On Mondays, I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. Today’s quote comes from the book, The Digital Citizenship Handbook for School Leaders, by Mike Ribble and Marty Pack. Within MVSD, our schools will spend this week hosting their “parent-teacher” conferences with families and supporting adults. In addition to communication on student learning and well-being, this is a fantastic opportunity to strengthen community understanding on a variety of topics; digital citizenship and technology use being one of them. Marty and Mike argue that before effective guidance from families can occur, they… Read More
WOW Wednesday – Divisional AI Testimonials
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. As we continue to learn more about AI and explore its potential role in education I have been trying to curate feedback from MVSD staff members on how they are using AI tools in their practice. I believe there is a difference between theoretical and practical applications for all softwares and it is important to me to see… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Digital Tools for Student Portfolios
Every Tuesday I share a Tech Tip on our social media pages to assist our staff in their use of technology as it relates to their role. In Manitoba, November is a whirlwind month for educators. We start off strong with the Halloween candy-hangover, jump right into a time-change, and hit the ground running to complete report cards and book parent-teacher interviews! One of my favourite methods to assist with this is the implementation of student portfolios. Student portfolios can be a fantastic practice in the classroom as they: develop student metacognition selecting exemplars reflecting on their learning journey encourage transparent conversations… Read More
The Worst Technology
On Mondays, I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. Last week, while at the Cyber Summit conference, the keynote speaker (Brian Aspinall) made a comment that really resonated with me, “Today’s technology is the worst our students will ever use”. The conference theme, artificial intelligence, is arguably currently seen as the “latest and greatest” innovation; why else would we be gathered together and spending multiple days unpacking every aspect of it? But, this innovation is the worst technology our students will ever use. This perspective was a wild reminder for… Read More
Cyber Summit 2023
New month – new PD adventure, this time in beautiful Banff, Alberta for the 2023 Cyber Summit! I was first introduced to this conference in the spring through our MAETL work with Brian Aspinall. Given our shared work in the AI space he suggested I explore the idea of attending Cyber Summit and I was thrilled when my proposal was accepted to be part of the 2023 event schedule. The following post is a summary of my experiences: Wednesday Keynote: Brian Aspinall “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious” – Albert Einstein How do we create the… Read More
Follow Friday – Callysto
On Fridays, I share what I believe to be a notable person/organization/school on our social media pages to assist our staff in the development of their online Personal Learning Network. This week I had an opportunity to sit in on a presentation that featured the work of Callysto which I thought would be a fantastic resource to share with teachers. I believe that this would be an opportune time to share our about their data science supports as our staff are already starting to plan out their activities for Computer Science Education week at the beginning of December. If Callysto is brand-new… Read More
STEM Day 2023
November 8th is marked as STEM Day, also known as STEAM Day, which is dedicated to inspiring students in the areas of Science – Technology – Engineering – Art – and Math. If you are looking for a way to explore STEM/STEAM in your classroom here are FIVE resources I recommend: PhET Simulations Minecraft EDU Read the blog post from Minecraft: Powering Up STEM Explore all the available lessons HERE. Vex VR Robotic Playground MAETL Lending Library The MAETL Lending Library is a curated collection of tools purchased by MAETL, available for loan to membership organizations. Loans through the MAETL… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Bing AI
Every Tuesday I share a Tech Tip on our social media pages to assist our staff in their use of technology as it relates to their role. The topic of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been front and center for many of my conversations since it hit the public scene in 2022. In fact, I am currently in Banff attending the 2023 CyberSummit which is focused on AI (watch for a blog post to come). This will also be the 20th post on the blog with an AI tag While this week’s topic isn’t brand new to the blog, I am happy… Read More
The STEM Mindset
On Mondays, I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. Tomorrow, November 8th, will play host to STEM Day so I wanted to make sure that I kick off the week with some thoughts to get us started: If you are looking for STEM Resources, Wednesday’s post will be FULL of links to explore! In the meantime, check these out: Coding and Makerspaces in MVSD Engaging Elementary Students in STEM Learning MVSD Tech Kits
November ICT Newsletter
With the start of a new month comes a new monthly ICT newsletter. These newsletters are designed to serve as an outreach to all MVSD staff and provide: general ICT updates (software changes, divisional ICT timelines, tech-themed holidays) upcoming PD for the month tech tips divisional highlights These newsletters are sent out to staff via our divisional email but are also shared through our social media pages and divisional website. November 2023 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali