debor002

            “The first step in building strong relationships in schools is the first step for building any strong relationships: talk to each other. The more we communicate our hopes, desires, and needs within the school system, the more ideas and solutions we will have to discuss, the more plans we will have to put into action, and the more support and enthusiasm we will have for seeing those plans through.” [1] Communication is essential for building and maintaining relationships with school stakeholders, but how can schools easily communicate information to the masses without it becoming a time-consuming task?  The prevalence of social networking has increased drastically over the past decade and statistics are reporting that, within Canada,  85% of citizens use at least one Facebook account, 46% have a Twitter account, 45% utilize a Google+ account, and 91% of all citizens are using some form of social media on a monthly basis. [2] Social...

“... Young people as a whole have enthusiastically integrated a variety of networked media into their daily lives, and can text, upload photos and blog with relative ease. However, using media effortlessly isn’t necessarily the same thing as using it well. Young people are mistakenly considered experts in digital technologies because they’re so highly connected, but they are still lacking many essential digital literacy skills .” [1] Classrooms are now filled with students that, from a generational standpoint, are coined, digital natives ; born into the age of digital technology and familiar with computers and the internet from an early age. [2] Does an increase in digital experiences, however, directly translate to a strong understanding of digital literacy and citizenship? Unfortunately, many teachers are assuming yes. Internet access has increased exponentially over the past decade and statistics are reporting that, within Canada, only 7% of students have no form of internet access...

     On Friday all of "T-Division's" teaching staff and EAs had the opportunity to attend a PD session with Charlie Appelstein ; a youth-care specialist, author, and father. Being that we are now into December, and only have a short ten days until the Christmas break, I was apprehensive about attending a PD session when there is so much to do in so little time left. On the other hand, classroom energy is always high at this time of year so it was nice to have a day away to think and recharge! Mr. Appelstein was an incredibly entertaining presenter and shared a lot of helpful information while infusing humor and "random bursts of positivity", as he called it. Fun times at our PD today with Charlie Appelstein. He spelt out Macfarland... then macdonald... here's the last one! #mbedchat #TRSD32 A video posted by Kirsten Thompson (@misslwbt) on Dec 12, 2014 at 3:13pm PST      Our 5.5 hour session focused on how to understand and respond to students who are livi...

     Last year I used Interactive Notebooks with my Grade 8-10 Math classes with some success. My Grade 8 and 9 students used them the most but my implementation lacked direction and I don't feel my students got as much out of them as they should have. I still taught my lessons regularly and then we would do an Interactive Notebook entry at the end of that topic as a type of review activity. So, while useful, I wasn't using them to my full potential and my students could pick up on that,      This year I was much more prepared and had class sets of notebooks for all student ordered before summer break even started! While I found lots of great ideas through basic Google searches and Pinterest, I spent the majority of my time scrolling through the great resources offered by Jennifer at 4mula Fun ! Here is what I recommend: - Introductory I.N.B Blog Post - Webinar Video Page (Over 2 hrs of video explanations!) - The 4mula Fun Teachers-Pay-Teachers store (I ...