Final project

I decided on a final project, trying to tie in a computer program I have had success with in a collaborative classroom method, to a distance learning model. I have used Sim City, in conjunction with social studies classes, as a way for students to get a small opportunity for creative expression, while learning simple economic principles like the effects of taxation and demand on a society. Sim City 4 is the best one-on-one model for a classroom-wide project where the kids build a city, and try to reach a particular set of goals- X number of people, Y number of jobs, at Z tax rate, etc. The only limitation is that you can't take the city online. The new Sim City, Societies, allows you to post your progress to a page on the EA (game publisher)'s website. This way, you can keep track of all the previous goals, although it is not a live look, like spore or other online games by EA. It is still passable enough to allow a teacher to check progress, and in conjunction with a blog page where the students post a reaction, it allows for a lot of interaction between teacher and student.

On a professional level, I feel like there could be more I could be doing, and so I actually asked my lead teacher why we do what we do, in the way we do it, last week. She called me into a meeting with the principal. I sent a series a questions as to our instructional methodology via email and we went down the list. I had a positive experience. I kept insisting that I didnt want to be a bad guy and didnt want to cause trouble, I just wanted to know why we do what we do, and why we can't do some things differently. The meeting was productive. I had essentially no prior experience with IEPs and the like prior to this year- I had one student with an IEP, and it was to allow him to do his math on a calculator. I taught freshmen english, so his accomodation didn't apply.

is Distance ED part of the solution?

I teach part-time at Eastern Kentucky University, in their English/Theatre department. I teach English 101 and English 102. Two sections of 101, one of 102-I've only got an MA, so I don't get to do more. I would love to, but thems the rules. Anyway, I digress. My english 101 class reads from a book called "World of Ideas" by Lee A. Jacobus. In it, there are selections from all the great minds-Machiavelli, Plato's allegory of the cage, etc. We just went through a couple of discussions in a row from the unit of the book on "education." The unit includes essays from Maria Montessori, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Paulo Friere, and Frederick Douglass, all of whom share their thoughts and experiences with education in the United States. ALMOST ALL OF the essays call for reform, and for a move from a "deposit" form of education, a passive experience for the learner, to a learner centered model (emerson's essay is about 160 years old and he advocates that, and reform, moving away from the prussian model), where problem solving and real world skills are paramount. I look at the educational system I am a part of, and realize just how little we have done to accomplish ANY of that. It frustrates me beyond all measure. Every day I feel like I should abandon my path and strike off on my own, design my own model school in my way, but I do not know if I would survive if I did it, so I keep perpetuating the same inadequate system. I think that distance ed, and techology, used properly, has some benefits for a move toward that kind of system, but it doesn't hold all the answers either. We're not even close.