*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
WOW Wednesday – O365 Bookings for Parent-Teacher Interviews
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. The use of Office 365 Bookings has streamlined our Parent-Teacher Interview Process in multiple ways: our secretarial, admin, and teaching staff are no longer required to manage incoming appointment times our teachers know automatically when their bookings are as they sync to their Outlook calendars Teams video meeting links are autogenerated for every family who requires… 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
The Virtual Teachers of Our Childhood
I came across the following image this past week on social media and I can’t seem to get it out of my head. Its true, many people that I can credit with acting in a “teaching” role through my childhood are people that I never met or had any one-to-one interaction with. If I had to personalize this graphic, mine would look something like this: The virtual teachers of my childhood include individuals such as: Bill Nye Fred Rogers Mr. Dress Up (aka Ernie Coombs) Reading Rainbow with LeVar Burton Hal Johnson & Joanne McLeod As I work with teachers… Read More
Making Waves – MVSD Programming During Covid-19
This information is presented from the divisional perspective. The realities of teaching day-to-day during the Covid-19 pandemic can only effectively be shared from a teacher voice. MVSD has just under 90 accounts, across various social media platforms that share on behalf of their school/classroom/professional position. I invite you to visit these accounts to see a glimpse of what teaching and learning looks like within MVSD and connect with our network. (You can also check out the #mvsd_mb on the platform of your choice) “Ground Up – Not Top Down” Our Programs & Planning team consists of our Assistant Superintendent and… 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 you may know, I am a huge advocate for equity in education. Unforunately, the Covid-19 pandemic has stripped our learners from the environment which strived to offer a level playing field for all: our school buildings. In the ed tech world, these buildings were our source for connectivity and digital devices. With our learners now being at home (whether that is full-time, part-time, etc) we have lost that level playing field and, if educators are relying… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences
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. November brings about the first round of report cards in Manitoba and, traditionally, this has also meant an open opportunity for parents/guardians to visit the school and discuss student progress with their teacher(s) face-to-face. However, admist the Covid-19 pandemic, having multiple visitors in our school buildings is not ideal (and in some cases not possible). As such, virtual options have been built in for families with connectivity. For those with access, these tools… Read More
Tips for Successful Online Lessons
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed A LOT of things for everyone; coordinators included. To say the adjustment has been easy would be a lie… I’m shared between all 16 of our school buildings and last year I strived to visit every building at least once a month to support teachers, staff, and students with all things ed tech. Sometimes these visits were scheduled appointments but often they consisted of me stationing myself in the libary, common-area, or staff room and developing organic conversations as people saw me. We all know teachers are busy and this method was fantastic because, while… Read More
Remote & Blended Learning Resources for Educators
As our local Covid-19 situation changes we are seeing further restrictions put in place that impact education and our ability to have our students with us face-to-face. As such, we are seeing an increased need for information on Remote & Blended Learning Resources. While the majority of my blog posts focus on ed and ed tech resources I do a lot of curation that doesn’t necessarily get onto the blog; which is why I also provide a direct link to my curation platform of choice – OneNote. Please see a short video below showcasing how to find this resource in… Read More
What I Learned As A Remote Student
On Friday 1000s of Manitoba teachers took part in #MTSPDDay which was primarily hosted via distance and online methods. It is my hope that we all use this opportunity to not only take back new content understanding to our practice but to also reflect on what it is like to be a distance student. I have personally been a distance student since September of 2013 when I started by M.Ed program through Brandon University. While this stage of my learning journey concluded with my graduation in 2018, I have continued to spend time as a distance student as I completed… Read More