Webinars-- the bane of our existence?




I attended a three hour AP language webinar last night, and it was a little chaotic, in the way that when you go to a friend's house when you are in elementary school, and they drag out all of their toys and talk nonstop, and you get a little more than overwhelmed. Yes, I got a few good ideas, but my questions remain unanswered (I can likely figure it out later). And this dude was like a chihuahua on pop rocks, bouncing through all of his files on the Zoom, showing us this-and this-and this---- he shared the drive with us, so maybe I'll peruse it later. 

What I didn't need was an introduction to the College Board website. In fact, I'm pretty sure if he'd listened to the introductions, he'd have skipped that part-- everyone knew where that stuff was. His response to any question was "thank you for sharing that"-- but he'd go back to the rapid-fire-sharing-his-stuff mode. 

Exhausting. I left the webinar around 9:10-- I needed to get to bed, and he was going to lead us through developing a lesson next in fifteen minutes. Um, no. I can do that. And in fact, I have to, and I have to submit it, to get the credit hours. I have a couple of weeks, so I'll work on that. I have my entire syllabus to choose from... being new to teaching AP, and it being week four-- well, if I didn't have an idea of what I was doing, I'd be sunk. Too late to just get started, eh? This guy needs a mentoring session in how to run a workshop. There must be training out there for webinar hosts. At least take a breath, guy.

One interesting thing was the group of teachers in the zoom from Dubai. They had to attend at 2:30am, their time, then head off to work after. Yipes. Teaching at international schools asks a lot, I guess.

That all said, I did get a few good ideas for my students, so it was not entirely wasted. And if we have access to his files, there may be good stuff in there, too. But I'm glad I went to the APSI for AP Lit this summer-- the format for this course is not a lot different, and to be honest, I think I can manage. What I wanted was ideas on how to get the kids to sort out the types of questions asked on the multiple choice part, but I suppose I'll just have to rely on my own instincts for that. The essays are not an issue, I think. 

What a way to spend an evening, eh? 

I hope your day is a delightful one,

C

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