This session of the Virtual Coffee Shop Podcast features a conversation with Jane Mitchinson Schwartz.
Jane shares her experiences in school hosted radio programming through the perspectives of community building and interesting curriculum connections.
Head to the kitchen to prepare your favourite brew, relax and enjoy the conversation.
Resources
Connect with Jane on twitter
Visit Jane’s website
~Mark
In this post, I am pleased to share the work of Mme Rosemary Berndt and her grade nine French classes. This year they pushed their approach to “un musée virtuel” to a new multi media and collaborative approach in making their learning visible. It was a pleasure to work with Mme Berndt and her students in providing support to the project.
This audio clip by Mmd Berndt provides a project overview and professional reflection. (Note: this is also included in the video introduction).
Video (overview and student work)
~Mark
The WRDSB Ted-Ed clubs presentation archive from June 7, 2017 at Vista Hills Public School in Waterloo, Ontario is now online.
Enjoy these “ideas worth spreading” !!! #studentvoice
A special thanks to organizers Megan Lowe, Tania Bumstead and Elke Baumgartner, Andrew Bieronski and also Stephen Hurley for his support to broadcast the live event on on VoicEd Radio .
~Mark
WRDSB Ted-Ed clubs is excited to host the very first live TED-Ed clubs event, featuring great talks by students in grades 3-8 on June 7, 2017 from 12:30 – 2 pm at Vista Hills Public School in Waterloo, Ontario. Learn more about the event.
The event will be live streamed on YouTube
and broadcast on VoicEd Radio
~Mark
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the ConnectEd 2017 conference this week, and certainly enjoyable to see so many wonderful people in my PLN face to face for conversations.
A personal highlight included the opportunity to present two different sessions with Jamie Reaburn Weir. In this post, I am sharing the resources we prepared for this Dell sponsored session which focused on setting a context for tackling barriers for change.
Note: This video was prepared from the Livestream archive.
~Mark
Last week I had the privilege of attending the 2017 Educational Technology Strategy Summit to share the WRDSB “going 1:1” journey in a panel discussion presentation.
The discussion was moderated by teacher Andrew Bieronski. I was joined on the panel by Ed Doadt (Principal), Jamie Reaburn (teacher), students Tara and Brooke.
The discussion was well received, noting that there were many positive comments about the journey, the sharing of research and observations and including student voices in the session.
Have a listen:
Session sketchnote:
Resources:
Conference Twitter Stream: #edutech17
~Mark
I enjoyed a wonderful opportunity to participate in and present at the inaugural Learn By Design conference hosted at the International School of Brussels. This was a wonderful experience and I enjoyed meeting so many fantastic educators and students.
I want to take a moment to introduce two new friends, Peter (centre) and Fred (left), who are undertaking an interesting project to provide real help to dogs with disabilities.
In this video, recorded at the conference, Peter and Fred share their vision, research and action plan to date. I am sure you will be impressed with their vision.
Peter and Fred pitch their idea to the Learn By Design attendees.
You can connect with Peter and Fred via their twitter account or website.
Twitter: @savingpawprints
Website: https://1geep8.wixsite.com/savingpawprints
I look forward to our continued dialog as they move their plan into action.
~Mark
As part of the recent WRDSB Digital Learning Symposium, teachers presented 20 minute sessions as part of the breakout offerings.
I was fortunate to attend Tania Bumstead’s presentation where she shared her experiences and insights on the journey of turning her classroom into a connected learning space. In the presentation Tania highlights the value of an online personal learning network (PLN) through twitter, collaborative work for students, taking risks and valuing new approaches.
Enjoy the presentation.
Connect with Tania on Twitter.
Many thanks to Tania and her students for sharing their experiences.
~Mark
As part of the recent WRDSB Digital Learning Symposium, teachers presented 20 minute sessions as part of the breakout offerings.
I was impressed with Andrea Stephen’s session where she shared insights on her journey of including Genius Hour as part of the learning experience in her classroom.
I think you will find her approach and insights on building student comfort in less structured learning, evolving ideas, considering audience, building on failures and assessment.
Connect with Andrea on twitter.
Thanks for sharing your learning Andrea!
~Mark
I thought I would share some student feedback on their experiences with our 1 to 1 pilot project this year on the final day of the 15/16 school year.
“Another component of this course that completely differs from my previous year is the use of technology. Everyday, we were fortunate enough to use the chromebooks provided by the school rather than write with pencil and paper. Although, at the beginning I was very reluctant to have the entire course essentially online, I was able to develop my skills with computers and different programs we used throughout the semester.” – MP
“At the beginning of the coarse when i found out we were doing the coarse online and on chrome books everyday….I did not like the thought of it at all because I’m pretty horrible with computers and such. After this semester I now am capable to make a website and transition to using google docs all the time now for everything.” – KP
“Everything we did this semester was digital, meaning I did not use a single piece of paper. I really liked this aspect of the course, as I found it was easier to remain organized, and on-top of assignments. The google classroom was a bonus because it allowed me to work through multiple assignments simultaneously. Overall, I think in the current time period it makes sense for every English course to operate this was, and I’m really happy that I was able to experience this type of course two years in a row.” – MG
“For the entire semester, our class used Google Chromebooks to complete work and participate in class discussions. Not once this semester did I have to pull out a piece of paper (which was nice). Based on my experience, this is the way that all English classrooms should be like in the future.” -SP
“The daily use of technology was new to me for an ENG course. Initially, I was skeptical of its usefulness, and even feared that it would interfere with my ability to do rough work, because I was so accustomed to paper-and-pen work. However, the use of technology was majorly useful. I very much enjoyed the access to an instant and limitless dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, library, and on and on. I am convinced my work was better for having access to these things, especially the first two items of that list.” – SN
“I enjoyed that the course was very technology based with everyone having a chrome book to work on. I feel it makes life a lot easier when all of my work can be accessed from anywhere and can be handed in from anywhere.” – LB
“Although the technology portion of this course was new to me and took a little getting used to, it was one of my favourite parts of this course. Learning through the source of technology was a good way to keep teens of our generation focused on learning in the classroom. Having all/most assignments online and easy to access was really helpful when working at home or somewhere aways from school grounds. Also being able to hand in assignments online was easier for me personally because I liked having the night of the due date to finalize my writing or slideshow before turning it in. “
I look forward to launching our 1:1 program across all secondary schools in September!
~Mark
~ Mark's Musings ~ blog.markwcarbone.ca 