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 2021/2022 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… Read More
Happy New Year!
I don’t care what anyway says, back-to-school season is the new year for teachers! I took a conscious step back from this blog in June of 2021 while I was reporting from home in the spring to align with my mental health needs during the end of Manitoba’s third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. As summer break started I made the decision, for the first time in my teaching career, to NOT participate in any type of education- or technology-related professional development. This was partly in response to the need to recharge after the school year but also in preparation… Read More
Riding the Wave 2021 – A Conversation with Danny Michel
For the second year in a row the Riding the Wave conference that is traditionally held in Gimli is moving online! (You may remember that last year saw the Making Waves series of sessions). This year Riding the Wave chair, Andy McKiel, has arranged a session with Danny Michel! In an effort to be accessible for all educators, this session is: FREE (no cost required) outside of the school week (no coverage needed) plus there are prizes! “Danny Michel is an award-winning Canadian singer, songwriter and producer who has amassed a dedicated fanbase over the last couple of decades. We’re… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Ed Tech in MVSD
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. When I moved into this position I noticed that there were reoccurring concerns from administrators and teachers from many of our schools: families were unfamiliar with a variety of technology-related aspects of their children’s’ lives. This may include how to utilize school-related tech tools, how to help their child navigate social media, how to guide their child’s use of screen time, etc. With the shift to remote learning in the spring of 2020, this concern… Read More
Happy May!
This school year has seemed to fly by. It seems like every few weeks there have been new guidelines or projects to explore and all staff are consistently reinventing their practices to adapt. An excellent example of this came literally 30mins after I filmed and sent out this video: new health guidelines mean that I will not be in schools as much as in-person visits are limited to help reduce spread of VOCs in our communities. We just keep rolling with the punches and trying our best! With the start of a new months comes a new monthly ICT newsletter.… Read More
#TechTipTuesday – Transparent Whiteboard for Virtual Lessons
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. At our most recent MAETL meeting, Andy McKiel shared how you can use Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) to make a transparent whiteboard for use during virtual lessons. OBS is a tool that is new to me this spring and I have been experimenting with it a bit for use during virtual presentations (see BYTE example below): I know that many of our staff could utilize this option for their classes so I started experimenting and… Read More
The Teacher Next Door
I am always in search of ways to assist our staff in accessing professional development in the area of ed tech. As I’ve grown in this position, and our teaching environment has changed drastically, this has taken multiple forms: in-person PD sessions for staff groups one-on-one or small group in-person PD sessions social media posts PD on the Potty monthly newsletters Tech Tidbit PD presented virtually over the noon-hour book studies As we progress through what is arguably a year for the record books, I continue to look for ways to strengthen our staff capacity. Last Wednesday during our monthly… Read More
Supporting Ed Tech – Check Your Mail!
Today felt somewhat like Christmas at my office as I was busy packaging up different ed tech resources to be sent out to schools via our divisional mail system. I am always on the look out for different ways to build in ed tech PD and tech integration and for the past few weeks I have been working with our Coordinator of Library Services and Coordinator of Educational Services on two projects: School-Based Book Study Each of our schools has been gifted a book that discusses a specific aspect of ed tech. These books were chosen based on: school goals… Read More
Innovative Learning Environments
*This post has been written as part of my professional growth plan through my #ISTE20 scholarship. Sustaining a 1:1 program – insights from research Presenters: Dr. Andrea Beesly, Rebecca Griffiths, Linda Shear Overview: “1:1 programs bring initial excitement and, later, deeper learning opportunities. But sustaining and funding over time is a challenge. This paper shares insights on sustaining 1:1 technology programs in economically challenged K-12 settings, based on a large research study of an iPad program.“ Main Takeaways: Externally-funded projects have diminished benefits over time (fatigue, lack of funds, too long to continue momentum) How can this be avoided? ConnectED –… Read More
Instructional Design & Delivery
*This post has been written as part of my professional growth plan through my #ISTE20 scholarship. Taking everyone to the top: from app-centric lessons to true cognitive engagement Presenters: Jessica Herring, Dr. Michael Mills Overview: “Apps usually become the focus of technology use in classroom learning, but in this session, you’ll learn how to take what might start as app-centric lessons and take them to a higher level of authentic, contextual learning and cognitive engagement.” Main Takeaways: App choices need to move beyond “this is cool” to “how does this help to meet or surpass curricular goals” “plant the seeds of… Read More