Week 13

This week I learned about many things.  I attended a few online workshops, the the http://k12onlineconference.org website.  Some of the videos I really liked, and some, not so much.  I find that videos that give specifics, like what programs are used, are much more useful to me than videos that push the general ideas, like "learning via play."   I realize these are great ideas, I just don't need 15 minutes to get the idea.  My favorite workshop, "Computer Based Math" did a great job of questioning our school math curriculum's focus on computation, with many students not knowing (or being required) to know why certain formulas apply to certain problems.  I found the "When learning Becomes an Event" video to have some valuable ideas.  I like his idea of involving community members, and using the money they donated to motivate the students, as they knew that people would be viewing their work.

I also spent quite a bit of the day listening to the Isafe modules.  To be honest, I didn't think I would learn much, but I found the opposite to be true.   I never thought about the steps an online predator would take to engender trust with a victim.  Also, many of the reminders about how to keep personal information personal, were appreciated as well.  The frustrating part about trying to identify a victim is that almost all teens have declining grades, become withdrawn, and get irritable easily.  I guess we have our work cut out for us.