On Mondays, I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. This week’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
Goodbye Twitter – Welcome to BlueSky!
Twelve and a half years ago….. that’s when I first joined the Twitter community. The platform, at the time, was exactly that: a community. For me, this social media platform was my connection to other educators and ed tech organizations. As a new teacher, and one in a rural area, my PLC was almost entirely online, and the information that was available on this platform was invaluable to me. As I sit and reflect back on my early-days of Twitter I am overwhelmed, which seems silly to type out. However, over a decade a later, I can honestly say that… Read More
WOW Wednesday – ELA PLC
On Wednesdays, I highlight some of our amazing MVSD staff on our social media pages. Every day 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. In Mountain View School Division our Department of Curriculum and Assessment helps to facilitate a Personal Learning Community (PLC) for various brackets of staff. One of our PLCs is organized for our ELA teachers at the High School level. On Friday, November 8th, I had an opportunity to join this group here at our Division Office to… 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: To assist staff with their understanding of how digital portfolios might fit… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – MVSD Tech Kits
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. Before we discuss the tech kits I wanted to share about the PD Resource Centre, as it is a fantastic resource being offered in MVSD. Located at the division office, the PD Resource Centre serves as the primary contact for our divisional library services. In addition to maintaining all libraries across the division, the PD Resource Centre also plays host to our divisional library which includes: The materials at the PD Resource Centre are available… 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. This week, on November 8th, we acknowledge 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, Tuesday’s post will be FULL of links to explore! In the meantime, check these out:
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: These newsletters are sent out to staff via our divisional email but are also shared through our social media pages and divisional website. November 2024 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali
Happy Halloween from your Copilot
Who doesn’t love a good tech-themed Halloween costume!? Since joining the MVSD team as Coordinator of ICT I’ve tried to ensure my costume aligned with my role and it has honestly become one of my favourite traditions. This year I wanted my costume to align with my ongoing work in the field of AI: 2023 – Blue Screen of Death Arguably the scariest thing in the IT Department 2022 – The Social Butterfly I had recently had an opportunity to visit with Chris Nesi on the House of Ed Tech podcast, in which one of our discussion topics was social… Read More
WOW Wednesday – DRCSS
On Wednesdays, I highlight some of our amazing MVSD staff on our social media pages. Every day 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 would like to highlight Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School (DRCSS). They committed to providing formal training to all of their Grade 9 students in the use of Office 365. This training is specifically on how to use these tools to enhance their learning and includes: This was not an easy feat as this is… Read More
You Think Halloween Is Scary?
On Mondays, I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. How many Terms of Service agreements do you think you have clicked, “I Accept”, on as part of the requirements of accessing a digital service? How many times did you actually read the full agreement before selecting, “I Accept”? If you did read it all (good for you), did you understand everything? Terms of Service (TOS) agreements are notoriously difficult to understand and, although some platforms have made their information more accessible, most are full of jargon specific to that field. If you are guilty of… Read More