Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to give you a reminder that Module 6 closes this week.  The assignments all need to be completed by Friday, Feb. 18th at midnight.  After that I will not accept this week’s daily assignments and all other assignments will be for 1/2 credit!  The Module 6 Exam will be available starting Wednesday, Feb. 16 and needs to be completed no later than Sunday, Feb. 20th!!!

If you have any questions about any of the assignments or the test please post them to the Help, I’m Lost and Confused forum. 

Good Luck this week and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mrs. T

New Semester, New Start. For everyone?

Hi my World History Friends!

I can’t believe we are already 2 weeks into the new semester!  Time flies whether we are having fun or not.  Unfortunately there is nothing, not even having a bad time or avoiding work, that will actually make time slow down or stop completely!  I often think that if I could just get more time I would get everything done.  However, it is possible to get everything done in the time we have now!  It just requires managing our time a little better and not spending so much time on “time eaters” like Facebook, video games, texting, etc.  I am just as guilty as the next person of getting a little distracted when I first get on my computer.  I know this about myself so now I set limits.  I tell myself “OK, you can have 5 minutes to check e-mail, look at Facebook, shop online, etc. and then you have to get to work.”  I then set “rewards” for myself, like for every 1/2 hour I work, I can do something else for 5 minutes.  I know it doesn’t seem like much but it does encourage me to get to work and to get everything done.  This may not work for you.  You are the only one who knows what exactly will motivate you and help you stay on track.  Just remember how good it feels to actually get work done and to be successful!  For me that means actually grading all of your work in a timely manner!  With everything else I have to do I often put grading off.  However, I know that as a student it is annoying and frustrating to turn work in and not to have your teacher grade it!  SO… I am making a pledge today to grade all of your assignments in the week that they are turned in!  What will you pledge to do?  Send me an e-mail and let me know your pledge so we can keep each other on track! 

I want everyone to pass World History this semester!  I know you can all do it with a little hard work and motivation.  Let me know how I can help.

Mrs. T

6 Week Progress Reports!!!!

Hi Everyone !

Can you believe the first 6 weeks are already over?  Time flies when you are working hard!  I have graded all assignments and you should be receiving e-mails notifiying you of your grade on each assignment.  If you are not, then you are not checking your COS e-mail account.  Please check that e-mail regularly.  That is where all of the information I send to you ends up.   If you every get a grade you are unhappy with please e-mail me and we can discuss.  More often than not you are able to redo the assignment and resubmit for full credit.  However, if you are turning in assignments late or blank you will not get the extra time to fix the assignment.  So…it is important you are turning in assignments on time!

OK, so I am sure the question on everyone’s mind is “what is my 6 week grade?”.  I have updated everything so the grade you see in Moodle should be your 6 week grade.  Many of you have a lower grade than I am sure you would like.  This is due to not turning in assignments.  There are some of you out there, and I am sure you know who you are, who turn in one assignment here and there but nothing consistent.  This is only going to result in frustration, both yours and mine!  You will be frustrated because you think you have been doing work and are mad that you are failing and I will be frustrated because you are failing for lack of work and then you will ask me “why?”.  So let’s do everyone a favor and remember that your grade is only based on the amount of work you do.  Which means you have to do ALL of the work to pass. 

That being said, I am going to leave Modules 1 & 2 open for 2 more weeks.  Please complete any missing assignments in that time.  When you are ready to take the tests for those Modules you will need to e-mail me for the password.  Yes your work will be counted as late, but late is better than a zero.  Trust me.  

If you are struggling please let me know.  If you have questions e-mail me or post to the Help, I’m Lost and Confused Forum.  There is help available. 

Everyone can still pass this course, so DON’T GIVE UP!!!  Take advantage of the next two weeks and get caught up.  The next grading period ends in November.  The semester doesn’t end until January so there is still some time.  However, the farther behind you fall, the harder it will be to catch up. 

Good Luck! 

Mrs. T

Week 2 – So Far, So Good?

Hi Everyone! 

I am happy to see many of you have been completing assignments and are on track to finish Module 1 on time!  Remember, all Module 1 work and the test needs to be completed by Tuesday, Sept. 7th. 

We were supposed to be Elluminating today, right now as I write this actually, however my lack of technical skills has caused me to have to cancel.  I (incorrectly) thought that I could “do it myself”, as my 1 year old would say, and that I wouldn’t need to bug Chai, our tech guy who saves me on many occasions.  However, since I am typing this to you instead of talking to you I think we all know what happened!  It didn’t happen.  I could not figure out how to invite all of you to my session.  Something that seems so simple and probably is simple has kept me from teaching you!   But this situtation has made me think about this Online School in general.  How many of the tasks that you and I have to complete seem “easy” to some but become insurmountable to others.  How all of us need help from others at some point.  How you may be an expert on one thing and someone else the expert on something else.  This online class will only work when we all work together.  We need to ask questions, provide support and help to our fellow classmates. 

All year we will be working to not only learn World History but how this Online School works.  The Help, I’m Lost and Confused forum is a great place to ask questions and to offer help.  Please post any and all questions there and don’t be afraid to get on there and answer some of them.   I know we will all achieve more when we work to help each other.

Finally, a word about assignments.  The webpages many assignments direct you to are jumping off points to help you.  Feel free to use other sites to help you answer questions.  Just remember the site’s source.  Not all information on the internet is accurate.  If it is from the History Channel, PBS, CNN, BBC, MSN, or any other news paper or news source it is great.  If it is a blog called “Jim Bob’s opinion of the World” it is probably not.   If you ever have any questions about a site or source please let me know.  I am always here to help.

I am looking forward to getting to know all of you better as the year goes on.  Have a great week!

Mrs. T

Welcome Back!

Welcome New Students!!!

I don’t know about you, but the summer went by crazy fast for me!  I can’t believe school has actually started and they are already putting Halloween stuff up in the stores.  My kids are already talking about their costumes!

Anyway, whether we like it or not school is here.  Welcome to World History!  We are going to have a great year.  I have finally updated the syllabus, welcome letter and due dates for you.  (I told you, I was in disbelief about the school year starting!)  Please begin working and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Sooner is better than later when it comes to working out the kinks in the system.  So ask early, ask often if you have questions.

If you are ever at Buchanan, stop by and say HI!  I am in room 114.

Mrs. T

Module 5 is open and the End of Semester 1 is near!

Hi All -

Congratulations on all of your hard work!  Can you believe that next week is the end of the first semester?  It IS!  July 1st is the end of the semester.  That means that all of the work for Modules 1 – 5 MUST be finished by July 1st.  If it is not completed it will count as a zero.  After that date, all of the first 5 modules will be closed and we will begin working on Modules 6-10.  If you have any questions or concerns about that please let me know.

Also, I want to say a big THANK YOU for dealing with the craziness this week while I was out of town.  I had to go to a conference for my job at Buchanan and it was a little hard to be near my computer at the right times or for long periods.  From now on I will be here in town and on a normal schedule. 

I know you may have some questions regarding grading.  You may have seen that some of your assignments are not graded by me but are being graded by my teacher’s assistant, Charlene.  She is an awesome past student of mine who is going to be attending UCLA in the Fall!  She is working with me to try and grade all of your assignments in a timely manner.  However, I am the only one who will be grading your tests.  Which is why you are still waiting for the results from Module 1!  I promise I am getting them done ASAP!  

If you have any questions about assignments, grades, anything, please let me know.  I am available on e-mail or at 977-8672.  Also, I WILL be elluminating next Wednesday, June 30th at 11:00AM.  So join me there and earn extra credit, in addition to getting all of your questions answered.

Talk to you soon!

Mrs. T

Great First Week!!

Hi All!  Well if you are still reading this then that means you survived the first week.  Yea!!! 

I know… I can’t believe a week has passed already!  I guess all work and no play makes the time fly.  From your e-mails, forum posts, and instant messages it looks like you are spending a lot of time doing your work.  You may be asking yourself will I ever get caught up?  Will I ever get to leave this computer?  I am here to promise you that you will! 

Some of you have already found a good rhythm and figured out the best way for you to do this class.  If you haven’t yet, don’t worry, you will.  Soon you will all have figured out what best works for you and how to use your time efficiently. 

I will offer you this piece of advice:  When you are working on an assignment and the given information in the lesson or on the linked websites does not give you what you are looking for you should search the internet.  That is called research.  It will probably save you time and stress!

Mrs. T

So How Do I Do My Online Class When The Website is Down?! :)

Hi Everyone!!!  First of all DON’T PANIC!!!    If it is down for you it is down for all of us.  Last night I had plans, like many of you, to do a bunch of work for summer school.  Well, life has a way of messing up our plans.  So I had to take a deep breath and figure out a new plan.  For you that may mean continuing to work on assignments that you have already started so that they are ready to turn in as soon as the Moodle is back up.  It may also mean being proactive at this point since we know that this is a possibility in the future.  Being proactive means working on your assignments early and often.  Not waiting until the last minute to turn in assignments.  Looking at what the assignment requires and maybe downloading it to your computer so that you can work on it even if you can’t get on Moodle. 

Unfortunately life is not perfect and neither is this system.  However, we are all going to work together to make this the best situation for all of us.  I am here to help you, not cause you undue stress and discomfort! 

Good Luck!  Let me know how I can help!!! 

Welcome to Summer School!

Well I know we didn’t get much of a break from the end of the school year to the beginning of summer school!  I hope you all got to at least enjoy a few hours of freedom before getting back to work!    I was able to see a movie this weekend, Letters to Juliet, so I am pretty happy.  Movies don’t happen often in my life, at least not “grown-up” movies!  Since I have 3 children under the age of 7! 

I want to welcome you to World History and let you know that I am here to support you.  However, there are a lot of you in this class so if you e-mail me or otherwise try to contact me and I don’t get back to you right away I am not ignoring you!  I will get back to you as soon as possible.  I promise.  Also, I hope to see you this Wednesday at 8:30AM in the Clovis East Library.  I will be able to answer any questions you have and will be able to hopefully get you off on the right foot this summer. 

Finally, please realize that most of the assignments for this class include links to websites.  Unfortunately sometimes those websites change or go away.  I try to be as proactive as possible to make sure this doesn’t cause you any problems but I miss things occasionally.  Please let me know if you find something that is not working right.  I will make adjustments as necessary. 

If we work together we will all get through this summer.  I guarantee it!  (Although since you didn’t pay to be here I can’t offer any money back!)

Mrs. T9

May is here and Module 9 is open!!!

Hi Everyone! 

Well school is almost over and I know if you are anything like me you are starting to count the days!  Now is not the time to start daydreaming about sandy beaches and long summer days!  Now is the time to get your second wind and rededicate yourself to finishing the school year strong!  With only a few weeks left it is easy to start thinking that the work we are now doing doesn’t matter as much or that you can miss a few assignments and still pass.  Unfortunately this type of thinking will only lead to stress come June 1st when you realize you have 20 assignments to complete in one week.  I am here to remind you that slow and steady wins the race!  Doing your assignments on time not only insures you the best grade possible, but it also means they will all get completed without the stress and anxiety that comes with doing 5 World History assignments in one day! 

I have just opened up Module 9 so please jump in right now!  If you have any questions or experience any difficulties please let me know.  Also, our daily assignments are different this time, so please take a look and let me know if you need help. 

If you are missing any work from Modules 7 or 8 I will still accept the assignments until June 1st!  They will be given late credit but something is better than nothing.

Keep Working.  Finish Stong!

Mrs. T9