Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I'm a horrible, horrible person...

I wanted to reach through the computer screen so bad earlier and punch the little kids in my daughter's live online book club class. 

Today was the first time that Primus (or I, for that matter) has ever done something like this.  Overall, it was fun and informative and she is excited to participate again next month.  But I was getting so annoyed that I had to keep stepping away. 

The "classroom" is set up with a video of the teacher in the upper left corner. To the right of her is a large box with shows the videos, questions, and PowerPoint that she is presenting. And then below that is a chat box where anyone can type questions or comments to the class at anytime.  I don't know how old these kids were, but the book we read was 2-3 grade reading level.

Here are some of the things getting on my nerves (and the worst part was that some of this was specifically prohibited in the class description that they should all have read before class, and the teacher said nothing about it.)

*Kids were typing in the chat box non-stop!!  If they had been talking out-loud in a real classroom, then that would be very distracting and rude.  And seeing all that "noise" in the chat box was just as distracting and rude, in my opinion.  "Shut up" and listen to the teacher's presentation, for Pete's Sake!

*Instead of typing, "cool."  Some would type, "ccccccccoooooooooolllllllllll."

*TYPING IN ALL CAPS.  And, no, their caps lock was not just stuck.  I noticed that certain kids were purposely turn it on and off at random points. 

*There was one girl who kept typing, "I feed and petted dolphins once in Florida."  (The book was called Dolphins at Daybreak.)  She started "saying" this right at the beginning of class and kept saying it again all the time.  We get it!  Let it go!  Not relevant to what the teacher is trying to teach right now!

*Instead of just typing their answer to the question in the chat box, (ex: "2") one or two kids would type, "my baby brother says 2,"  or, "my puppy says 2."

*One girl kept complaining that the questions were too easy.  Eventually, the teacher recognized her comment and laughingly apologized.  The very next question was multiple choice and the teacher specifically said, "Pick 3 correct answers."  (They were supposed to remember the colors of coral mentioned in the book.)  This girl's answer was, "I pick all of them."

Parents, PLEASE teach your kids online etiquette!  Apparently it's never too early to learn!

No comments:

Post a Comment