Administrator (VSA) contains the students’ basic information. VHS Teachers can sort the data according to grades, demographics, and the usual alphabetical order. Around this time of year, many students have Spring Break. Since the VHS has students from all over the country, the VHS guidance counselors have input the Spring Break data into the computer. Wow! We checked to see whether a particular student was on Spring Break so we might be able to contact the student. No luck but to see the different tools that can be utilized to make communication effective is astounding (I have said that before haven’t I?).

(2) LotusNotes is the email program used by the VHS. It has an assortment of other tools that can – and are – used by the VHS teachers. Do you remember the calendar feature discussed in the April 9, 2008 blog?

(3) AT&T CallVantage account page: As described in the April 9, 2008 blog, Ms. A checks her voicemail over the web and can see who is calling in while she is on the phone during a parent conference.

(4) Educator is the program that Ms. A uses to check students’ grades on individual assignments.

Before making any parent phone call, Ms. A ‘does her homework.’ She looks through the student’s grades, reviews notes from previous phone calls and begins the contact log through the VSA. Whether she reaches someone or not, she logs the phone call as an attempted phone call or briefly describes the phone call.

I had to watch several times before I realized Ms. A’s system for contacting parents. Looking at the list of contacts she makes, I am reminded of the lengths she goes to in order to efficiently and effectively reach out to the students and parents in her class. She is the Ultimate Multi-Tasker.

‘Til next time,
Ms. Vicco

Two New "Toys" To Use

2008-04-09T10:47:00.005-04:00

Although I consider myself a "digital native," I still find myself amazed at features of new technology and even features of technology I have used. For instance, my school uses the email program LotusNotes. I have been using the program for the last seven years. The calendar feature is familiar to me; however, I discovered yesterday (while working with Ms. A) that it has a scheduler. Basically, if I were to set up a meeting with all the Trig teachers I work with, I could check the scheduler to see what day/time would work best with all of them. Too cool! The only problem is that there are very few teachers who use the calendar feature of LotusNotes at my school. My whole thought process basically went to scheduling parent-teacher conferences. There have been times when teachers (fortunately, not me) have been double or triple booked for meetings at the same time for different students. Wouldn't it be nice if this feature could be used to enhance the effectiveness of communicating with other school staff (teachers, administrators and guidance counselors included)?

The other piece of technology Ms. A uses, as well as the other VHS teachers, is AT&T CallVantage. While this costs money, it does have several features that make their job extremely efficient. The plan Ms. A has allows her to (through the web) see a call log, listen to voicemails left, and (my favorite feature) record and send messages to up to twenty people at a time. This last feature got my wheels turning. What an efficient way to effectively communicate with parents and students! Here's an example of how it can be used for the traditional classroom:

Every six weeks, students where I teach receive a progress report with an updated grade for all classes. They only receive two interim progress reports before the final grade is recorded. If I could use this feature at least every three weeks, I could record a message for all students who have, let's say, a D or lower and let them (and their parents) know they need to be proactive and come in for extra help. I can send this to up to twenty students at one time! Teachers have precious little time to communicate to all their students. Within a matter of 5 minutes, I can ensure that twenty students and their parents get a friendly reminder to stay motivated and seek extra help. On the flip side, I can send a similar message to up to twenty students congratulating them on what a wonderful job they are doing and to keep up the good work.

Are your wheels turning yet?

To get a little more info about the phone features, you can check out

AT&T CallVantage (Be sure to check out the premium features as well)

If you know of other phone companies who also have this feature, please feel free to share. I focused on AT&T simply because that is what the VHS uses.

'Til next time,
Ms. Vicco

It Takes A Village

2008-04-06T21:39:00.004-04:00

Study after study reiterates the importance of parent-to-school communication. I know from personal experience the miscommunication that often occurs. Parents believe they will be informed about everything (good or bad) about their child's education. Teachers believe parents will ask if they have questions. Like one of my assistant principals often says to mentor teachers, new teachers "don't know what they don't know." This may seem a bit confusing at first. What we need to realize is that we often take for granted the lack of knowledge parents have about the education system. This is not an insult by any means. For example, I would not know all the materials or the procedure for putting new flooring in my home. I assume that the gentleman/men helping me purchase it will tell me everything I would need. I'm not sure what is expected and assume the 'expert' will let me know. This is also the case in education.

Joyce Epstein, in her article Improving Family and Community Involvement in Secondary Schools, discusses a few important aspects related to this misunderstanding between parents and teachers. Conducting workshops for parents that discuss adolescent development, health, peer pressure and sex/drug issues gives parents a better understanding of how their teens think and the struggles they face. It essentially "strengthens parenting skills and [sets] home conditions for learning" (Epstein, 2008, p. 11).

Epstein also notes from her readings of the literature that clear communication about "how attendance affects report card grades" and "student behavior" will positively affect the resulting issues on the topics (Epstein, p. 10). The number of absenteeism and student disciplinary issues decreased. The quote mentioned earlier by Ms. A does not just seem to be an observation in her virtual school. It appears to be an observed fact through research that "contact equals credit."

Through appropriate communication between parents and schools, students seem to have an improved chance of success. It really does take a village to raise a child and we need to be ready and willing to aid in the task.

References

Epstein, J. (February 2008). Improving family and community involvement in secondary schools. Education Digest, 73(6), 9 - 12.

Captain's Log...

2008-04-04T07:48:00.004-04:00

I got to spend some time with Ms. A exploring the process of logging contact hours. In a previous conversation with her, she told me that "contact equals credit." Basically, the best way to ensure students' success is to stay in contact with them and especially their parents. She definitely practices what she preaches (and even laughs about how often she contacts her students).

We both happened to have a little time yesterday when I caught her on MSN Messenger so she sent me a link to an Elluminate room and we were on our way. The lack of a mic on my home computer made things slightly more cumbersome I'm sure since Ms. A had to hold her cell phone and navigate through different views on her computer. I got the better end of the deal with just being able to observe.

It was amazing to be able to see Ms. A's entire desktop screen from my own computer. I was not able to manipulate anything but I did see each click of the mouse and change of the applications she was using.

She basically took me through a tutorial of logging contact hours. The application displays a short view which is basically one line each displaying the date, time, student name, subject, beginning characters of the description of the phone call, last date contacted and even how many weeks the student has been in the class. If it has been awhile since the last actual contact, the application changes the color of the date to red. What is also great is the fact that a date (in blue) will show underneath the red date to show the last time an attempt was made to contact the student. The sorting features allow Ms. A to quickly work on the kids who should be of top priority (like those who are behind pace or have not actually had a contact). The efficiency of this program is amazing.

The application works similar to a word processor where the teacher can type a description of a phone call including a summary of the conversation for future reference. She can even change the font type, size or color.

After a quick overview (about 15 minutes), Ms. A informs me that a couple of students beeped in while we were talking. She still is talking to me on the phone and goes online to check the voicemail using AT&T Vantage - an optional feature from AT&T that is mandatory for all VHS teachers. Ms. A asks me if I want to sit in on a phone call to get a better understanding of how the contacts work and I am excited. The first student we try to call does not answer. He needs to do an oral assessment (I'll explain how those work later).

While making that attempt, Ms. A got three more phone calls (a matter of 1 minute). We try one more time so I have the opportunity to observe a phone call. This time it is a student who has fallen behind pace - let's call her Melanie just so we can try to eliminate any confusion. Melanie has a couple labs she needs to do that are a few weeks behind. Ms. A reminds her to call if she is struggling and doesn't know how to do something. She also emails Melanie some tips for doing the labs. Since Melanie's mom is home, Ms. A talks to her as well to reiterate was just said to Melanie.

All in all, the conversation sounds similar to one I might have made. The same types of conversations any teacher of a traditional classroom would make. I get off the phone and start wondering how I can have an efficient system of contacting parents - and students - in a traditional setting. Something to work on...

'Til next time,
Ms. Vicco

Virtual vs. Traditional Communications

2008-04-01T21:30:00.002-04:00

The consensus is that virtual school teachers work longer hours than traditional teachers. After speaking to Ms. A (my VHS host), I realize they talk longer also. This is not because she talks too much. It is because she explained to me how much she communicates with the students and parents of her virtual classes. Picture this, if you can. You have a parent-teacher conference once a month for EVERY student. If this sounds challenging to you and you are an elementary school teacher (I imagine about 20 students), imagine teaching high school (from 90 to 150 students). Now, imagine teaching close to 200 students or more in a school year and having to have a parent-teacher conference once a month. Wow! is right.

I would like to say this is the extent of the communication but it is not even close. She speaks to her students from tutoring sessions to 'pep talks' because they are falling behind schedule. The most impressive part of our conversation was that she said she can tell me something about EACH of her students from how many siblings they have to what extracurricular activities they may participate in.

One of the things I enjoy about teaching is the ability to interact with and even mentor my students. I remember wanting to become a teacher so I could be a positive role model. At the beginning of this internship, I wondered whether I would ever be able to be a virtual school teacher since I enjoyed that part so much. It looks as though it is possible even more than in my traditional classroom. Sometimes to really be able to get through to our students we need to have a better understanding of how they think and what is going on in their lives. The 50-minute class, 5 days a week just is not enough time to relate to students other than as an instructor.

The old adage is true: Students/Parents/The community (you pick) don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate...

2008-03-30T17:38:00.004-04:00

I have often found one of my weaknesses is personal contact with parents. I send progress reports home, via email, almost every week. What becomes difficult is contacting parents who do not have access to email or who may not be checking the email. I have even discovered instances when students were logging into their parents' email accounts and deleting the grade reports before it could be seen.

With four phones in the vicinity of about twenty-seven teachers, one planning period and a twenty-five minute lunch, teachers often find themselves making phone calls at home. This is dedication. To me, nearly impossible. With two young children, I do not have any quiet time in my home until they are in bed (typically 7:30pm). While this is not too late to make phone calls, I try to make it my time to unwind after working two jobs (teacher and mother).

The question becomes for me: What other ways are there for communicating with parents? How can we be sure the lines are open for a welcoming environment at school for the parents?

In search for some questions about increasing the ability to communicate with parents, I set off on a search (an Internet search, that is) for more information. Pamela A. Halsey, an assistant professor at the time the article was written, conducted a case study of a junior high to determine the attitudes of teachers, parents and students toward parental involvement at the school. The overall findings of the study was that parent involvement is essential for success, which most of us could hypothesize before reading the article. What was most prevalent among the different groups interviewed was the misunderstanding and miscommunication "about the role of parent involvement at the school" (Halsey, 2005, p. 61).

"Personal individual contacts helped build relationships between teachers and parents, as well as among parents" (Halsey, p. 62). These types of contacts are not conducted as frequently in traditional schools as they are hoped for. Of the four teachers I work closely with in my hallway at school, I know of only a handful of times in a semester when a parent is called on the telephone. Teachers are thinking parents would call if they had concerns or questions: parents are thinking the same about teachers. What needs to occur is a plan for communication between teachers and parents. If teachers were required to make phone contacts at certain intervals throughout the year, a rapport may develop between home and school to better assist the students in their studies.

Halsey, P.A. (Fall 2005). Parent involvement in junior high schools: A failure to communicate. American Secondary Education, 34(1), 57 - 69.

Next time... How communication is conducted in the VHS.

'Til next time,
Ms. Vicco

Got Social Skills?

2008-03-28T22:00:00.008-04:00

While I realize a great many online students are simply trying to recover credits of failed courses, the reality is that many students are full-time virtual school students. They spend their time at home away from traditional schools much like home-schooled students.One concern I consistently go back to with home-schooled students are their social skills, or lack thereof. The beauty of the Internet is you can type anything you want into a search engine (thanks, Google) and be able to find dozens, if not hundreds, of websites that pertain to your search. In this case, I simply typed in "social skills of home-schooled students."

The validity of information on the web cannot always be confirmed so quickly; however, news articles tend to catch my attention most - as did this one on CNN.com. According to several students interviewed for this article, it was students from conventional high schools who seemed to struggle more with the transition to college. From the examples provided, and my own personal experiences, I can probably be swayed to have my own children home-schooled.

Whether it was students I graduated with or former high school students of mine, I can list at least a few examples of students who were so sheltered during their high school years that they did not know how to motivate themselves independent of their parents or teachers. They frequently skipped college classes or partied too much to focus on their primary reason for being at college - academics. As I sit here contemplating past experiences, I guess I can argue that their are probably home-schooled students as well who are constantly under the watchful eye of parents.

As far as social skills go, the article mentions how home-schooled students receive their social interactions. From community service and extracurricular activities. Tom Bear, the Dean of Admissions at University of Evansville, notes the academic success of the home-schooled students and credits the rising reputation of home-schooled students to their success on standardized tests.

How does this fair with virtual school students? It only does so with respect to the full-time VHS students. The key, in my humble opinion, seems to be directing the students toward other avenues for social interaction. Not only does the community service and extracurricular activities provide a way for students to meet (and work with) people from diverse backgrounds, it provides them a well-rounded background for college applications. The excuse of keeping kids from 'attending' virtual schools in order to allow them the opportunities mentioned previously seems to have less validity than in the past. With a little research and proper application, a student home-schooled (like Holly Porter) can be successfully prepared for college...and beyond.

To Resubmit or Not Resubmit...That is the question

2008-03-25T20:12:00.002-04:00

A question that has come up in the past is whether or not students should be allowed to redo assignments, including tests. I know in my classroom and school, if one teacher were to allow 'mulligans' (or redos), then all teachers for that particular subject would have to do the same thing. This was in response to the 'No Child Left Behind' Initiative. If one teacher allowed them, and another did not, some students would be at a disadvantage.

The question comes down to this:

With over 90+ students for one teacher, the thought of grading assignments more than once is a little daunting.

Do we make assignments an all or nothing thing where they have only one chance at earning the best grade possible - simply for our own ease? Or do we allow them the chance to redo assignments so they can actually have the opportunity to learn the material in a manner where it will stay with them?

Let's look at a hypothetical scenario.

John Smith is taking Geometry at a traditional school. He does not do much homework and fails tests by only a few points. This could be either by lack of effort or because he misses school frequently for medical reasons. Despite passing the final exam at the end of the semester with a C, he is still short of passing the class.

Here's another question: By passing the final exam with a C, did John Smith show he knows the material?

This is what I appreciate about the VHS I am working with. Ms. A explained to me that as long as students are working, she is fine with them staying enrolled in her class and resubmitting assignments in order to help their grade - and ultimately, in my humble opinion, truly learn the material better than the hypothetical 'C' on the final exam.

Your thoughts??

'Til next time.
Ms. Vicco

School Time, Minus the Face Time - NY Times

2008-03-23T20:30:00.002-04:00

It seems the debate of online versus face-to-face learning has been going on for quite some time. The link to the NY Times article discusses a few concerns of educators. My biggest concern for students taking classes online full time is the lack of socialization the teenagers receive as well as their lack of exposure to students with different backgrounds. These are two important skills in the workforce. Take a look at the article. I would love to hear your take on the article.

School Time, Minus the Face Time

'Til next time.
ms. vicco

A Typical Day at Work...At Home

2008-03-23T18:24:00.003-04:00

Like a 'regular' high school teacher, the host teacher (let's call her Ms. A for simplicity sake) wakes up at 5:30 or 6:00 each morning. (Ouch!) Knowing that some students may have been up later than she was, she checks her emails and answers them. She also does any grading she needs to do. She wakes her children up and gets them ready for school. By 9:00 in the morning, she is back home and ready to start her day "at work." Mondays are typically spent updating any announcements and tracking students progress - or lack thereof. She then makes her phone calls. She informs me that the teachers have the ability to record a message and make up to twenty phone calls at a time!! Oh, the beauty of technology. This, obviously, expedites the process of reminding students they are behind the pace they should be and to call her when possible. The majority of her day is spent, as expected, on the phone. The calls range from friendly reminders, to tutoring sessions, and even oral exams. She must be available from 8am - 8pm each day (even weekends).

The typical day varies and even changes from month to month. The VHS is always trying new approaches to teaching and learning. Their main focus is to do things in a manner that is best for the students. Not to say that traditional schools do not do that; however, this particular virtual school seems to have the flexibility to do these things. In Ms. A's words, we tend to be "the pioneers."

I often wonder whether being a virtual school teacher would be the best option for me so I am curious how others feel. Let me know what you are thinking....

'Til next time.
ms. vicco

Some of the inner workings of a VHS... Virtual High School that is

2008-03-15T11:01:00.006-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I had the privilege of speaking to my VHS host teacher. What an eye opening experience! The amount of knowledge I absorbed was incredible.

She answered a few questions for me from my list of things in the post below - plus some I didn't realize I had originally.

I left her a voice mail and found out later she was on a 45-minute tutoring session with one of her students. She teaches Algebra 1 so I can see how it's possible to have a tutoring session on the phone as opposed to something like Geometry or Calculus. At the same time, it still must be challenging. I didn't ask for more details about how she worked the tutoring session. That's an idea for next time.

The number of students in courses and whether or not there are deadlines simply depends on the course. For Algebra 1, my understanding of it, is that students can enter at different times. Once they complete one semester successfully, they receive 0.5 credit and then can receive 0.5 credit again upon completing the second semester successfully. The majority of students are working on recovering credits so they usually have just one semester they are signed up to take.

Teachers of different courses have different goals for students completing the course. For the Algebra 1 class, the goal is to have 120 credits. That would be 240 semester credits. If a teacher finds they are close to their goal or far from it, they can choose to work with less or more students so they have more opportunities to reach their goal.

Some classes have higher and lower goals for completed credits depending on the amount of time/work required for completing those credits. Advanced Placement (AP) classes may have goals of only 90 credits completed versus Physical Education (PE) classes, whose goals could be 160 credits.

I know. You're next question is: How do you have virtual Physical Education classes? I asked that myself. Since you are probably wondering in regards to the physical aspect of the class, I will address that first. Students are given 'workouts' to complete and the parents have to sign off that the student actually completed it. I guess the problem would be whether or not the parent would lie about it or the student would forge it. Remember, the teacher has a monthly conference with the student and a parent so the forging aspect could easily be checked out. As far as the parent lying... my thought is that they have a lot more issues they will have to deal with later on in life if they are teaching their children how to lie about something as important as their education. Sad, but true.

The other aspect of the class sounded pretty cool. My host teacher even made a comment about wanting her own children to take a virtual PE class. The students go through a series of assignments that sound similar to labs in science. One of them requires students to require what they eat throughout a day. I thought about mine yesterday... quite scary. :( The end result is knowledge gained toward living a healthy lifestyle.

We haven't gotten into the system yet to work with math symbols and see how students enter their assignments. I am currently awaiting my clearance for that. Naturally, it is expected that I have a background check since I will be working closely in the system with my host teacher. As soon as that is done, we will be hitting the ground running.

Next time.... What are some of daily tasks a VHS teacher has?

'Til next time,

Ms. Vicco

Food for Thought....

2008-03-14T15:55:00.003-04:00

It did not take long for me to really sink my teeth into Bruce and Augusta Droste's article. Bruce Droste describes the cynicism a group of educators felt toward online learning. He replied with:

" 'How many of you still use slide rules to perform everyday mathematical calculations?' No hands were raised. 'How many of you remember when four function calculators were looked on as cheating?' All hands rose accompanied by a few snickers. 'How many of you now think calculators are not only here to stay, but are a required instrument in math classes?' Once again, everyone raised a hand."(Bruce et. al., 2004, p. 57)

All great technologies are feared because they seem lazy. Maybe so; however, some are for the betterment of mankind. For instance, TiVo. :)

The necessity and value of online classes are increasing in value. To think they are going away is wishful thinking. We should embrace the value and potential they have. We should work with them in an effort to ensure the success of the students who are 'attending' these classes. As Whitney Houston sang, "I believe the children are our future." It is time to remember that as our main goal as educators.

References

Droste, B. & Droste, A. (September 2004) A virtual reality: The growing world of online learning. Independent School, 63(4), 56 - 62.

Virtually Successful

2008-03-13T21:40:00.002-04:00

I have been thinking since our break-out session about the different responsibilities of the virtual school teachers. I guess I need to write down a list of questions. One of my questions is this: How can it be difficult to create a successful online program?

Don't get me wrong. I do not say this in any way to degrade the Virtual School (VS) where I am interning. I say it because it seems to integrate so many "features" to help students have a successful experience. The local online program I have experience with for high school students does little more than assign homework, have chat sessions before tests and meet twice (once at the beginning and once at the end). Easy enough for the teachers it seems; however, is it really the set up that is most conducive to the students' educational success.

At the VS, the teachers are available from 8am - 8pm, have conferences once a month with the student and a parent, and have a 48 hour turn out on assignments with specific feedback. These are only a few things that stood out in my mind.

A couple of questions I need to ask next time may be:
(1) How many students typically come through a class during one semester?
(2) Is there a deadline for joining each class?
(3) How do students enter numbers and mathematical symbols for assignments and discussion?
(4) Are the students required to communicate mathematically?

It seems at this point that the more answers I get, the more questions I have.

'Til next time.
Ms. Vicco :)

New Directions...

2008-03-11T18:53:00.003-04:00

I have been given the great opportunity to intern for a virtual school over the next few weeks. With that said, the posts for this blog will be geared toward my experiences with the internship. I have often wondered what it would be like to teach at a virtual school so this is an exciting time for me. Look for (or subscribe to the blog through Bloglines) to keep up with these experiences. I will be updating at least 3 times a week for the next 6 weeks or so.

Looking forward to what you learn from it, too. Reply to the posts to let me know your thoughts.

'Til next time.

Ms. Vicco :)

Sine: From Unit Circle to Coordinate Plane

2008-02-17T19:15:00.003-05:00

Here is my first attempt at a vodcast. Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

Aurora Borealis During a Full Moon

2008-02-10T15:05:00.001-05:00

aurora during a full moon
Originally uploaded by Marlis1

I'm checking out a cool feature between flickr.com and blogger. This is my first attempt at linking one of my flickr photos to Ms. Vicco Blogs.

This is one of my favorites. Not math related although I bet some science could explain the beauty of the Northern Lights.

You Think YOU Struggle With Math?

2008-02-09T19:05:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favorite math videos (besides a similar one with Abbott & Costello). These characters are Ma & Pa Kettle and at one time were extremely popular. They were actually before my time. (no age jokes!)

Here's your challenge. Can you explain what they are doing wrong?

Keep Your Eye On the Prize

2008-01-27T22:14:00.001-05:00

Make sure Senioritis doesn't keep you from wearing the green gown!

Math As Logic - Rube Goldberg Machines

2008-01-27T20:57:00.000-05:00

I found a great video that a Math Topics class did at LFHS (don't ask the name - I didn't see it). Anyhow, so many of my students only see math as numbers. I thought this was such a fun way to show logic and math tied together.

Math Rap

2008-01-20T21:40:00.000-05:00

In an effort to get all of you pumped for creating a math song (e.g. The Unit Circle Slide), I wanted to show you that I'm not the only crazy one. :)

Enjoy this sine, cosine, tangent song a math teacher bravely put on YouTube to help his students remember the three basic trig functions.

Intro to Virtual Field Trips

2008-01-20T11:24:00.000-05:00

Some amazing things and places are all around us and we are stuck, here in the classroom.

I am hoping we can see some of these amazing places and realize that "The World Is Numbers."

Join me on great Virtual Field Trips.