Back to School with Distance Learning

Virtual learning sucks.  Now that we’ve got that out of the way it is the reality for millions of kids right now.  How can you make it a little less painless?  Well, you’ve got to have just enough organization in your life so that you won’t go crazy. What you won’t find with my system is perfection. What you will find is how you can make digital learning easier with just a little bit of planning beforehand. This is what I do to simultaneously make working from home and digital learning a little less painful.  

Step 1

How do I get online?  Relax?  To make life easier, I give step by step instructions and print them out.  I include screenshots of the sign-in page and their username/password.  The instructions are included in their learning caddies.  

Step 2

Classroom Caddy

Compartments to hold education items.

Space is at a premium at our home.  With that being understood, everything has to be portable and easy to store.  Keeping all of that in mind, I bought these classroom caddies.  I let my kids choose their color theme for the year.  Not so much so that it would look cute, but it will help them stay organized (without the arguments).  I coordinated the colors with all the school required folders, notebooks, and such.  Now they know whose stuff belongs to whom. 

Step 3

It’s annoying but I sign up for any alerts that notify me about assignments that my kids need to turn-in.  I hold both of my kids accountable for doing their work.  Therefore, since they are only in third grade, they might not know what needs to be turned-in and graded.

Step 4 

It’s five o’clock somewhere.

Wine.  Yes, wine, lots, and lots of wine.  Although, I save the wine for the weekend.  

These are my tips for getting through the virtual school year.  What are yours?  Make sure you share them below in the chat.  Make sure you are tuned into The Teacher Ces Podcast!  Click here to listen:  https://teacherces.libsyn.com/

 

Online Teaching vs. a Brick and Mortar School, Which is Really Better?

paper-iconIf given the choice, would you rather teach online or in a traditional school?  After teaching online for over a year and in a traditional school for over seventeen years, I realize I do have a preference.  I feel like online is more of a hit em and quit em style while brick and mortar is a classic style of teaching where the teacher is the authoritarian and students maintain a routine.  
I think it takes a certain discipline to be able to learn online.  I have two children and I know that one child has the attention span to sit 25 minutes in front of the computer to learn something while the other one does not.  In terms of pay, B&M wins hands down and also offers benefits packages while online usually does not in most cases.  
I do believe that everyone can learn in a classroom setting but it takes a great deal of discipline to learn online.  Where do you think the future lies regarding online teaching and B&M schools?

Are you REALLY an entrepreneur if you’re not really bringing in money like that?

Education Key Means Schooling Or Training

Full disclosure I am a beginner entrepreneur.  I haven’t been going at this for years.  I have been seriously perusing entrepreneurship for over a year.  This is my side hustle as I do have a full time job.

The project that I am best at and make the most money with is the one thing I’m the least excited about.  I’m all about passive income.  I like making money in my sleep.  I’m doing pretty good with online tutoring and that is not passive.  Hell, I’m Teacher Ces so even I  would talk about myself if I wasn’t doing well with this.  By trade I’m a teacher, an English as a Second Language teacher with a degree that I did not buy off Groupon (no shade).  I love my job (most of the time) and feel I’m pretty good at it.  The problem is I have a bit of an ego about this and feel that I’m not being paid my worth.  The online ESL companies I have encountered do not pay me what I feel is my worth.  I have tried to go independent and that hasn’t really worked out for me (yet).  I think part of the problem is I have too many pots on my stove and try to manage all of them at the same damn time.  What is your opinion about teaching online and the pay?  It’s easy work but I really don’t think the pay is that great.  Leave your comments below, I’d love to talk to you.  

A Quick Update on Pinterest

I’m going to link this information about Pinterest promoted ads. I received it in my email today. DO NOT SLEEP ON THE POWER OF THE PINTEREST PROMOTED PIN! It is my favorite way to promote. I will say that I already had a pretty active Pinterest account before I learned of the power of promotion. If you would like to collaborate on a Pinterest board leave me a comment.

Why Pinterest ads work