In 2017 I began my journey with Microsoft Edu professional development when TRSD rolled out their transition to Office 365. Being a Google-girl up to this point (I even hold my Google Educator Level 1 Certificate) my journey was initially touch-and-go. As I’ve familiarized myself with their platform I have become increasingly impressed with their initiatives and have completed the Microsoft Innovative Educator Training Academy and am working on completing my training hours this year. As we progress through the school year I’d like to facilitate a Microsoft Series that discusses aspects of their Office 365 suite, where… Read More
Follow Along with the MVSD Coordinator of ICT Journey
Here is where you can follow along and keep up-to-date on whats happening in the MVSD ICT world! FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/pg/Thompsonclassroom/posts/ TWITTER Playing around with my new @arloonapps AR chemistry app! After learning about oxides & building an Iron Oxide model I was rewarded with this awesome AR version which coincidentally fit perfect on my son’s P.T placemat #mvsd_mb #AR #edtech https://t.co/kfrozZNwtv pic.twitter.com/xuyNEOlHWm — Kirsten Thompson – Coordinator of ICT (@Thompsonclass) September 19, 2019 INSTAGRAM View this post on Instagram #MantraMonday Need support in the implementation of technology into your practice? I’m here to help! #mvsd_mb A post shared by Kirsten… Read More
New Adventures – Coordinator of ICT
Ah…. September. I don’t care what you say, when you’re a teacher September is always your New Years. New schedules, new routines, new goals, new people, new jobs…. yes, a new job! This spring, one-year into an 18-month maternity leave, I decided to pursue the position of Coordinator of ICT in a neighbouring school division and I was the successful candidate! Coordinator of ICT. (2019). Uploaded to Twitter by Kirsten Thompson – Coordinator of ICT. Available online at: https://twitter.com/Thompsonclass/status/1166136315974475781 When I wrapped up my M.Ed I knew that this would be the position I would eventually pursue… Read More
Challenges in Developing Student Digital Literacy Skills
As members of the future workforce and society, today’s students require guidance and education, in order to successfully navigate and utilize the digital world that they were born into. Educators are tasked with introducing students to new literacies that not only focus on skill development but also emphasize social practices in the context of short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), social networking activities, and mobile technologies (Wan, 2012, p. 1066). School-age children have a unique set of experiences awarded to them due to the digital age in which they were born. However, their birth date alone is not… Read More
Are You Using Twitter Chats?
Education is a life-long journey and this mindset is something that is best modelled by educators. I mean, how can we expect our students to develop a natural love for learning if we are unwilling to continue on the journey ourselves? School divisions regularly incorporate professional development throughout the school year but these are often sporadic and not necessarily aligned with each individual teachers’ interests; rather they often centre on a general theme or a specific divisional goal. While there are numerous conferences, classes, programs that educators can participate in to further their own education these… Read More
Whats New With ManACE
Earlier this week I headed into the city to attend the annual planning meeting for ManACE (Manitoba Association for Computing Educators). After serving on the board for the 2013/2014 school year I took a leave of absence to focus on my M.Ed journey. Now that I’ve graduated and am home on maternity leave I thought that this would be a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with this wonderful organization. Here are some of the awesome things you want to know about! 1 ) #MTSPDDay / SAGE Sessions – ManACE is the only SAGE group to offer PD opportunities across the province rather than centralized in Winnipeg or… Read More
Hello Again!
Guess who!? After ANOTHER hiatus I am jumping back into the blogging game 🙂 My blogging adventure has undergone many different chapters in my evolution as an educator; from my exploration as an education student (in my previous blog, Miss L’s Whole Brain Teaching), to getting my first teaching position and sharing the adventures of our classroom, to starting my Masters and sharing my learning, to now…. a M.Ed graduate and mommy to two! Here are some snapshots of the amazing milestones I’ve experienced since my last posts earlier this year: Master of Education – Curriculum & PedagogyBrandon… Read More
Summative Annotated Bibliography
The following is an annotated bibliography I created as part of my Graduate Summative Seminar course (I had previously shared my Graduate Portfolio here). This bibliography includes 20 entries that have been especially significant to me throughout my M.Ed journey. *I apologize for some of the formatting glitches that appear below in the embedded version. This issue should be resolved by viewing the document through Google Docs directly here.
Graduate Portfolio!
After 21 years of formal education I am reaching the end of my current learning journey: my Masters degree! While I truly believe that education is a lifelong experience; I am very excited to celebrate this accomplishment! I know that I will begin another degree in the future (distant future; when my babies are in high school maybe) but for the time being I am concluding my journey at B.U. I have officially started my LAST class of my M.Ed, Graduate Summative Seminar, and have begun compiling evidence of my learning through this experience. This has perhaps been… Read More
Encouraging Student Voice Through Social Media
The following is an IGNITE-style presentation I created for my Internet for Teachers course. We were tasked with selecting a topic of our choice related to education and technology that could be presented within the framework of an IGNITE presentation. If you are not familiar with what an IGNITE presentation is, speakers are essentially asked to discuss a topic within a 5 minute time frame using a series of visuals that automatically advance every 15 seconds. The result is fast-paced presentation that “ignites” the audiences’ thinking while requiring the speaker to think critically about their topic… Read More