WOW Wednesday – Shawna Prokopowich & Janice Mullin
On Wednesdays I highlight some of our amazing MVSD staff on our social media pages. Everyday our staff are using tech in new and exciting ways, are learning new skills, and are sharing ways in which ed tech is assisting them in their practice.
This week I had the pleasure of starting my week at Ecole Macneill to learn and share alongside members of the Grade 4-5 team, Shawna Prokopowich and Janice Mullin. In full transparency, Ecole Macneill is one of our MVSD schools that I visit the least and this is because of the fantastic ed tech leadership in place within this building (check out some of these examples linked at the bottom of this post). As such, any opportunity that I get to come in and learn with their students is extra special for me.
Our topic of the afternoon was focused on being safe and well in online spaces. Our discussion included reflection on the following:
- How do we access the internet?
- Where do we go when we use the internet?
- Some of this brainstorming can be seen in the image above
- What activities do we do when we are online?
These broad topics included open conversation about the creation and management of the internet and how it is a product of humans and, like humans, it is not perfect. The analogy shared mirrored a lesson from the Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship curriculum of a traffic light.
- Green: good to go!
- We are in a space that is right for us, we know what to do and we can explore safely
- Yellow: go slowly
- This space may be new to us, we’re not exactly sure of everything we see/hear
- We should involve our “team” to help determine if we can learn more to make this a “green” space
- Red: stop
- We are in a space we don’t think we should be, we’re confused or don’t feel good
- We need to find our “team” to determine the next steps
This analogy was coupled with open conversation about how, like when we drive through a community, we experience all of these types of lights. Finding ourselves at a red light does not mean we are in trouble or that we did anything wrong, simply that it is time to stop and get more information before we proceed.
I want to thank both Shawna and Janice for recognizing the importance of these ongoing discussions for students and providing space in their schedule for this to occur.
Read more about the ed tech leadership in Ecole Macneill: