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A Surprising First Day 'WOW'!

9/2/2014

Happy September 2 and welcome to a new year of learning adventures!

Each year, on the first day of school, our ITS department (IT consultants, DLSTs, Mark Carbone and me) gathers for our first planning meeting. It's always a nice way to start the year, with a sharing of summer stories, a review of some highlights from the previous year and a glimpse ahead to department priorities for the coming year. One of the standard agenda items at this meeting is a viewing of the WRDSB System Video. Although the content and the quality of this annual video has been improving in the past couple of years, it has lacked the WOW factor, in my opinion, and although it has motivated some meaningful discussion, it has never really been the highlight of our meeting.

I found this year's video . . . absolutely stunning! It is amazing on so many levels! It features a student voice as narrator through much of the video. We see and hear about innovation, forward thinking, creativity, global connectedness, collaboration and DIVERSITY! "Our diversity will not be a barrier, but rather a reason for our success." . . . is a direct quote from one of the students. Wow!

We see students engaged in learning, collaborating, using a wide range of desktop and mobile technology, singing, playing, and even dancing in the hallway! It's positively joyful in places! There are no superintendents, no administrators, no tele-prompters - instead, we hear from a few teachers and many students who express themselves with honesty and sincerity as they discuss their learning experiences and their hopes for the future. They are believable ~ we relate to them ~ they are inspiring. WOW!

Kudos to our director John Bryant and everyone who was involved in creating this powerful video. It made me proud to be a WRDSB employee and was definitely my WOW of today!

All WRDSB staff will likely be watching this video at an upcoming staff meeting, but to get a sneak peek, or to re-watch it, you can visit this link > http://metamedia.ca/WRDSB/category/2013-14-goal.

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"I remember when Google was just a search engine."

1/17/2014

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At a recent family gathering, we had a rather animated discussion around the dinner table about the role technology plays in our lives. My oldest son was singing the praises of KitKat, the new Android OS, and more specifically, Google Now. Some around the table were unfamiliar with the amazing features of Google's predictive search assistant, Google Now, so Matt was happy to wow everyone with a recount of some of his recent experiences with Now - receiving notifications of his flight details, the time he should leave for the airport and an offer to book a taxi - directions offered to a restaurant he casually mentioned in an earlier conversation - and more. The concept that Google Now is gathering data from our messages, searches and even conversations was unsettling to some and thrilling for others.

It was at this point in the conversation that my 10 year old niece announced, "I remember when Google was just a search engine." Our first reaction was laughter. Our second was wonderment at how these types of wisdoms can so easily fall out of the mouths of babes. Next was the OMG - was it actually 10 years ago that Google was just a search engine??

You have come a long way Google! Over the years, we've been offered Mail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Plus, Hangouts, Blogs, Sites, Maps, Talk, YouTube, Picasa, News, Books, Earth, Moon, Finance, Alerts, Translate, Keep, Chrome, Code, etc. etc. etc. - there is a multitude of services that Google offers, and it is growing and changing every day.

Many of these Google tools offer incredible new options to support the teaching and learning happening in our classrooms. Admittedly, it's a challenge to keep up with the rate of change in the world of technology, however, as educators, I believe it is part of our responsibility in these times. Although my niece is correct, Google is 'much more than a search engine', sadly, this is all that is presented to some of our students. How much they and their teachers are missing!

How do you keep yourself current? Do you share your new learnings and discoveries with your colleagues?

There is a wealth of information easily accessible and networks of passionate educators ready and willing to share, discuss and collaborate about technology innovations. Education is a vibrant, exciting, ever-changing profession. Technology is offering opportunities to do new things and in ways that have never been possible in our classrooms before. It's incumbent on all of us to keep informed and to embrace the idea of innovation in our profession.

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T.H.I.N.K. before you ....

11/17/2013

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The week of November 18 - 22 is Bullying Prevention and Awareness Week in the WRDSB. One of the feature activities of the week is the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council's T.H.I.N.K. campaign. In my last post - Social Media in the Classroom, I mentioned that I was involved in creating the Teacher Toolkit for this campaign. The toolkit will be distributed to schools in paper form, but the activities are now posted online at this link > http://www.preventingcrime.ca/think. From there, you will see 2 tabs - one to the Teacher Toolkit and a second to Resources. Please use and share these ideas!!

Many of the activities in the toolkit involve the students engaging in the purposeful use of Social Media. The activities are varied and are adaptable to many grade levels and subject areas. They are useful, not only during this week, but anytime!

I thought it would also be useful to share more about some of the other plans for Bullying Prevention and Awareness Week. The information below is an excerpt from the WRDSB System Memo, dated Oct. 11. There are some great ways to get your students involved!

This year schools are encouraged to get involved in any or all of the following activities:

STAND UP
The “Stand Up” Campaign through PREVNet http://www.prevnet.ca/projects/family-channel-standup. This website contains Teacher, Student and Parent resources to educate about bullying, encouraging inclusiveness, respect, the importance of standing up, and includes daily activities for Bullying Awareness Week 2013.

THINK
The “THINK” Campaign in Waterloo Region http://www.preventingcrime.ca/think. Rubber bands with a THINK imprint, specially sized to fit around a cell phone will be available for students in Grades 7 – 12. Posters will be provided to all schools. We encourage schools to take the “THINK Pledge”. Information about the THINK Campaign will be uploaded onto the Board and school websites. A digital citizenship toolkit, containing lesson plans and activities is being developed centrally and will be provided to every school in the near future.

DIGITAL ETIQUETTE
A Poster Competition is being hosted by WRDSB, WCDSB, Waterloo Region Police Services and the Crime Prevention Council on Online Etiquette. Submissions can cover a variety of topics, such as cyberbullying, identity theft, plagiarism, social media, privacy settings, etc. Prizes include $250 cash for the school and gift cards from sponsors. Information and guidelines about this competition will be provided to every school in the near future and posted up onto the Board and School websites.

SHOWCASE YOUR SCHOOL INITATIVE(S)
Many schools have activities and events planned for Bullying Prevention and Awareness Week. If you would like to highlight activities and/or events taking place at your school on the WRDSB website, please email your details and pictures to Lynsey Meikle at lynsey_meikle@wrdsb.on.ca or send by Twitter to @wrdsb.

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Social Media in the Classroom

10/30/2013

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Last spring, I was invited to join the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council's Social Media Committee. We meet for a half day monthly to discuss issues pertaining to Social Media use from a community perspective, and work on related initiatives. It is a positive and energetic committee and although I am the newest member, I am already feeling valued as part of the team.
In the month of November, our committee, in partnership with both the public and catholic school boards, is launching their #think campaign. More information can be found here > http://www.preventingcrime.ca/think.

My contribution to this initiative was in putting together a Teacher Tool Kit, with classroom activities and resources for Gr. 4 - 12 teachers and support staff in schools. I did this in collaboration with committee members, classroom teachers, the Digital Literacy Support Teachers, and 2 amazing CYWs who work in our secondary schools. I am grateful for their contributions and am proud of the package we have created.

The majority of the activities we added to the Toolkit involve students engaging in purposeful use of Social Media. There is no better way to prevent the ABUSE of Social Media than to provide opportunities within the classroom setting to USE Social Media meaningfully and responsibly. Students who have learned to blog, tweet, chat, instagram, post videos and share other creative content online within their learning environments are building a solid digital footprint and are learning the value of these activities. These students are unlikely to be the ones abusing these same tools in their personal lives. Our greatest strategy against the misuse of the Social Media is the use of Social Media.

Follow the THINK campaign on Twitter using the #think hashtag.
Try some of the classroom activities, soon to be posted to the THINK link on the WRCPC's website.
Share with others how YOU are using Social Media in the classroom. We have so many ways to share, and so much to learn from each other.
Encourage your colleagues to jump on, join in and sign up!

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QR Codes in the Classroom

10/7/2013

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Earlier this fall, one of my 'Idea of the Week' links was about QR Codes. Now that we have iPads in our classrooms, teachers' interest in QR Codes is growing. QR Codes are such a nice way to provide quick easy access to web content. Here are 2 examples of how they might be used....
The students in the picture to the left are using a QR Code displayed on a screen to access a link to TodaysMeet to join a discussion about a book they are reading. No URLs to type - just a simple SCAN and you're there!
I was excited to see the bulletin board below in a Grade 5 classroom. The QR Codes here provide access to sites with information about Sir John A MacDonald and Piet Mondrian.
Try creating displays that include posters, books, magazines, maps and QR Codes - it's a nice way to provide a resource-rich, technology-enhanced environment for young learners!

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A summer highlight.

9/2/2013

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In August, Trish and I had the extreme fortune to instruct a Summer Academy session in Dryden, ON., called 'Making the Most of an iPad in an Elementary Classroom'. We met a group of amazing teachers from the Keewatin-Patricia local who gathered for 3 days with us in Dryden to learn as much as they could about using iPads for Learning.
Their board, like ours, had a big iPad deployment last fall, however, unlike our board, the deployment did not come with training, so for many, this was their first opportunity to attend any type of iPad PD. Most of them were really craving the chance to gather with a group to brainstorm, discuss, learn, explore, collaborate and share ideas. It really reinforced for us the importance of accompanying any new initiative with the appropriate professional development. We were thrilled to be able to provide this experience for them and know that they will seek out further opportunities and share much of what they learned back in their schools throughout the year. We created a website and blog for our Dryden adventure which can be seen here > http://ipads4learning.weebly.com

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A Surprising First Day 'WOW'!

"I remember when Google was just a search engine."

T.H.I.N.K. before you ....

Social Media in the Classroom

QR Codes in the Classroom

A summer highlight.

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