More About Capitol Day

This is a link to the Ohio eSchool Coalition's website. It has more information and pictures from Capitol Day. :] http://www.ohioeschoolcoalition.org/capday2011

eSchool Blog

Please check out this Student Blog for the Ohio eSchool Families and Friends Coalition. Some posts that I write will be on there as well as posts from other Ohio eSchoolers. :]

http://www.ohioeschoolcoalition.org/blog/

Capitol Day

Last week my family and I, along with my friend Courteney, traveled to Columbus to participate in the Ohio Family and Friends eSchool Coalition Capitol Day. Many other eSchool families from across Ohio traveled to Columbus for this event as well.

The main goal of this event was to talk to our Legislators about school choice and how important it is to eSchoolers like us. We spent a lot of time talking with them and answering their questions. We tried to tell our personal "success" stories and how our eSchools have helped us be where we are today.

With Representative Barnes

One of our other goals was to address all the myths about eSchooling. Many of the Legislators asked about socialization, if we spend all our time on the computer, and if we have real teachers. We explained to them that our eSchools are public schools and that we do have time to step away from the computers and see our friends, as well as participate in activities inside and outside the school.

We also did personal presentations for the Legislators. We had our school, courses, and other eSchool components pulled up on laptops so that we could explain how they were used and how they were a part of our school day. We explained what our typical school days were like and we also showed them how our teachers use online "classrooms" (Like Elluminate) to provide live lessons or reviews.

With Representative Beck

By the end of the day we had talked to nearly all of the Legislators that were available to meet with us and answered all of their questions confidently in hopes that they would understand why our eSchools are important to us.

After our nearly 8 hour day spent talking about our eSchools (We even joked that we could recite everything we talked about in our sleep at this point. ;D), we were finally able to relax, hang out, and act like every other teenager out there.

eSchool Newspaper Article #1

I am working on my eSchool's virtual newspaper The Cardinal Chirp this year so I'm going to post the article I write each month here.

•The OGT Survival Guide•

It’s your first time taking the OGT’s and you’re really stressed out. What do you do? I can advise you right now that eating your test will NOT help.
Most of the other teens who have taken the OGT’s have said that staying calm and not stressing out helped them a lot. There are many things you can do to relieve stress while taking your OGT’s. One of the first things you can do is be prepared for everything you will have to do that week. If this is the first time you are taking the OGT’s, you need to be prepared to take the tests all week. You also need to be prepared for a lot of writing. Another thing you can do to relieve stress when you’re taking your tests is to ask the teacher that is proctoring the test at your site if you can have candy during the test. Many teachers have brought candy with them to give to the students, and others have allowed then students to bring their own. As OGT veteran Ryan said: “Gas: $40. Candy $5. Eating candy while taking your OGT: Priceless.”
Some other things you can do be prepared for the OGT’s is to make sure you attend or watch the recordings of all of the OGT prep sessions that all the teachers will hold for the different subjects on the tests. These are really helpful and a lot of the students who attended these sessions said that they helped a lot and they felt more prepared for the OGT’s.
You will also need to balance your schedule well for OGT week. One of the most important things is to make sure you get enough sleep. Trying to take a test on only 4-5 hours of sleep will make it hard to concentrate and remember things you studied while you’re taking the test. Make sure you make time to eat a good breakfast before you go for each test. Pop-tarts are not a full breakfast, but you don’t want to eat so big of a breakfast that you feel stuffed during the test. You will be testing for a minimum of 1 ½ hours so you should try and eat a decent breakfast that will last you until you are done testing. You will also need to make sure you schedule in your schoolwork still because some teachers may lighten your course-load for that week, but you will still probably have some lessons and assignments to complete. One thing you can do though it let your teachers know that you are taking the OGT’s and they may let you have a little more time to get your schoolwork done.
Also, make sure you dress in layers when you go to take you OGT. The temperature of the room you test in can be either very cold and you will want a sweater or jacket, or the room could be warm enough that you will just want to wear a t-shirt. Dressing in layers will make it easier for you to be comfortable while you test.
There are also many online resources that you can use to study for your OGT’s. http://ogt.success-ode-state-oh-us.info/studentsOGT.htm This website has many practice tests, and resources that will help you prepare for your test.
Finally, as long as you’re prepared and stay calm you should do well on the OGT’s. Remain confident and don’t stress out too much. Ask teachers for help, they are willing to help you prepare and pass your OGT’s. As another OGT Veteran Kaiti said “I wish I would have known not to stress out so much. I was super freaked that they would be so hard, and there was not enough study time in the world! But, asking teachers for help, and other students, seemed to help me calm down some.”
Good luck!

My Busy Senior Year!

I have been very busy this year with schoolwork, Student Council, working on my eSchool's newspaper, and college applications.

I haven't had time to blog about everything that has gone on, but I hope to fix that problem. ;]

I'm going to post a lot of things for the next few days to get caught up, but once I do that I'm going to make sure I take the time to post something here at least once a week.

I hope that those of you who read my blog enjoy my posts. :]