The HS school classes began last week, and to be honest I am not really sure how things are going other than to say that I have provided some help to the instructors and hopefully that is helping people. Of course the classes have only just begun so I will give it time.

I have been doing some scholarly reading and review with a particular emphasis on examining a couple of ideas.

1) I built the courses to some extent based on the idea that we need to provide three forms of instructions for students, forms that build on one another, those being instructivism, constructivism, and connectivism. This notion is not my own, but it seemed to make sense - the idea that we must provide some information or instruct people, the idea that we must build on peoples own experience with various subjects so they can and will construct an understanding of the world, and finally connectivism which sets the stage for student to find ways to connect to ideas by engaging in active experiences.

2) I tried to do this in all of the learning plans, building form one piece to the next.

I have also been reading about the Theory of Transactional Distance, essentially the idea that says the more we close the "distance gaps" between instructor and student, and between student and student, the more learning that will take place.

I know that when I first taught the HS classes I felt a great deal of distance, and discomfort, and I sense the first group of students also did so I worked to find ways to bridge that gap. After spending time reading about this theory, and reading about the importance of creating relationships and community in classroom I then began to see the connection between the ideas.

Now of course the task is to see, if I have translated the theory into something that can be practically applied by using a set of strategies in the teaching process.

Time will tell.