Completed day 1 of the conference. Lots of people and lots of different classes, I imagine it's what it would be like to attend a huge high school, but with fewer cliques.
I wish I could I say that I learned a lot and am really excited about the whole thing, but I just can't. Because someone in my district dropped the ball, I wasn't registered until the last minute. This meant that I was assigned a class with both new and experienced AP teachers. When I found out, it sounded like a great opportunity. annnnd... no. What it's meant is that the experienced people have dominated all the time, questions and discussion. It also means that we spent all day talking about changes, which would be great - if I had any foundation to build upon. I don't. Thus, I spent much of my time reading the numerous handouts and wondering what the hell was being discussed.
The instructor isn't very organized. Really nice and very knowledgeable, but it's a bit like swiming in the deep end for the first time. Everytime someone goes off on a tanget, the instructor says "shall we cover that now? lets." A good lesson for my own teaching. Stick to the plan and don't let students totally determine the lesson plan. Someone in the class won't be making the jump. I thought about moving to another section of the class (one with only new), but after a full day of the current course, I realized that I'd be behind in that course and probably be just as lost.
BTW, did you see this? I think I may use as an example of irony. AOL joining the fight the against internet crime? Their entire system is designed to make it easy for internet predators to find victims. They practically invented the ability for the predators to access victims - they are a target rich environment for predator and police alike. Although they've known this for years, like many other companies on the 'net, they have never cared about it. If they loose customers, the plan was to focus on getting hundreds more who will sign up. (All those discs...) Have they finally realized that there is a saturation point and there just aren't hundred of new customers to be signed up any more?
This sounds more like the AOL we all know. If they start paying for actual security, how are they going to keep paying for all those discs? How will they replace all those disgrunted customers? Personally, if I was parent, the last internet service I would use is AOL. It's just not worth the risk.
I wish I could I say that I learned a lot and am really excited about the whole thing, but I just can't. Because someone in my district dropped the ball, I wasn't registered until the last minute. This meant that I was assigned a class with both new and experienced AP teachers. When I found out, it sounded like a great opportunity. annnnd... no. What it's meant is that the experienced people have dominated all the time, questions and discussion. It also means that we spent all day talking about changes, which would be great - if I had any foundation to build upon. I don't. Thus, I spent much of my time reading the numerous handouts and wondering what the hell was being discussed.
The instructor isn't very organized. Really nice and very knowledgeable, but it's a bit like swiming in the deep end for the first time. Everytime someone goes off on a tanget, the instructor says "shall we cover that now? lets." A good lesson for my own teaching. Stick to the plan and don't let students totally determine the lesson plan. Someone in the class won't be making the jump. I thought about moving to another section of the class (one with only new), but after a full day of the current course, I realized that I'd be behind in that course and probably be just as lost.
BTW, did you see this? I think I may use as an example of irony. AOL joining the fight the against internet crime? Their entire system is designed to make it easy for internet predators to find victims. They practically invented the ability for the predators to access victims - they are a target rich environment for predator and police alike. Although they've known this for years, like many other companies on the 'net, they have never cared about it. If they loose customers, the plan was to focus on getting hundreds more who will sign up. (All those discs...) Have they finally realized that there is a saturation point and there just aren't hundred of new customers to be signed up any more?
This sounds more like the AOL we all know. If they start paying for actual security, how are they going to keep paying for all those discs? How will they replace all those disgrunted customers? Personally, if I was parent, the last internet service I would use is AOL. It's just not worth the risk.
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