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Follow-Up on Planning for Hybrid PD - Day 2

Those of you who are teachers know what I am talking about - that moment where you say "oh, if I could only go back to 'first period' (or 2nd block - whichever  class was the first one) and reteach this lesson they would get it so much better!"  Practice does really make perfect (well...better any way), as I said in Tuesday's post.

I did the second day of face-to-face with my middle school teachers (see related post) , so basically a repeat of day one with a different content focus, and as is usually the case, learned from my first experience.  Spent more time on the software basics, cleared up some misunderstandings about the online course components - in general, fixed the errors made in the first night.  If only I could go back and do the first night over!  It made me think about all the years of teaching where I taught the same course for 3 periods - that poor first period class definitely got the short end of the stick! Let's face it, the more you do something, the more you tweak and improve and change to make things better.

All in all the first face-to-face experiences went well with both groups -  I was pleased.  And while I know there are some teachers in both groups who are perhaps feeling a bit overwhelmed, I am thinking they all at least feel confident enough to start the online component and start exploring further.  I have already had most folks sign on and introduce themselves online, the first step in developing the online community, and some have already begun their explorations of the software and the content connections with the Common Core.  I am sure I will have to push some others, especially since this is the holiday season and most folks are on vacation, but I feel we are off to a good start.
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Jim Tiffin Jr said…
Sure can relate to your 1st period - 3rd period comment... Use to relish the days that the schedule would get moved around due to an assembly or something, and I could see that 1st period class later in the day after a few "practice" rounds. :-)

Best of luck with the online community building. It's a realm I haven't walked in before -- at least in terms of an entire course. I've worked to extend primarily face-to-face communities to incorporate an online dimension, but that's not quite the same as what you are working on. Most of my success can be tracked back to participants quickly recognizing the value of a particular online element. Diigo and social bookmarking is an example that quickly jumps to mind. I would suspect that same recognition would work in your situation.

Wish I had more to share, but (selfishly) I'm here to learn. :-)

Looking forward to more of your insights being shared here.

Be sure to enjoy the holidays!
December 22, 2011 at 10:50 PM
Karen Greenhaus said…
Jim,

Ha! I know wxactly what you mean about wanting to switch the day around. I often wonder, if I were to look back and compare, if my first block classes did worse than my later blocks overall? I hope not!

Online community is starting off slow...I am blaming the holidays. Not a great time to be starting something that is so new to everyone when they are clearly focused elsewhere. But, I have been pleasantly surprised by some overachievers already. It is showing promise, but I am at the point now where I really need to focus on bringing the stragglers into the fold.

Happy Holidays!
December 23, 2011 at 4:39 PM
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