Rashel Fitchett's Page

As a teacher, I can increase graduation rates of my students by increasing engagement in learning, especially when it applies to at-risk learners (Archambault, 19). So, as a brand new online teacher, I felt it was within my education, training, and scope to attempt to increase engagement in my online classroom.



Yesterday I contacted 34 disengaged students with a personalized letter inviting them to come back to the online classroom and turn in an assignment. Within 24 hours, 10 of…

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John* failed to log-in 8 days in a row after he’d enrolled in my online, 10th grade, English course. I watched my Performance Dashboard, waiting for it to report that John wasn’t, in fact, a disengaged student. On the 8th day, I picked up my phone and dialed the number of his mentor. After a short run around at the front desk, I was transferred to Paul*, who reported to me that he hadn’t seen John in over a week and all he knew was that the boy had made a court appearance sometime back and…

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Learning only happens for me in one manner. Writing. Today, Will Richardson reminded me of that in his The "Future of Education" webinar (http://bit.ly/K2WJp).



Among the numerous topics discussed, was the idea that Educators as Learners are a powerful tool in the classroom. An educator, according to Richardson, is most effective in the classroom when teaching students how to learn, not what to learn. So, first off, the educator himself must be a… Continue

My second week of work as a full-time online teacher had me lurking around Aventa Learning’s Teacher Resource Center in consideration of viewing an Elluminate Live! session titled "Stress Relief for Online Teachers (Time Management Tips)". This was the case not so much due to the fact that I was “stressed”, per se, but more resulting from the fact that it had become blazingly apparent that stress would soon be on its way to my online classroom door. She would come, clicking down the tiled…

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