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
Assistive & Adaptive Technology
*This post has been written as part of my professional growth plan through my #ISTE20 scholarship. Accessibility Tools Smackdown Presenters: Karyn Fillhart & Kristin Oropeza Overview: “Karyn is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, Google certified, former elementary and special education teacher and current tech trainer. Kristin is a Google certified trainer, Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, educator and former special education teacher. Together, you get a smackdown of tools broken down by platform and area of need.” Main Takeaways Microsoft information presented by Karyn and Google information presented by Kristin (both use both platforms and will be comparing and contrasting) Enter all programming design… Read More
Assessment, Evaluations, & Use of Data
*This post has been written as part of my professional growth plan through my #ISTE20 scholarship. TPACK Leadership Diagnostic Tool: Guidance for Teacher Education Toward Technology Infusion Presenters: Dr. Arlene Borthwick, Jeffrey Carpenter, Dr. Jon Clausen, Elizabeth Finsness, Dr. Kevin Graziano, & Mary Herring Overview: “This session highlights the JDLTE Outstanding Research Award Paper entitled, “TPACK Leadership Diagnostic Tool: Adoption and Implication for Teacher Education Leaders.” JDLTE recognizes one article from the prior volume year with the highest possibility to advance the field of teacher education. Authors will provide the background that lead to the tool’s development and discuss how institutions have… Read More
Coaching and Mentoring
*This post has been written as part of my professional growth plan through my #ISTE20 scholarship. Building Buy-in: Helping Faculty See the Value of Classroom Technology Presenters: Nicole May, Caitlin Donovan Overview: “Learn about one school’s strategies for creating buy-in for using technology in the classroom. Explore how the strategies encourage thoughtful use of technology in schools.“ Main Takeaways Meet teachers where they are and provide an accessible entry point that is relevant and meaningful to them take into account current understanding/comfort, teaching style, teaching goals, available resources, subject area, age/stage of students build relationships Highlight progress and don’t punish failures Share… 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
#TweetTheHalls
Recently, while on Twitter, Donna Miller Fry brought up the idea of a Twitter challenge to help foster community and bring holiday cheer amongst educators. She shared a past example from Ontario who hosted a #TweetTheHalls event which was a series of daily Twitter challenges in the weeks leading up to the Christmas break. After a bit of brainstorming, we decided that this could be a perfect activity for #MBEdChat to take on in lieu of a formal December Twitter chat. From there our team came up with a series of daily prompts, I made up a graphic using Canva,… Read More
I’m Going to ISTE!
Attending an ISTE conference is something that is on my bucket-list but it was not practical for me when I was in the classroom. When I moved into my new position, however, I knew that I was one-step closer to making this goal a reality. In the spring of 2020 I applied for a scholarship to attend the 2020 ISTE conference scheduled to be held in Anaheim. Of course, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the plan for what ISTE looked like in 2020 changed a few times. Despite the conference now being held in a virtual venue, I was still so… Read More
Strengthening the Ed Tech Capacity of the Community
If you are a social media user you are probably familiar with the Throwback Thursday trend where users participate by sharing a memory (recent or distant). I was reminded on my ICT social media accounts that this time last year was the kick-off to our community outreach program (see Instagram post below): When I entered this position last September I was pleasantly surprised to realize that although I didn’t have “my kids” (students) anymore, I now had an extended network of over 4000 new “students” to support. This group includes MVSD students, teachers, admin, support staff, and our MVSD families.… 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