Willowdale High School - An Education Experience -- Amanda432 Cheviot Reporting

“School + Students = Education” – Rose Kramoloc

When I tell people that I teach high school in Second Life, there is shock and disbelief. The expression says “My goodness, why???” After all, when one thinks of Second Life, there is clubbing, chatting with friends, and exploring. If there is any roleplaying (RP’ing), it is either of the adult variety or something to do with dragons, zombies or vampires. And if there is education, there are building classes and maybe some college classes. High school is another story though. Why high school?

For me, I had the same reservations. Strangely, teaching high school in Second Life is too close to my real life experience and a lot of us in Second Life are trying to separate the two. And even stranger, I teach High School Algebra. When making your dream in Second Life come true, the last thing I thought that would be is being a high school Algebra teacher.

Willowdale High School (WHS) is my first SL high school (yes, there are actually others out there!) and I’ve been there for almost a year. Why do I stay? Well, because it’s fun. But not only is WHS an education environment, it is also an RP. People role play as teachers, students, and WHS staff. This was a new experience for me because I’m not a general RP’er. There are times I’ve found myself having to role play as a teacher with the students and times I’ve actually taught something in class. Then again, isn’t this the same in real life?

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