Teaching in Fuzzy Slippershow I have adapted, invented, and learned to enjoy being an online

teacher

My PurposeSince most of you will not teach a

fully online class, this demo is designed to offer options for taking face-to-face lessons and activities and modifying them to an online

format.

I’ll share what works, and I hope you will too.

Please post your favorite online resources to my LMWP blog.

Let’s share the wealth!

What qualifies me to teach in fuzzy slippers?• 25+ years of teaching at the secondary and

college levels• Late 90’s taught online class at DU• 2010 GRCC Online/Hybrid Training• 2010 online and hybrid EN 101 classes• 2011 subbing for 2 online EN 101 classes• 2013 online EN 101• Currently developing Popular Literature into

online format• Disclaimer: Jargon is not my thing—I learned a

long time ago that buzz words are replaced by new ones. I can’t (don’t want to) keep up. I know the practice, do it, just can’t name it. I can dance the dance, but I’m not sure what it’s called .

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

of Online Teaching***

What are your thoughts and questions?

Send me an email: palczewski4@comcast.net

Share your thoughts. Save your questions.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

of Online TeachingPros• Teaching in my fuzzy slippers• Comfortable• Any place with wi-fi works• I pick the time to be “on”• Flexibility• Creativity• I think about what I write• I am not distracted by

students who are sleeping, texting, talking, etc.

• I give richer feedback to students’ writing.

Cons• No reason to shop for new

clothes• Can be 24/7 job• Hard to let my personality shine• So many options for creativity

and delivery can be overwhelming

• My errors are in print• Can’t see or hear students

– Sarcasm– Concern– Confusion– Delight– Enlightenment

Tips from GRCC’s Distance Learning and Technologies

Webpage

Tried and True in the ClassroomWeeks 1 and 2

• Ice Breaker/Get to know your peers• Course introduction• “Sit Down and Write”• The Writing Process Diagram• Journal: Reflect on your last writing experience…• Life Map• 50 Word Sagas• Journal introduction

Tried and True OnlineWeeks 1 and 2

• 50 Word Saga Discussion Board (DB): Get to know your peers

• Announcements: Course introduction and tour• The Writing Process– “Sit Down and Write”– The Writing Process Diagram– Journal: Reflect on your last writing experience…– Life Map

• Journal introduction

A Week Two Activity

Communicating in My Fuzzy Slippers

• Blackboard IM (Google, Facebook are other options)

• Email• Face-to-face conferences• Cover letters• Discussion Board: Virtual Office and

Prompted– Let’s give it a try. Go to Schoology.com– Find the Discussion Board forum called

“50 Word Sagas.”

My 50 Word SagaMother of two, wife, Beagle owner, foodie: I love teaching, reading, chasing Oscar-nominated movies, and entertaining. A Ram and Bronco grad, Falcon and Spartan mom, ArtPrize volunteer, this Tiger fan values education, sports, friends, and art. Must have’s: ice cream, sunbeam naps, over-sized sweatshirts, strong coffee, browned popcorn, and jazz.

Follow the directions on the forum. We will spend about 20 minutes on this writing and

discussion activity.

Obvious Differences Between Classroom and

Online Teaching• I organize, show, talk, interact, smile, laugh, grumble, and observe in the classroom.

• A course management system organizes, keeps track of time, communicates, and represents.

• Students look, listen, and write in the classroom.

• They primarily read and write in an online format.

• We meet in a predetermined place, during the same time period twice a week.

• The place and time is fluid in an online class; although, the weeks always begin at the same time and day.

Fuzzy Slipper Tidbits• Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should—bells and

whistles, wikis, blogs, packages,…Oh my!• Invite a librarian to become embedded in your course

during the research paper unit. Using the DB is a great tool for communication (Kadavy September 2011).

• Save conversations from email and IM in student-folders.

• Experiment with evaluation styles- I have used Word Review>Comments and Ink Tools (stylus).

• Save common replies in a Word doc to paste on assignments.

• Create Word folders for each draft for easy reference.• Use Camtasia Video and Jing software (or similar

capturing tools): Plagiarism Video. Software is available through TechSmith.

More Fuzzy Slipper Tidbits• The beauty of online teaching is its flexible scheduling—I can teach when

it’s convenient.• The ugly of online teaching is its flexible scheduling. I learned I must set

boundaries or the teaching can become 24/7. I had to learn I was not on call. I would blame students for the email they sent that I read and responded to when I didn’t want to.

• I remembered after my last class that I need to give a semester-long schedule to students.

• I offer several communication options—email, IM, personal conferences (meet in library).

• I have to be prepared for mistakes such as technical issues, short-cuts that aren’t carefully posted, etc.

• I can’t read tone and attitude into words. Since I can’t see facial expressions or hear voice I often ask questions to confirm what students write.

• Last summer I enrolled in a MOOC (Mass Open Online Course) which offered me a chance to be an online student– I learned how much time is involved in reading/listening/writing/

responding.– I learned how to maneuver through the course management system.

The Collage: A Favorite Assignment Works with

Fuzzy Slippers!

Jaime’s Process EssayPlus Two Online Collages

Memoir Collage Process EssayTruthfully, I had a really hard time with this Memoir Collage. I have only been back in school for one semester now, and I didn’t have as much content to work with as I would have liked. I’m sure I wrote plenty of papers in high school and when I started college, but that was years and years ago. I no longer have any of those documents (at least not readily available), and they would have been helpful. After looking through the work I’ve done this semester, I decided a good theme for my collage would be determination. It seems that when I’m able to choose my own topic to write about, my first thoughts go to times in my life that have been rough, and I’ve had to work hard to get where I wanted to be. I started reading through my work, and found many pieces I could use to demonstrate determination.Figuring out how to present my collage was another obstacle. I wanted to do a Power Point presentation, but only had Microsoft Office starter at home on my computer, and therefore no access to Power Point. I decided that my best option would be to go ahead and purchase Microsoft Home & Office, so I did. Once I had it purchased, downloaded, and installed, I got started on my presentation. I found a theme that I liked, copied and pasted my quotes, and got started editing. I was hoping to be able to add more graphics that I did, but found that there weren’t really many that would be relevant to what I was writing. I did realize that I’ve written a lot about my struggles with weight loss in my writing throughout the semester, and added a couple pictures to correlate with that. All in all, I think the Memoir Collage turned out well. It gives the reader insight into my writing, as well as my life. I’m sure it would have been easier to do something like this after being back in school for longer than I have been, but I worked hard to make it work for me. Determination is something I have a lot of, and also something I think is important for anyone wanting to reach their goals. Considering the audience for this collage is a bunch of students, I’d say determination is probably important to all of us.

What writers say about writing

Tina Fey on writing for Saturday Night Live

--Bossy Pants

What writers say about writing

Stephen King on learning to write for an audience

On Writing: A Memoir of the CraftDo we have time to go deep? Think about Fey’s

and King’s figures of speech. Now write a metaphor about writing for an audience. Post

it on you LMWP blog if you’d like.

Teaching in Fuzzy Slippers

Any questions?

Fuzzy Slippers References• Brown, Ryan. “Community College Students Perform Worse Online Than

Face to Face.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. July 18, 2011. Web.• Elbaum, Bonnie, Cynthia McIntyre, and Alese Smith. Essential Elements:

Prepare, Design, and Teach Your Online Course. Madison, WI: Atwood Publishing, 2002.

• Fey, Tina. Bossy Pants. New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2013• Kadavy, Casey and Kim Chuppa-Cornell. “A Personal Touch:

Embedding Library Faculty into Online English 102.” English in the Two-Year College. Vol. 39, No 1, Sept. 2011. Web.

• King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. New York : Scribner, 2010.

• Kunnen, Eric. “Leveraging Technology to Improve Online Student Success and Retention.” Grand Rapids Community College Wordpress Blog. July 27, 2011. Web

• Novotney, Amy. “Making e-Learning Work.” American Psychological Association. January 2012, Vol. 43, No. 1. Web.