A beer! Now that sounds so good!! :)) Yes, I love the blog!

I just finished responding to all my classes, whew!! The first few weeks are really busy - getting everyone on the same page and having them point out my mistakes! :) In our class I decided to let them observe any classroom - ideally they should be observing a day-care, pre-school or kindergarten class - so if they have the opportunity to observe what they need for the assignments I'm letting them go with it. At the end of the week I'll create a new announcement, recap the week and do a bit of housekeeping by explaining how to use the curriculum sites and their assignments to create their curriculum. The sooner they understand that the sooner they can begin their observations and assignment work to get started. I will also introduce the concept of an essential question to guide the segments of their curriculum. Some may choose a thematic curriculum, others may go for a core discipline based curriculum and others still may choose something of their own choosing - I am really curious to see what they develop - they will all have the same assignments, what they do with them is going to be interesting!

My other classes look like excellent classes ! I am just ready to get done with school so I can devote all my time to the online classes! This is what I really enjoy!!

However, I hope you don't mind - but I just need to vent for a bit - you would understand my frustrations .........I received an email today from a student in one of my spring classes. It's the first day of summer classes and it's been over two weeks since the spring class has been closed and grades posted. This student emails me and tells me her finanacial aid has been taken away and it was my class that caused it and could I giver her a C- to get back in to good standing for fall classes!! When this happens I see red - these kids know I post grades every week and they can visit the gradebook at any time - if they have questions or concerns they should contact me and discuss it then - not two weeks after the fact!! This student did not complete the mid-term and missed two classes as well as two assignments. I emailed her about the missed assignments and exam and got no response. Now she wants to enroll in summer courses and her finanacial aid is affected because she received a "D" in my class and it's my fault. These are the little things that get me very angry. I was quite proud of myself - I didn't exactly blast her but I patiently went through each week's grades to show her how her grade was tabulated and explained that she should check her grades more often and address any issues right then and not wait. Okay, I feel better just writing it out - thanks in advance for letting me vent......

Hope each day you get stronger and fight this virus. Talk to you soon!
Lynn