Every Friday 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’d like to highlight Aaron Klassen who teaches out of Shevchneko School in the Border Lands School Division. I first “met” Aaron via Twitter as we were both working towards our M.Ed together via Brandon University. We used Twitter as a back-channel for many of our classes and I quickly came to enjoy his contribution to our conversations. I then had an opportunity to cross paths with Aaron again while… Read More
#WOWWednesday – WCI
Every Wednesday 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. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions my visits to schools are more limited compared to last year. While I was previously able to visit schools on my own schedule, with a goal of visiting each one every month, my visits now require a lot more planning. I would previously have lots of time to visit classes, work… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Social Media in Schools
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. This week’s tech tip is courtesy of Stacey Penner, part of our Kindergarten team at Henderson Elementary School. You can follow along with Stacey’s kinder class on Instagram. View this post on Instagram #TechTipTuesday features Stacey from @heslittlekindersbigroars with some tips on how she uses social media to connect with her school community & provide support for families. Give them a follow! #mvsd_mb A post shared by Kirsten Thompson – ICT (@thompsonclassroom) on… Read More
#MantraMonday
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. This week’s Mantra is: Self care is increasingly important this year; for both students and staff but also families. For myself this looks like dedicated noon-hours where I participate in physical activity away from the work building where I can get my heart-rate elevated and get back in-touch with nature when the weather allows. We’re also quite fortunate to have a cabin along Lake Manitoba where we can get away on weekends to recharge as a family. View this post on… Read More
Follow Friday – KG Education
Every Friday 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 would like to highlight KG Education, a fabulous teaching duo in south-western Manitoba. In their own words, “At KG Education, we are passionate about teaching and learning. We love sharing ideas and connecting with fellow educators! Our goal is to support educators with teaching, technology infusion and teacher wellness. We offer online and in-person professional learning opportunities. We help teachers create rich learning experiences for students by sharing… Read More
IT Professionals Day
Today is IT Professionals Day. Personally, if there was ever a year to thank your IT team I think it would be 2020. I am incredibly thankful that MVSD has such a strong, dedicated team that make up our ICT Department. Our group of seven: provides support for ~4000 users boasts 80+ combined years experience within MVSD completed 2000+ personalized IT requests in 2019/2020 this is on top of infrastructure maintenance, installations, and larger inter-departmental projects
#WOWWednesday – HES PAC
Every Wednesday 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’d like to highlight the Henderson Elementary School PAC who has started using social media as a means of connecting with local stakeholders and increasing transparency between families and their organization. They chose Facebook as their platform of choice and have quickly reached many of their HES families; give them a follow!
The Inequity of Remote Learning
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced schools around the world to rethink how education is delivered to our youth. It has also placed a magnifying glass on the number of social services provided by schools. No longer is the conversation simply centered on, “how are schools teaching children”. This dialogue opened up an often overlooked fact that schools have become not only centers of education but also that of nutrition, mental health, security, and facilitators of economic participation. On September 8th, four days after a draft version was shared with school divisions, the province of Manitoba published the Manitoba Education Standards… Read More
#MantraMonday
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. This week’s Mantra is: This quote comes from the Blended Learning Guidebook which was used in the Blended Learning MOOC I participated in this summer. This quote applies both to students as well as teachers. I encourage all of our staff to explore their LMS together, co-create spaces with students, and give patience to yourself and them. Through the day I shared via Instagram/Facebook stories some quick tips on how one might introduce an ed tech platform with comfort/competency in mind.… Read More
Tech Training for Parents/Guardians
When the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the suspension of in-person classes in March of 2020 we were all thrown into an emergency scenario that saw all stakeholders try their best to accomplish distance content delivery for their students. In all cases, educators relied heavily on the parents/guardians of their students to assist however they could. This included: picking up hard-copy packages from schools or via mail providing a device of some type assisting in whatever troubleshooting was needed learning alongside their child and answering questions as they arrived serving as a communication liason between children and teachers Six months later… Read More