The end of Part II

Well here I find myself at the end of the second part of the specialist, and I feel great about doing this part of the course, however, am nervous about the next part too!
I think the best part of this course for me was putting together the three year plan for our school.  Not because that's where I learned the most but because that's where I was able to see the learning throughout this whole course come together in one piece.  I feel I was able to use a variety of different skills from the course to put into that plan and it was cool to see all that come together. I was even kind of proud of it.

Putting together the Google calendar for the workshops was interesting and I think I can use it in the new year.  I also really liked, and learned a lot from, Survey Monkey.  This will be certainly be of use to me in the future as well.  I think both of these tools I put to good use in the Three year plan as the data drove the instruction and the ideas for it.  The survey also opened my eyes to how technology is being used in our school and how much more efficiently it could be used!

The discussion forums continue to be a key part of the courses as we are all able to learn from each other and each others ideas.  I have had some great comments and critiques come my way as I posted activities, ideas and theories to the course boards, and I believe I was able to provide some great comments and critiques back to other candidates as well.  To be able to partake in such discussion completely fulfills the Standards of Practice from the College of Teachers and should be expanded into other forums such as school PD and other meetings.

I'm not sure I have any outstanding questions to pose to my colleagues, I would like to thank everyone for being entirely professional in our discussions, posts and sharing.  I would also like to extend my gratitude to those in the orange group for putting together some cool lessons and sharing with each other on Google Drive.  I look forward to seeing many of your names in Part III!

Reflection on LE3

This last Learning unit that I completed pushed me outside of my comfort zone for sure.  I've never used survey monkey and I don't really like to ask too much of my colleagues.  Also, I wasn't sure I wanted to put a calendar out there for everyone to see either. Ultimately I can see how both are going to be useful to me and my staff in the immediate future and for plenty of time to come.

This course, continues to challenge me especially in the busy times of November.  Parent interviews, reports, course work, personal work at home and of course family life have all challenged me lately and I hope I am coming out on top. I feel like I am, but not always certain.

Last learning block of this course coming up and then Christmas, and following that, the Specialist element of this.  I look forward to that as well, however, I am nervous about it.  Nothing is going to slow down to allow any more time, so balancing and juggling is the focus of the effort in all of this.

A life lesson there........

And my Reflection from the prompts LE#2

Reflection on the Halfway point!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

2nd reflection - Response to prompts

1. Describe one significant idea or issue that has arisen for you, as you were engaging in the topics during Learning Experiences #1 and #2

Something that has really stood out in my mind is the use of Web 2.0 tools.  I have been using them for the last couple of years and have been trying to incorporate even more of them into my classroom, or virtual classroom. I am seeing this more now as a technology for the special needs student as well.  Before I really just thought it was engaging and fun for kids.  I am now seeing it as more of an "assistive technology", not perhaps like dragon, but equally as useful and more importantly, inclusive. 

2.Elaborate on how specific resources, ideas or experiences in the Learning Experiences have contributed to your learning. e.g. reading material, course activities etc.

Again I want to touch on the Web 2.0 tools.  There are so many useful things out there that I either didn't realize existed or I just hadn't had the confidence to jump right into it.  Such as Edmodo.  I have attempted to incorporate it into my class and have had some pretty great results so far and I still have much to learn.  

3. Share how your participation in the discussion forums have contributed to your learning and connect this to your understanding of the Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession.

As a result of discussion with my "classmates" I can say that my "ongoing professional learning" has been the area I have gotten the most out of.  Whether it be specific lesson plans and ideas or just methods of using a particular tool, the discussion forum is key in this learning to connect with others and see what they are doing.  Essentially one can tweak any ideas and make them their own, creating a best practice. 

4. Discuss any outstanding questions and the steps you may take to further explore your interests as part of your learning in the course.

What I am still contemplating is my school plan.  I am wondering how to get others involved and spread the technological ideals throughout our school.  We have a pretty comprehensive School Improvement Plan and each division has some great things going.  I wonder how I can influence them to use more technology and bring the whole school on board.

A Re-post for my reflections

The End of LE#1

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Reflect on This Learning

So Here I am at the end of my first learning module of the 2nd part of the course.  I'm happy to be here as I'm inching along with all the other things that happen along with work and life.  I really enjoyed and benefitted from a couple of sections of this learning module.  First and foremost the dreaded "Blog", dreaded because I wasn't sure how I first felt about it.  And secondly, the web 2.0 tools and learning.  This pages chock full of sites and ideas to use.

The blog has become my friend.  I certainly didn't think it would be.  I have always enjoyed writing and reflecting but perhaps not so much publicly.  There are however many benefits to this and perhaps any of you who stumble up on my blogs in the future will feel the same way or you may be at that certain point in your life where you feel busier than you can handle.  It's okay, it'll pass ( I actually wrote that to remind myself).
One of my favourite blogs now a book was the 1000 Awesome Things.  Perhaps someday I'll have an inspired moment like that during blogging to create my own version.

The Web 2.0 Tools as previously mentioned opened my eyes to a whole new world of Awesome as it were, to what is out there for classrooms and students.  I have put Edmodo to use and it is now up and running, and with great feedback from the kids.  Where I have to be careful is trying not to do too much with all the programs and things that are out there to be used.  Focus on one or two things and try and do them well!

One of the things that I found really not that tremendously useful and quite bothersome, though I understand how necessary it is, was the computer use policy.  Okay, I get the necessity.  It's just terribly unfortunate as people don't use their heads, or even more unfortunate people try to take advantage.

I can say that it has been easy to connect to the Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession as the continuous discussions and on going learning have continued to open my eyes to not only technologies and programs, but other educators thoughts and views as well as what is going on with other school boards out there!

That's what I think about that,
Over and out,
Shaun

The importance of reflecting

For anyone out there on the world wide web who may stumble upon this post, you must first understand that this is my very first blog.  Pardon my ignorance.  Hopefully it's of a decent quality.

I've been asked through a course I am taking to do this, with reflection as the topic.  George Couros wrote a blog entitled 'Another Reason to Blog - Proactive Through Reflection.' I do believe reflecting is an important skill to have, and yes, I do believe it is a skill. It is important for our own growth and learning as well as our work, our relationships, friendships and even our health.  Taking even just a few moments to reflect on what 'has been' or 'what could've been' is important to future 'what will be's' or 'could be's', with regards to any of the previous avenues mentioned.

Reflecting is not new to me.  I have a collection of writings at home, which I often look at and think about and use for my own personal growth. This vehicle (reflecting through blogging) for me is new, as my writings are my own, I generally do not share.  Putting oneself out there for others to see, hear, read and critique, is exciting, however it is tremendously frightful. However, having people critique is not always a bad thing. I do look forward to some helpful comments.  It will also be nice to have somewhat of an e-catalogue of blogs for myself to reflect on.

I am a teacher.  Before you start throwing rotten tomatoes at your computer screen, please understand the nature of the course I'm doing this for is to improve my learning and therefore my students learning and success as well. The course which I am taking is to integrate technology into our classrooms and our learning and I'm finding it is very worthwhile course for many different reasons.  I'm learning about programs available online for myself and my students. I'm learning about how to use different technologies to their fullest potential in the classroom.  It's forcing me to step outside my comfort zone and do things like blogging which I have never done before.

I'm begging for more time in a day right now, with work, this course, a wife and two young girls and a new house to boot.  Anyhow, as with my other writings, I'm sure I'll look back on this and 'reflect' on when my girls were young and what school was like!