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. As we’ve adapted to the ever-changing teaching environments available to us during the Covid-19 pandemic, an emphasis on physical distance has been essential. In order to make this happen our largest high school, Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School, has operated on a blended schedule this year. This sees students attend two days a week on a Monday/Wednesday… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Embedded Content in Hyperdocs
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. Online navigation, while ripe with possibility, does open up a unique set of challenges: incorrect links due to typos tabs opened/closed accidently uncertainty on if you opened the correct resource clicking on ads, third party links, etc within the resource Whether I am working with students or with staff as part of a PD session my goal is to make navigation as easy as possible. My personal belief is that, “the more steps you add… Read More
WOW Wednesday – MVSD Remote Learning Support Team
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. As is the case the world over, our programming has been constantly evolving in MVSD as we adapt to new health orders and welcome new resources and supports. This week we welcomed two new staff members to MVSD who are working as part of our robust remote learning team. It can be challenging to start a new… Read More
Students Thriving Online
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider. Here in Manitoba it has been a full week since we welcomed the vast majority of our students back to our buildings following a period of temporary remote learning which ended on January 15th. While we continue to have some of our learners enrolled in remote learning as a result of medical accommodations or logistical constraints, almost all of our learners are now attending in-person. While this has been celebrated by many stakeholders we can’t ignore that, for those with access,… Read More
Mantra Monday
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: As I work with educators I am finding that it can be easy to get hyper-fixated on a particular tool (Teams, Seesaw, Forms, etc). This focus can create a tunnel-vision where educators are only seeing the features of that particular tool and end up designing their lessons around that tool rather than focusing on pedagogy and how particular tools can help address their learning goals. Even though our teaching environment may shift from the classroom to student… Read More
Follow Friday – MB Remote Learning Support Centre
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. Given that much of the province of MB has started off 2021 in a Remote Learning environment I felt that it was fitting for this week’s Follow Friday post to share more about the MB Remote Learning Support Centre. While it remains a “work-in progress”, with new resources/projects/features added through January, the MB Remote Learning Support Centre has established a presence with a website and social media accounts. They currently offer: Professional… Read More
WOW Wednesday – Katrina Mitchell
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. For the first WOW Wednesday post of 2021 I would like to highlight Katrina Mitchell! Katrina has previously taught at MMS in Dauphin but was selected this year as one of our local teachers to work full-time supporting students with medical accomodations via the Westman Remote Learning Consortia. While many of our staff are reacquainting themselves with… Read More
Distance, Online & Blended Learning – Part 2
*This post has been written as part of my professional growth plan through my #ISTE20 scholarship. Reimagine Your Classroom: ISTE’s Top Tips, Tricks & Tools for Online learning Presenters: Brian Huff, Liz Lee, & Dr. Joseph South Overview: “When schools began shifting to virtual learning last spring, ISTE quickly pivoted to develop relevant, bite-size, engaging professional development focused on online and blended learning. Join this session to learn some of ISTE’s top strategies for online teaching, including how to create community, design instruction, provide feedback, and ensure equity and inclusion in online learning environments. You will also hear from a district leader who incorporated… Read More
Distance, Online & Blended Learning – Part 1
*This post has been written as part of my professional growth plan through my #ISTE20 scholarship. Blended Learning in 90 Days Presenters: Marcia Kish and Jeff Kish Overview: “Is it possible to set up a true blended-learning classroom in 90 days? Learn about a deployment plan that will guide any educator through the process of implementing pace, place, path and differentiation into the K-12 classroom environment.“ Main Takeaways Introduction community building, welcoming, bell ringers Whole Group Instruction Does not mean the teacher is there talking for 45mins, just that all students are participating Weekly Schedule over a Month Mon: whole… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Remote Learning Back-Up Plans
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. Yesterday there was a province-wide internet outage in all school divisions that are hosted through MERLIN. While they did a fantastic job of addressing this large-scale concern quite quickly, it did mean that most educators were without internet access for at least half the day. What would have been an inconvienance last year was now a major concern for schools and families as we now have a significant amount of students engaged in… Read More