Another change in plans

Hello everyone. You may notice that those last 2 posts do not have questions. It was my goal with this semester as with last semester to keep on top of posting our class events and getting feedback from you. I have enjoyed reading all 1400 comments so far this year. At this pace, we would hit over 3000 comments, with just 3 classes! Last year there was 3300 comments with 5 classes. This is truly amazing. I think this blog had a lot to do with how well we did as a class on the fall final. Not only that, but due to the increased traffic to the website, I’m now hit #1 on Google!

However, I am juggling too many things right now. At school I’m trying to update blogs, add moodle activities, grading papers, grading benchmarks, making lesson plans, and all the other stuff associated with being a teacher. At home I am trying to keep up with my 2 sons’ activities, write my Master’s Thesis on Educational Technology (50+ pages of writing and research), as well as prepare our home for a new baby due to arrive in June. I can’t keep up with it all.

So I have decided to use the blog only for listing HW and the day’s activities. But don’t worry, we will still have our posting for points! I will be using the forums on Moodle to create discussion on our current topics of study. This has benefits that the blog does not. For one, you can see your “grade” for the comment. This will then give you an opportunity to fix/add to it. It is also more of a discussion, so dialog can go back and forth if needed. It will be easier for me to track so I won’t have 110 emails I have to read and record. Plus with the practice benchmarks on Moodle, a calendar for upcoming dates, and all the other features, it just makes sense.

So thank you all for the comments. Happy Moodling!

Potential Grades

While I still have a few misc. assignments to record (and you have a few benchmarks to retake!), I have put a few grade reports up so you can see how the final can affect your grade.

Best Case Final (if you were to get 100% on the final)

Worst Case Final (if you were to get a 0%)

Practice Final (your practice final grade as your actual final).

Test Day

It has been awhile, but we finally took our chapter 3 test. Not much else since the test took most of the period.

Monday will be another benchmark day!

No time for anything

Did you ever have one of those days where you didn’t have time for anything? October has been 31 days like that for me. Both school and work related workshops- both participating in and presenting, implementation of Moodle, and tons of benchmarks! And then there’s my family life from sick kids and even the death of my grandfather.

You may have noticed the blog was never updated. I have now added and back-dated last weeks blog entries so you can post your comments in time for the end of the grading period. Thanks for understanding.

Benchmark Exam

The first part of the class was spent doing a quick review of our Review from Monday. We then went into the Benchmark Exam. This exam is to see where we are as a class and individually to and give some direction where we need to go before our final exam. Nothing else!

Posting for points question:

In your opinion, what was the hardest part of the test?

More Reasoning

On our short day today, we looked at more conditional statements, including the biconditional statement (if and only if). There was a fun little handout that we worked through, too. Not much else! The only homework is to bring your book next class.

Posting for Points Question:

What is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning? Give an example of each.