Virtual Schools

1. Identify and discuss 5 pros and 5 cons of online virtual schools.

5 Pros:
1. If a teacher has a baby, she will be able to take care of her child without leaving her house!
2. The teacher would have less paper work because it will all be online.
3. If the teacher wanted to travel, they are able to take the computer with them and do work from their vacation destination.
4. Materials are given to the students and teachers!
5. Online schools can allow flexible hours for all parties.

5 Cons-
1. You can never always rely on the Internet. A lot of times, the Internet can freeze or the website won't work which will disable the students learning.
2. There is no face to face communication. This is sometimes a big deal because students learn better by actually talking to the teacher. If the student needs help, it will take a while for the teacher to respond because the teacher and student can have different schedules.
3. There could be a lack of motivation because it is online. I know when I take online classes, I wait until the last minute to do the homework.
4. Students do not get to work with children their own age. Interacting with peers in an important thing for students of young age.
5. Students can be doing more than one thing at a time. The students could be on their AIM, MySpace, Facebook, or e-mail which means they are not giving their full potential to the school work.

2. Discuss how you think virtual schools might impact your future teaching.

Virtual Schools seem like a good and bad idea for me. I love being with my family and if I get married and have children, I will want to be with them a lot! I love to travel and see new places so this would give me the option to travel. It gives me flexible hours and allows me to do my work when I want to without a real deadline. This would be good if I want to teach general education. The bad thing is that I am planning to teach special education. This option would not be available to students with special needs. I would have to have one-on-one interactions with these children. Overall, I do not see myself pursuing this Virtual Schools lifestyle.