Tuesday Teacher Profile: Ms. Susan Cox

Name: Ms. Susan Cox

Courses Taught: Chinese II, III, and Survey of World Languages

Years Teaching: 15

Location: Alexandra, VA

Hidden Talent: Ballroom dance (Won first place at the 2011 USA Dancesport Championships)

Thoughts About Teaching and Learning Online: Individual students learn differently. The great thing about online classes is how flexible I can be in offering various assessments, resubmissions, and effective methods of feedback. Ironically, I can make the teaching more personalized for the individual student online than in the classroom.

Advice for students taking an online class:
1) Keep a binder and planner/calendar. You must stay organized and on pace.
2) Try not to refer to your face-2-face teachers as "real" teachers compared to your online teachers. I am very real.

What is one concrete example that shows that online world language classes "work"?
Last year, one my online students was accepted to the US government's NSLI (National Security Language Institute) summer language program in China. As part of that program, she was tested on her Chinese language skills. She tested so high that she was placed in the highest class after only two years of Chinese. In other words, she came into the NSLI program with Chinese language skills ahead of all her peers, who were all face-2-face students.

More Information:
Ms. Cox's online Chinese language courses were featured on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. You can listen to the story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89070946

Summer Session Info

Find out more about our upcoming summer session here: http://www.virtualvirginia.org/summer.

Virtual Virginia Featured on WVTF Public Radio

Listen here:

http://www.wvtf.org/news_and_notes/audio/201104051529170.VirtualVirginiaWeb.mp3

VVa Brochure for 2011-2012 is now available

Print copies will mailed to schools soon, but you can download a digital version now.

Recognition for Great Teaching

Congrats to Kristin Kipp, the 2011 Online Teacher of the Year and also to VVa's Tom Landon for also being honored tonight by the SREB/iNacol.

Good Luck, Tom!

Good luck to VVa Geography Teacher and National Online Teacher of the Year Finalist Tom Landon as he makes his way to Atlanta today for the SREB Excellence Dinner where he will be honored. We are all proud of you, Tom. http://bit.ly/d8R19w

Tuesday Teacher Profile: Ms. Jesse Hernandez

Name: Ms. Jesse Hernandez

Courses Taught: AP English Literature and Composition, World Mythology

Years Teaching: 11

Location: Midlothian, VA

Hidden Talents: single-handed cartwheels and parallel parking

Thoughts About Teaching and Learning Online: Our world is becoming increasingly more connected through online learning. As more and more high school students are required to take online classes, those of us with experience need to constantly make it better through interactivity.

Advice For students Taking An Online Course: Engage your teacher and your classmates regularly to create your own learning community.

Registration

Virtual Virginia registration for the 2011-2012 school year begins April 15, 2011, for Virginia public schools. Registration for homeschool, private school, and out-of-state students opens July 1, 2011.

Tuesday Teacher Profile: Ms. Courtney Clemons

Name: Ms. Courtney Clemons

Courses Taught: AP Language and Composition, World Mythology, French II

Years Teaching: 12

Location: Lewisburg, WV

Hidden Talent: I am an avid birder. I participate in bird counts for the National Audubon Society and am helping with a 5-year Breeding Bird Atlas in West Virginia.

Thoughts About Teaching and Learning Online: I love teaching online because it gives me a chance to give students more individualized feedback. I also like that I can communicate with and help students on more of a one-on-one basis than I could in a face-to-face classroom.

Advice For students Taking An Online Course: Students need to be motivated and have a strong work ethic. If they are willing to put forth the effort, I think many students can benefit so much from this experience.

Virtual Virginia Teacher Named Finalist for National Teaching Award Second Year In a Row

The Southern Regional Education Board and the International Council for K12 Online Learning have announced the list of finalists for the second annual National Online Teacher of the Year. Nominations for 65 candidates from 25 states were considered. We are very proud that to announce that Virtual Virginia's Human Geography teacher Tom Landon has been named one of those five finalists.

Read the press release here: http://home.sreb.org/publication/news1.aspx?Code=1282

This is the second year in a row that one of Virtual Virginia's teacher has been named a finalist for this recognition. Virtual Virginia AP Economics teacher Steven Sproles was one of the three finalist for the 2010 award.

One of this year's five finalists will be named the 2011 National Online Teacher of the Year on March 10 in Atlanta, at the Excellence Dinner during the SREB’s Education Technology Cooperative’s Teaching and Learning Symposium.

The 2011 National Online Teacher of the Year will receive a crystal Flame of Excellence and a day with Karen Cator, the director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, plus a trip to the Virtual School Symposium sponsored by iNACOL, November 9-11 in Indianapolis. The winner also will be recognized during the iNACOL Annual Meeting and will be featured on the SREB and iNACOL websites. The other four finalists will receive special recognition at the awards banquet in March and other honors.

Tuesday Teacher Profile: Ms. Colleen Spinelli

Name: Ms. Colleen Spinelli

Courses Taught: AP Environmental Science

Years Teaching: 10

Location: Bristow, VA

Hidden Talent: I learned to row at age 6.

Thoughts About Teaching and Learning Online: Teaching is a great way to reach out to other people and share an experience. Whether it is academic or athletic, I love to see someone learn and connect. Online learning allows me to interact with wonderful students in any zipcode.

Tuesday Teacher Profile: Ms. Christina Kauffman

Name: Ms. Christina Kauffman

Courses Taught: Latin I and Latin III

Years Teaching: 9

Hidden Talent: I enjoy photography and travel.

Thoughts About Teaching and Learning Online: Teaching students who would not have had an opportunity to take Latin in a traditional classroom setting has been very rewarding for me. I have enjoyed working with a wide range of students from all over the states and have been privileged to have some students from other countries, too. Each student brings a unique background and set of experiences to the course and makes the online environment a very rich and dynamic place for learning.

Advice for Students Taking Online Courses: Like many things in life, communication is essential. To succeed in an online course, students should frequently communicate with the instructor. VVa courses contain multiple means of communication and students should take advantage of all the opportunities their courses afford.

Tuesday Teacher Profile: Ms. Cat Latcovich

Ms. Latcovich, with her dog Seger

Name: Ms. Cat Latcovich

Courses Taught: AP United States History and AP European History

Location: Richmond, VA

Years Teaching: 10

Hidden Talent: Shopping - I can find a bargain anywhere.

Thoughts about online teaching and learning: Teachers and students can be intimated by online learning as it is quite different from the face to face classroom. However, online teachers can provide students with just as much, if not more, individualized instruction. I have also found that I can get to know students very well in online classes through our instant messaging, emails, and phone calls.

Advice for students taking online courses: Work on your time management skills. Don't wait until the day of a deadline to complete all of your work. Pacing the work out over how many days you have to complete it will help you better understand the material and leave you feeling less stressed.

Tuesday Teacher Profile: Ms. Rachel Herbst

Name: Ms. Rachel Herbst

Courses Taught: AP Art History

Location: Virginia Beach, VA

Years Teaching: 6

Hidden Talent: I can name the starting lineup for the Chicago Bears.

Thoughts about online teaching and learning: It is a unique way to interact with students. We meet them on their playing field...the computer.

Advice for students taking online courses: Stick to the schedule. Do not fall behind!

Winter Schedule

Today, December 20, is an Instructor Work Day. Instructors will not be available until after the Winter Break. You may access content as normal, but please be advised that the Help Desk, and instructors will be unavailable from December 21-31st. All classes will resume on January 3rd. Have a great break, and we will see you all next year!

Reminder: Virtual Virginia does not close for snow.

Ms. Spinelli (AP Environmental Science)

Free Professional Development Opportunity for Virginia World Language Teachers

Virginia World Language teachers have the opportunity to explore how students are using online course tools to learn languages through a new professional development mini-course from Virginia Department of Education’s online course provider, Virtual Virginia. This free course, called World Language Online Wonders (WOW), will be delivered online and be facilitated by veteran online world language teachers. The course will run from January 10, 2011 to February 4, 2011.

The course will be asynchronous, so there will not be set class meeting times. Instead, participants will work through four modules that examine issues of reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking in an online world language classroom. After reading all course material and completing all course assignments, participants will receive a certificate indicating completion of eight hours of professional development. With prior approval from the local school division, this certificate may be used toward license renewal.

If you are interested in taking advantage of this opportunity, email scott.cloud@virtualvirginia.org between December 8, 2010 and January 4, 2011 to request a registration. Space is limited.

Tuesday Teacher Profile: Mr. Tom Landon

Name: Mr. Tom Landon

Courses Taught: AP Human Geography

Location: Roanoke, VA

Years Teaching: 11

Hidden Talent: I play the trumpet in a goofy marching band called the Norman Fishing Tackle Choir, and I enjoy making not-for-profit documentary films on the side.

Thoughts about online teaching and learning: When I started working for Virtual Virginia, I worried that I'd miss the personal interaction with students. Now, four years later, I've learned that online courses ARE personal, and I think I know my students better now than I did in a face-to-face environment.

New Course for Spring 2011

http://www.virtualvirginia.org/courses/catalog/astronomy.html

4260 Earth Science II – Astronomy

Astronomy takes a deeper look at the scientists who study the stars, planets, and galaxies and the tools they use. This project based, half-credit, semester course is a great sequel to the introductory information provided in Earth Science I, and utilizes the Share the Skies telescope to collect and analyze real astronomical images and data.

Prerequisites

Successful completion of 4210 Earth Science I

Recommended, but not mandatory – successful completion of Algebra

Registrations is open now at http://register.virtualvirginia.org/maestro/

Tuesday Teacher Profile: Ms. Misty Palmer

Name: Ms. Misty Palmer

Courses Taught: AP Calculus AB

Location: Nashville, TN

Years Teaching: 16

Hidden Talent: I can wiggle my ears.

Thoughts about online teaching and learning: I enjoy online teaching because I like being able to dialogue with students individually about the work. I do think the classroom environment is great too, but it's nice to feel "conversational" about the material. I think students must be more self-motivated to keep up with things daily, and that is a great skill to learn in high school!

Advice for Students Taking Online Courses: Stick to a schedule. Make a daily plan and get it done. Get in touch with your teacher regularly with questions. Reach out to your classmates to talk about the material.