On Thursdays I usually use our social media platforms to share using the #ThrowbackThursday trend where users participate by sharing a memory (recent or distant). These posts don’t usually make it to the blog but this memory had a few people asking how this was accomplished so I thought it deserved a dedicated space (with some important updates for 2023). While in the classroom I was the Grade 8 homeroom which meant that I had our Grade 8 cohort for the start and end of the day, in addition to any classes I was teaching. As their “home base” this… Read More
MVSD Back-to-School ICT Checklist
Welcome to a new school year! At the start and end of each school year I find it helpful to share out the following checklist that was inspired by a practice from when I was a classroom teacher. This checklist is designed to ensure the effective and professional use of various ICT elements and support your growth in the 2023/2024 school year. Please note that not all checklist elements may apply to you depending on your position within the division. The checklist itself has each task hyperlinked which leads to a tutorial or video providing more information on how to complete the… Read More
September 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 out through our social media pages and divisional website. September 2022 ICT Newsletter by Kirsten Cali
Back to School Checklist
Welcome to a new school year! At the start and end of each school year I find it helpful to share out the following checklist that was inspired by a practice from when I was a classroom teacher. This checklist is designed to ensure the effective and professional use of various ICT elements and support your growth in the 2022/2023 school year. Please note that not all checklist elements may apply to you depending on your position within the division. The checklist itself has each task hyperlinked which leads to a tutorial or video providing more information on how to complete the… Read More
Summer Tech PD
Happy New Year! For those involved in education, fall time is our new year and we are ramping up for the whirlwind that is September. When it comes to the ICT Department, my technicians have been hard at work ALL summer: preforming maintenance on all infrastructure and hardware inventorying and setting up new equipment setting up classrooms As we approach the end of August, we are also preparing for our summer PD series which will include: August 29th – Secretarial PD all building secretaries from across the division Updates to PowerSchool, Office 365, shared calendars, and more August 30th-31st –… Read More
Starting My Ph.D Journey!
In February of this year I hesitantly shared out my personal statement as part of my application to the University of Regina. After graduating with my M.Ed in the spring of 2018 I was sitting on my largest absence from formal education and I knew that I needed a change. Prior to this jump I had explored the idea of pursuing a second M.Ed as the requirement for first year residency for a Ph.D seemed unattainable for me due to the age of my children and our proximity to institutions. However, the Covid-19 pandemic had resulted in online classes which… Read More
Room 132 Info
The 2017/2018 school year is in full-swing! Here is where you can find out more about our classroom and keep up-to-date with the amazing learning my students are uncovering. YouTube Twitter Small group instruction in Gr 7 Social Studies to practice latitude & longitude 🌍 #trsd32 #schoolgoals pic.twitter.com/a2d7aQeRoA — Mrs. Thompson (@Thompsonclass) September 14, 2017 Instagram Welcome back to all #trsd32 students; it’s going to be a great year A post shared by Mrs. Thompson’s Classroom (@thompsonclassroom) on Sep 6, 2017 at 6:06am PDT Facebook Website Canadian History Blog
Blogging in the Social Studies Classroom – Reflective Blogging Part 2
This post is part of the Reflective Teaching Blogging Challenge hosted by Terry at Te@ch Thought. While the original challenge is a year-old already I thought it would be the perfect thing to keep me on track over the next little while. DAY 2 – Write about one piece of technology that you would like to try this year and why. You might also write about what you are hoping to see out of this edtech integration. Since I am away on mat leave I can’t actually write about a piece of technology that I will be implementing this year… Read More
Goal Setting During Mat Leave – Reflective Blogging Part 1
As excited as I am about being back in the blogging world, I am nervous that I will fall off the wagon again as soon as Baby Thompson arrives in 2 weeks?… 3 weeks?…. any day now?… I know I will need to maintain some semblance of focus, however, because I also resume my master’s classes at the start of September. I am hoping *fingers crossed* to attempt to set aside some time every 2-3 days while baby sleeps (is that delusional thinking?) to work on my classes, blog, and attempt to maintain my sanity. Resourceaholic Reflects. (2014).… Read More
Classroom Reveal!
During the last week of school in June our school began major renovations which included redoing the exterior walls of an entire wing of our building, some roofing restructuring, and a brand-new science lab/classroom. While everyone in our building was (and still is) excited about these upgrades, the construction may continue all the way until January. Understandably, this is creating a lot of inconveniences as we all adjust to new classrooms, half-finished classrooms, unavailable resources, loud noises, etc. Amidst all of the craziness, however, I was surprisingly able to keep my classroom! I am so thankful… Read More