Happy September. Hope your summer was filled with lots of time for family, rejuvenation and fun. Back to another year of learning, connecting with familiar faces and meeting new faces. Whether you’re starting in a new site, new job position or deepening your understanding of the redesigned curriculum, it’s an exciting time. One of the…
Happy Summer – Happy 150th Canada
On behalf of our Learning Technologies Team (Lucky, Livia, Janet), we wish you a wonder-filled summer and celebrations for Canada 150th birthday.
Voices as Stories from the Heart
Ever hang out with people who dream up things that make your head spin? While lots of people come up with over-the-top ideas, it’s rare that these come to fruition with powerful lasting impacts. I was fortunate enough to have been a part of a listening circle to see this one unfold. Imagine the months…
Why Blog?
With the many demands on a teacher’s time, what would make a person want to blog? Yes we know all about how a blog or what I prefer to say, “a web presence”, can communicate. That is what a blog can do. However this is too simple of an answer. Here is my current short list…
Student Driven Conversations
Funny thing about data (or I’d like to call them stories) – when students are an intricate part of the conversation, it takes on a whole different meaning. Recently, I was with one of our Joint Teams (LSS/Classroom partners and Learning Technologies) focused on supporting learners with written output challenges. I had shared how we could…
Technologies Amplifies and Changes the Way We Create
Is it “technologies amplifies our ideas and changes the way we create”? Or is it the other way around or both in tandem? Last week our district came together for Pro-D. Aptly named “District Day”, it’s a day dedicated to learning and exploring together – meeting and connecting with friends and colleagues from other schools….
Necessity is … “Making”
A couple of years ago I was working with a teacher doing some audio recording using iPads. The students were creating book trailers to sell their favourite books and were they ever focused in trying to describe their chosen books without really giving anything away. What transpired were constant redo’s as they reviewed their Tellagami‘s…
Updated Top 20 Apps for 2017
Finally rounding off our list of vetted “must have” TOP 20 APPS for 2017. While these are in no order, the apps can be categorized into two areas – student voice/design/creativity and productivity. Stay tuned for future posts on how you might use some of these apps. Design –*Communication, Creative Competencies Pic Collage Kids (elementary), Pic…
Assistive Software and More
There are a number of assistive software or add-ons that may support students with access to learning. Much like i-device apps, this area is constantly changing. A great start is to “know your purpose” when considering the following. (If you need support with these, please contact our Learning Technologies team.) ON THE COMPUTER EASE of…
Must be App Smash Time – List for 2016-2017
Seems like the world of apps is constantly shifting with an abundance of tools that promise just about everything except make coffee. I imagine that will happen soon. Here is our updated list of apps and ‘yes’, we like to keep the list to under 20 (leaving lots of space for saving creations). Again, some…
Know Your “Why”
Recently we had session 2 of our Communicating Learning via ePortfolios Team. When I wrote up this session to post for the team, it struck me that anyone should be able to see this especially at a time when we’re all focused on assessment, report cards and all the things that come with the process. …
Updates on Learning and Thinking
It’s almost November and there’s certainly a bite in the air – you know winter is just around the corner. Two of our larger projects got off the ground with a blast. ImagineerTech Team focuses on exploring the curriculum and ways to integrate learning technologies that include all students. The redesigned curriculum offers opportunities for…
Happy Autumn
Welcome back to another exciting year of connections, relationships and opportunities to be inspired through learning. If you are like me, you’ve been pondering and sparkling with ideas about how to move the Redesigned Curriculum forward. Sometimes a story unpacks the journey better than talking. So we’ve put together some of the stories from our…
Year in Review
Voices count. So our last words for the summer are from two of our teams: ImagineerTech and ePortfolios. Padlet was used to share this wall of reflections. (Year in Review can also be found here.) Created with Padlet
Happy Summer
As promised, here is a list of books gleaned from our “Summer Reading” survey last week – some gems waiting for you. And from our Learning Technologies Team > we wish you all a great summer of rejuvenation and relaxation with family and friends. Invent to Learn – Gary Stager and Sylvia Libow Martinez Dark…
Summer Reading
We’re coming down to the home stretch in the final days of June. Time to look ahead to those long days of no alarm clocks, watching sunrises and sunsets. Oh did I say put away those alarm clocks? And just in time for summer fun we have a survey for you. We use Gravity Forms…
Digital Citizenship – Creative Credit and Copyright
June has arrived and many events are happening. Our final activity for Digital Citizenship is on “Creative Credit and Copyright”. You will find the link here. You can also go to any of the previous activities on the site as well.
Math, Math and More Math
In partnership with Ron Coleborn (Math consultant), we are pleased to announce two Math softwares available for teachers to apply: Dreambox Learning (Math) Skoolbo (Math and Literacy basic skills) (Canadian version) DreamBox is an online Math resource (K-8) intended to support personalized instruction for students from intervention to enrichment. The ongoing formative assessments within the program…
Moments of Impact – Having Strategic Conversations
Recently, I was thinking about our ePortfolios journey and what stood out in my head was the concept of story – more specifically ‘strategic conversations of story’. These are conversations that matter, not the stuff that hang on fridge doors and then are relegated to the magic box. Strategic conversations engage participants analytically, creatively and…
May’s Focus is Cyberbullying
Our Digital Citizenship topic for May is “Cyberbullying”. Details and conversation starters for teachers, classes, and parents are on our digital citizenship site. Head on over – it is a conversation worth having. Don’t forget the digital citizenship contest for classes. More information is on the site.