My First "Moodle"

It's a few days before the new year, and I finally have time to comment on what has happened during the two weeks before the Winter Break. (As I understand it, if you call it "Christmas Break" the Thought Police come and shoot you) I finally launched a Moodle with my Freshmen. "Thank you, Larry Tuura." Anyway, it was a lot of fun, albeit fairly confusing. It's for a class called "Life Skills" which has no fixed curriculum & is basically a bunch of brain building exercises. Those of us in the Alternative Program have a hard time with this class, because it is so nebulous...but at least it gives me the chance to force the students to experiment with stuff that they don't get a chance to work with very often. So I bring the kids down to the media center and have Tina "The goddess of all things technical" Christopherson show the students how to do it and WOW...it sort of worked!!! The kids generally got into it and had fun.
Here were my frustrations: I work with some kids that have attitude issues. About 3 of these kids could not figure out what to do after about 2 minutes, so they pouted and stomped their feet like four year olds. Instead of simply raising their hands to ask for help, they started cussing and stewing. If you don't hold their hand and show them every aspect, then they give up immediately. I get so tired of this that it is difficult to explain. Never the less, most of the kids got into it and even had fun.
Here are my hopes: I really, really, really want to use this stuff in my classes. To me, it is all very exciting. I think that there is great potential for using a Moodle, or a Wiki in particular, in a Social Studies class. (I am very excited to learn how to use a Wiki over the coming weeks) Many of the students that I work with have no familiarity what so ever with this technology. So exposing them to the use of this could be a big advantage for them. Furthermore, it is a great way to get them to think beyond their normal borders.
Long Term Goals: At this point, I would really like to be able to use at least a portion of this stuff for a part of every chapter that I teach...especially in my World History class.
BTW: I am NOT afraid to admit my own mistakes in front of my classes....which can be plenty. I forgot to plug the mobile lab into the proper computer socket & I loaded the second Moodle into the wrong spot. I point these out to the kids to tell them that you really learn best when you make mistakes. If I can admit & learn from them, then they can do it too. It's the best way to grow. (I call it the theory "that you never pee on an electric fence twice.") So, no need for fear there my charming little gremlins...just go with it. Hopefully these guys will get the point and grow from this. Practice makes habit. (If not, sorry to say but, McDonalds is always hiring.)