Why my job is so hard to explain to people
As a teacher in a DL school I'm constantly trying to explain to people what I do. Because it's kind of complicated sometimes, if some random person asks what I do, I've been known to avoid the answer all together and say I teach Gr. 5/6. DL (Distributed Learning) is a combination of distance ed, correspondence, online learning and homeschooling. Yesterday I was in an online meeting with a group of educators from around BC discussing an online student management system. The meeting ran a little late and I'd scheduled a meeting using our online classroom (Elluminate) with some students I have in New Zealand. They waited patiently while I finished up my other meeting then we met and discussed some of their curriculum. The grade 6 girl showed me her Sc. project using her web cam. Then, before that meeting was finished a Gr. 7 student IM'd me on Google Chat with some questions about dividing decimals in math. We moved over to Elluminate and did a few examples on t...
