Educational Opportuities in Second Life

I have been a player on Second Life ( a virtual world) for about the last 4 years.  Second Life which was created by Linden Labs is an MMORPG or a Massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Anything you can do it RL (real life) you can do on SL (Second Life).  You can travel, rent an apartment, go to a car show, get married, and even go to school.  You can even do some things you can't in RL such as fly and live in a community of vampires.  The technology on Second Life evolves just as quickly as it does in the real world.  I have known about the educational opportunities in Second Life for a while now, but have never ventured onto these islands (individuals, groups and companies own/rent islands for a fee).  I plan on checking out a few educational islands and sharing them with you.  If you want to download Second Life for yourself it is free to play and you can get most anything you "need" for free you just have to look.

Second Life

Feeling More Confident

     

Friday we had a substitute (half the day) in my little corner of the first grade world.  It was the substitute's very first time subbing and she did a great job!  I've been in her position before and it's hard to come in to an unfamiliar class and an unfamiliar school.  I think we did a great job cooperating with each other and keeping the student's on task.  Since I had been in the classroom the previous Friday observing and participating I was familiar with the schedule and classroom management methods.  This helped with keeping the day consistent.  Consistency is important for classroom management especially in this age group.  The substitute took over the academic duties and I assisted her with keeping everything under control.  I used the same phrases as my mentor and had the student's say out loud what the rules for test taking were ( this is something my mentor does).  One thing I forgot to do was to have the students sharpen pencils before the tests.  In my future classroom I might also have each student have two sharpened pencils in case one breaks.  My mentor teacher seems to have some wonderful techniques and I am excited to learn from her since classroom management improves the classroom environment and makes learning easier.  It also gave me a huge confidence boost to have been able to help the substitute in a meaningful way.