Computer Software

I have had a really hard time keeping my students on task when they are online. I have recently heard of a product called Vision which allows the teacher to monitor all computers at the same time from a central hub. The teacher can shut down a student's computer if they are on unapproved school sites (MYSPACE!) or they can assist a student with a project by showing them (discreetly even) how to go about doing something. The company offers a 30 day evaluation of their product. For those of you with computer labs, this would be a great thing. So far, I'm LOVING it, and while the students know that I have the capability to see everything they are doing on the computer now and they can no longer get on myspace, they are enjoying the attention they can get from me without having to let the whole class know that they need it. There is also a chat function on there that I can send messages to the whole class when it's time to log off, and therefore save my voice in my room that does not have the best acoustics.

On another note, today is a half day for the students so we can have some professional learning time. One of our activities is to have a mock lockdown and evaluate a few things. My healthcare 2 students and I "decorated" my room for the lockdown all in the spirit of Halloween and having fun. We are not downplaying the importance of the lockdown whatsoever but want to also make it as realistic as possible, without the realities. We've painted our hands red and run them all over the windows, propped up a few spare body parts in the windows, have a saw with my half mannequin in the window and a few other surprises for them. On top of that, with this trial software I'm using, I'll have a "HELP US" message broadcast on all my computers. Some things, even for teachers, we have to keep interesting!

Have a great day! :)