One of our school goals this year is to purposefully implement the Universal Design for Learning approach to our formal planning. Sometimes referred to as “Backwards by Design”, “Understanding by Design”, or “Planning With The End in Mind”, the Universal Design for Learning is a three-block model designed by Dr. Jennifer Katz at the University of Manitoba. Design. (2011). Uploaded to Tach @ Riverdale by Meg Krause. Available online at: http://blogs.riverdale.edu/techintegration/2011/11/26/understanding-by-design-the-backward-design-model/ Being fresh out of my B.Ed, the Backwards-by-Design method is what we were exclusively taught in our Assessment & Evaluation classes and is something that… Read More
Masters Here I Come!
Earlier in the year I submitted my application for Brandon University’s (B.U) Masters of Education program. After completing my Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education, and working in their own-campus residence program for 5 of those 6 years, wanting to reapply felt like going home. Last month I shared my pre-admissions writing test, which was the second portion of the application process, and I am now happy to announce that I have officially been accepted into the program! Starting in the fall of 2014 I will officially be a student again (only this time by distance),… Read More
No Notes? No Problem!
This year I’ve struggled with my Grade 9 Math class, a concern that I’ve mentioned a few times during my embarrassingly infrequent 2 Stars & A Wish posts. While there is no note-worthy behavioural challenges, this particular group of students is incredibly diverse in their foundational math skills & we have everything from Middle School to post-High School levels. Furthermore, there are still a few students who are still adjusting to the different requirements of High School compared to Middle School (although this transition is fairly smooth being in a K-12 school). I have been trying my best to differentiate… Read More
Teaching Interviews 1 Year Later… Interview Prep
It has officially been one year since I went through the interview process and was offered a position at my dream school only a 10 minute drive from our farm! This was also the same school where I completed two of my hour student teaching placements so I felt very comfortable with both the students and staff. My husband was offered a job in the same division (15 mins down the road from my school) two weeks later and our grad, wedding, and 8 months of teaching later we are in May again…. can someone say busy year!? With… Read More
May Currently
I don’t know about you, but I cannot believe that May is already here. At this time last year I was preparing for my teaching interview and it has been a whirlwind every since! For us, we are still in school until the end of June, but between sports tournaments, field trips, prom, exams, and grad, it is going to go very fast! If you haven’t encountered a “Currently” post before, it is just a fun post at the beginning of each month that serves as a way to share what is Currently going on in your life!… Read More
Blogging 101 – My Session at MTS Awakening Possiblities
If you missed my reflection on the MTS Awakening Possiblities Conference, check it out here! Always wanted to blog with your students but were unsure about how to get started? Did you get started by could not determine how to maintain the blog throughout the year? This session shares an educator’s experiences as she introduces blogging to her students for the first time. Topics such as project implementation, purposeful use, and assessment integration will be discussed. Challenges and successes of the project will also be shared. I am very excited I had a “speaker” name tag! All excited,… Read More
MTS Awakening Possibilities Conference
This week was the MTS Awakening Possibilities Tech Conference and my head is still spinning over how amazing it was! Starting on Wednesday the 16th, approximately 600 educators got together to discuss educational technology in regards to:– implementation– policy– potential tools– project options– and much more!Here’s an excerpt from the official MTS Awakening Possibilities website: This conference was exciting for me for a lot of reasons. I remember attending the MTS Fab 5 Conference in Brandon in the fall of 2012 and seeing a banner advertising for an upcoming technology conference. At this time there wasn’t… Read More
Good Things Sunday
This post is inspired by the stories at the collaborative blog, One Good Thing. – I have a student in one of my classes who is dealing with many personal issues both at school and at home. As such, their attendance is very sporadic which results in them falling behind and feeling left out and frustrated when they are present. This week they were present for two of our three math classes. In the first class they were uncooperative and didn’t attempt anything during the hour. In the second class, they not only allowed me to sit with… Read More
2 Stars & A Wish: Week 28
With Spring Break come and gone, we are on our last stretch of school before summer holidays and I know that these next three months are going to go by very quickly! It is hard to believe that at this time last year, I was student teaching here and nervously hoping that a job opening would come up. That time only seems like a few short months ago and it is mind-boggling to think about how it has already been a year! I didn’t write a reflection the last two weeks as it was our Parent-Teacher interviews and Spring… Read More
Fanning The Flame of Curiosity
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”[1]Can an individual’s pursuit of knowledge ever truly cease? Educators the world over are diligently attempting to arm their students with the skills and values so that they can become life-long learners; learners who recognize not only that education is not limited to the confines of a classroom, but also that self-guided learning often times provides the most rewarding and valuable experiences of all. In a profession that is built upon the ignition of students’ curiosity, there are many teachers who not only end their formal education with… Read More