Saturday, September 30, 2017

New Year, New Adventure

As a new school year gets underway, I am embarking on a new teaching adventure.  I have accepted a new role in Park West School Division.  For this term, I am excited to be the Literacy with ICT Teacher Leader for our 15 schools!  In this role, I support students and teachers in using technology to enhance teaching and learning.

Over the last month, I have worked in all of our schools.  This in itself has been great; I have enjoyed experiencing each school and witnessing the awesome and unique things going on at each one.  I have had the opportunity to work with numerous teachers and I've started working with students and teachers in classrooms as well.  Just like a classroom teacher, it is my goal to be responsive to needs and interests, so we've been working on a variety of projects around the division.

So what does this look like?

spending lots of time traveling around our prairie province
Basically, I drive to a different school (or two) every day.  I am getting used to spending lots of time in my Jeep enjoying the beautiful prairie landscape!  During my longer drives, I have started listening to podcasts and playlists to pass the time.   Each day, I carry my "office in a backpack" so I have access to a technology toolkit and my work laptop wherever I go.  Every day is different, but some of the things that I do include meeting with teachers individually or in small groups, sharing ideas at staff meetings and working in classrooms with students and teachers.


What kind of LwICT projects are students and teachers in PWSD working on?

How we use technology to support teaching and learning is different in each classroom and is based on the learning goals, needs and interests relevant to each situation.  Some of the projects currently underway include:

Global Read Aloud: American educator Pernille Ripp started this incredible project with the idea of "one book to connect the world".  Students and teachers around the world are collaborating as they read the 2017 Global Read Aloud books and many PWSD classes are joining in this year!

Video Creation: Some classrooms are working on video planning and writing scripts so they can produce their own videos.  Some teachers are looking at ways to record lessons, tutorials and student work for instruction and assessment. 

Digital Binders: Students and teachers are using digital binders to organize their work while also reducing their paper use.  Digital binders allow students and teachers to access their work anytime and anywhere.

How can we find out more?

I plan to update my blog regularly with ideas and samples from schools around our division.  Please follow this blog for updates.   If you work in PWSD, feel free to call or email me to book an appointment to talk about LwICT projects in your classroom. 

Follow me on social media to see the latest updates:

Twitter : @LeahO77 for updates from me  @MrsObachsClass for updates from classrooms I work in

Instagram: @MrsObachsClass