Are You a Winner?

Are you an innovative teacher?  Would you like to have a chance to talk to and learn with other innovative teachers from around the world?  Are you a Canadian teacher?  Did you answer “yes” to all three of those questions?  Have I got an opportunity for you!

Microsoft Canada has announced the 2009 Microsoft Canada Innovative Teacher Awards.  I was part of this in program in 2006; fabulous is the only word to describe the experience I had.  As one of the innovative teachers, I was flown to Philadelphia and Siam Riep, Cambodia where I stayed in five star hotels (who knew there were hotels where people came in and turned down your bed for you in the evening).  While there, I had the opportunity to network with other teachers from all areas of the world.  It was truly the trip of a lifetime.

This year, interested teachers have until May 8, 2009 to submit their application for a project using MARVIN, Zune, OneNote or Learning Essentials.  Eight Canadian projects will be chosen by May 15, and provided with access to the tool they have chosen to use for their project.  These teachers will then have until October 1st, 2009 to develop their project and use it with their students. Four of these teachers will be chosen to compete in the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Salvador, Brazil, November 3-6, 2009.

Don’t just think about it, do it!  There is no website available with information about this, but as a former winner, I HAVE THE INFORMATION.  If you, or someone know, is interested in participating in this tremendous opportunity, just email me, (Cassidy.kathy@prairiesouth.ca) and I will forward the email I received to you.

Good luck.  I can’t wait to hear what innovative things teachers have done.

Starting Out Right

I’ve done several sessions to introduce teachers to blogging in the past, and have usually walked away wondering how many were going to keep it up. Beyond the technical aspects (which are huge issues if you’re not yet sure how to do basic things such as copy and paste) there is always the worry that teachers will not see the potential, but will just see it as “one more thing” to be added to their already busy day. At a fairly recent session that I did, I guessed that only about one third of the participants would actually follow up on the work we did together.

Yesterday I did a daylong session about using blogging to meet your curriculum with about fifty K–2 teachers. This session was the brainchild of Donna Desroche and JoAnne Kasper, and involved teachers from almost all of the schools in their division. It was one of the most enjoyable sessions I have ever done. I loved it because I went away feeling like all of the participants there would actually use what they had learned. I think it worked well for several reasons:

Preparation – All of the teachers came with a Classblogmeister blog already set up. We didn’t need to take time to go over basics, but could instead focus on making it work in the classroom.

Time – The teachers had a whole day of release time to learn about, talk about and feel comfortable with their blogs.

Ownership – We spent some time talking about how to customize their blog and then let them have time to add widgets, change templates and make their blog their own. I don’t see this as peripheral. I think this is an important step in ownership for teachers as well as students.

Curriculum Connection – As you can see from the wiki that I used, we also spent some time talking about specific ways they could use their blog to connect their students with our Saskatchewan curriculum. When I showed them how to embed a video, and some examples of curriculum-related videos that they could use, I could see their eyes light up.

Ongoing Support – At the end of the day, Donna asked them to talk in groups about ways that they felt they could use the blog in their classroom, and then asked them to email both herself and JoAnne to let her know their thoughts about the day and what further support they needed to help implement their goal for their blog. Some of them took the opportunity to find other classes to connect with and begin a blogging buddy exchange.

Well done, JoAnne and Donna. You’ve created a great model that’s worth following. I can’t wait to see the great stuff the teachers and their students will do.