Dr. Christine Ho Younghusband

Passionate about teaching, learning, and leading in BC education

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Cliff Waldie: FreshGrade

October 10, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – October 8, 2019 – REFLECTION

Watching Cliff Waldie from my PLN teach was a treat. I was so wowed that he spent the time to introduce himself, like other presenters had in EDUC 431, but took a brief moment to explain WHY to our teacher candidates and the importance of making a personal connection with your audience before moving forward with the learning experience. Can we get any more meta than that?

I love this guy… he teaches with his hands. Cliff is so animated and works the room. He moves all over the classroom to create engagement… and he does. I think we were fully engaged from the hour and 50 minutes. Cliff was talking to us about FreshGrade Classic. He was so gracious and thoughtful with his time. We first explored FreshGrade Classic as students, then we played with the application as teachers. Within that time, he faced “real” teachable moments and made decisions on the fly. I am not sure what I was more impressed with… FreshGrade or his planning, prepping, and teaching abilities. Cliff can work a room. By the end of the session, I noticed another pile of handouts. I wondered if I should distribute them, but nope… he was prepared for a third learning activity (just in case). Wow!

FreshGrade Classic was so easy to use and navigate… I think that I left teaching in K-12 too early. I would have loved to have worked with Freshgrade as a secondary mathematics teacher to Communicate Student Learning. keep track of how students were learning, and give opportunities for students to demonstrate learning and reflect IN REAL TIME. I was so shocked how easy it was and how I would have loved to have used this application to check in on math understanding with my secondary math students. It would be so easy to incorporate BYOD and to make adaptations, give feedback, and communicate with parents on progress. I also appreciated how FreshGrade integrates Communicating Student Learning, assessment, and pedagogy. This program would have been amazing in my secondary mathematics classes but also for this EDUC 431 EdTech class.

Of course, I had to take a couple of selfies. What an amazing face-to-face connection made on Twitter. I love my PLN more and more. The intersection of my PLN meeting face-to-face, working collaboratively together, and we can’t help ourselves but ACTUALLY have a parking lot meeting because we can’t stop talking about education, teaching, and learning… you know you’ve met an edu-soulmate.

Sally Song: My EdTech Journey

October 7, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – October 3, 2019 – REFLECTION

Of course I did… a selfie with Sally Song from SD36 (Surrey). Thank you for being patient with our technical difficulties on our end of this, but I was so glad that you were willing and able to spend some time with my EDUC 431 class to talk about your EdTech journey as a NEW TEACHER. I can’t believe I said that!!! You’ve been teaching for 7-years and you’ve just finished your Masters in Imaginative Education. Congratulations!!! You are a busy person. I think we first met online via Twitter in your first year of teaching and met soon after face-to-face at an EdCamp. I just think it’s incredible that you were willing to share your EdTech journey as a new educator and why you have made the choices that you have. Although you would have been willing to present on your use of FreshGrade, you were aware that our next presenter in EDUC 431 is talking about FreshGrade and you could still talk about Office 365. I love your flexibility, reflexivity, and generosity. You really embody the virtues and expectations of the BC Teacher Standards. I have to say, that might be my HIDDEN CURRICULUM for EDUC 431… connecting with AMAZING BC EDUCATORS!!! Thank you so much!

I loved your real approach to EdTech and how you described your enthusiasm for EdTech and finding as many ways as you could to embed EdTech into your classroom. However, by doing that, you realized that this was too time consuming and you had to make a decision as to what’s important to you, your students, and what would benefit student learning. Tough questions as educators are grappling with that all of the time and you were doing that with respect to EdTech. I loved your messages of creating professional boundaries, what is a good balance between tech and no tech, and taking the time to figure out what works for you and your students. That takes time and it’s a learning process. I really appreciated how you’ve highlighted some applications you use in your school district for Office 365 and how you use the app REMIND. What dawned on me was to have Office 365 to operate like Google Docs, your school district interconnects student and teacher accounts to make that happen. I love Google Docs and co-constructing LIVE with other people without being in the same room. A powerful application and I can only imagine what Office 365 would be like for you and your students.

THANK YOU SALLY for sharing what EdTech is like for you, your school district, and your students. I love your positive outlook on teaching and learning.

Valerie Irvine: Technology as Social Justice

October 7, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – October 1, 2019 – REFLECTION

What can I say? I am always wowed every time I talk to or listen to Dr. Valerie Irvine, EdTech Professor at the University of Victoria. She inspired me on how I designed EDUC 431 at UNBC for Teacher Education. During the summer, Valerie reached out to me… as “regular educator using EdTech as part of professional learning” to come is as one of many guest speakers to her #TIEgrad MEd EdTech summer intensive masters course. How could I refuse and I was in good company… Jesse Miller, Alec Couros, and Trevor MacKenzie. I was very humbled but also very inspired about the idea that Twitter is a platform where EVERYONE is a learner.

Valerie came to my EDUC 431 class to talk about “Technology as Social Justice.” I love her focus on LEARNER PREFERENCES and her mindset of WHY NOT? Take a close look of the photo above of a selfie for her #tiegrad class from the summer. Yes, I have needs. I had to do a selfie. Look carefully. She’s got people in a class setting on campus at UVIC meeting face-to-face, she’s got some students video conferencing in remotely (or locally) individually, and small groups video conferencing in who live in the same community. They are attending this class in real-time synchronously online and face-to-face. She models what she believes in: Multi-Access Learning Environments. How can learning be accessible?

Amazingly… Valerie designs her presentation to EDUC 431 using Twitter, Google Docs, and BlueJeans and engages learners by participating in an edu-chat with REALLY tough questions about student choice, bias, modality access. If students wanted to answer publicly online, they responded with the Q1/A1 format on Twitter. If students wanted to answer the questions anonymously, then they responded on a Google Doc that was shared on Twitter. This is about choice!!! And we are wrestling with some of those ideas of private versus public, but Valerie creates a learning space where students can choose and have a similar learning experience. She also taught me to copy and paste Twitter links and embed them into my blog on WordPress. Yay! See below for my responses to her questions.

Q1: Why do we need to have a required face-to-face experience as a class?

Q2: Should an institution’s or instructor’s modality preference override student accessibility? Or student preference of modality? 

Q3: Does/should modality bias exist? 

Q4: Should we allow flexibility in modality accessibility (e.g., multi-access)? What are the implications? Does your institution have a policy on cyber proxy?

To read the responses of UNBC Teacher Education program who posted publicly on Twitter, go to the hashtag #UNBCED. Their responses are incredible. Although you cannot unpack what you really mean on Twitter when given only 280 characters, so my responses were quite short. That said, much of what I was saying is that we are being policy compliant to educate and certify our teacher candidates, thus we have face-to-face learning. Valerie’s presentation got us to think about PEDAGOGY or PLATFORM? (sorry, it might not be those exact words… but the concept is there). What is good pedagogy and does the modality matter?

THANK YOU VALERIE… it was a jammed packed, passion-driven presentation about Technology as Social Justice. You’ve asked tough questions and you are so willing to inquire and challenge the status quo. I really appreciate that. Even this presentation to my EDUC 431 influenced my planning for my EDUC 491 course next semester. I am so inspired to challenge myself and my modality bias to make learning accessible to all students. I can’t wait for our next EdTech connection regarding what’s next for education and what I will learn next. Looking forward.

Noelle Pepin: Ozobots

October 7, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – September 24, 2019 – REFLECTION

There is nothing I like more than student engagement. THANK YOU Noelle Pepin from SD57 (Prince George) for leading learning in my EDUC 431 EdTech Class from the UNBC Teacher Education Program. Here is another person I’ve met virtually on Twitter as part of my PLN and one of the first people I’ve met since coming to Prince George to teach at UNBC. We have been inseparable ever since… and I’m grateful. We’ve connected for FNESC (First Nations Education Steering Committee) Math Teachers Resource Guide and BEADED TWEETS (@beaded_tweets) at the Two River Gallery in Prince George. I love that we can learn together. It’s super fun. But wait… What’s more fun??? OZOBOTS.

I was so happy that Noelle agreed to present to EDUC 431, but also to host this learning experience at Nusdeh Yoh School in Prince George where they embrace the Maker Space mindset. I love the idea of learning “in-place.” These little robots can be programmed using coloured felt pens or iPads with drag-and-drop coding. Tonight, we coded using felt pens. Coding with Ozobots was a very intuitive and engaging learning activity for EDUC 431 students. They listened carefully to the ground rules of using Ozobots and how one would help students learn the social responsibility of using Ozobots and how that could be scaffolded. The class then divided themselves into groups of 3 before resuming into an incredible EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING experience. They were learning by doing. Very little instructions were given and in groups of 3, they were figuring things out. There were lots of laughs, lots of engagement, and lots of dialogue. I was so impressed that students were able to make connections to coding with their grade level and curricular areas.

Although we took time to commute to Nusdeh Yoh school, it was worth the trip. You know that things are going well when our job as instructors or facilitators was minimal. Students were learning what they were suppose to be learning without being teacher led. Certainly, Noelle and I were circulating the room and checking in to see how things are going, but students were learning from experience. They were joyful and why can’t learning BE FUN? Today was a fun day. Students were very respectful with the equipment, orderly in putting things away and reflecting on what they have learned, and very engaged in the learning experience.

THANK YOU NOELLE… and thank you for the Ozobots Certificates too!!!

Sandra McAulay: Accessibility and Demonstration

October 7, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – September 19, 2019 – REFLECTION

Thank you Sandra McAulay from SD54 (Bulkey Valley) for coming to the Prince George UNBC campus to share your knowledge and expertise with my UNBC Teacher Education EDUC 431 class . What can I say? YOU WERE AMAZING!!! I love your enthusiasm, Your love for EdTech to support student learning. and your willingness to share what you know as a learner and educator. This was an incredible learning experience for me and my students. You are a role model of what “good teaching” is. I was so impressed. You kept the class engaged with a beautiful balance between providing information about iPad Apps, their use, and why to use them and having the class use iPads that you have brought in small group to experience the power of EdTech and how it supports student learning.

I love how we both introduced ourselves with photos from when we’ve met face-to-face. This is what I find so amazing about my PLN (Professional Learning Network), as you have mentioned so beautifully during your presentation. First, we would not have known about each other had we not met virtually on Twitter via #bcedchat. Second, I would not have felt the warm welcome to the north had you not reached out to say HELLO and welcome to UNBC. I really appreciated that you had OPENED YOUR ARMS to me and connecting as many times as you could to find opportunities to meet face-to-face. We missed each other in Prince George, ironically, but met face-to-face at NOIIE (Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education) Conference in Richmond, BC Core Competencies Ed Camp in Richmond, and in Sechelt at the Lighthouse Pub. Love that tweet that you’ve posted in your presentation… a 5-hour conversation that felt like 50-minutes.

I love our connection!!! I was so happy that you agreed to come visit me and my students face-to-face on campus and you did not disappoint. You were very explicit with what you do with EdTech, your educational journey as a K-12 educator, and your passion for teaching and learning. I loved your many, many messages to our students about how you “landed” on your current position in your school district and that you are a LEARNER. That is so humbling. Being a part of teacher education is only to get to the beginning of this amazing career in education and what’s to come is MORE LEARNING. I really appreciate that your work is all about supporting and celebrating student learning. I think that my students caught your enthusiasm and enjoyed experiencing what it would be like to ACCESS LEARNING and DEMONSTRATING LEARNING using iPads as a viable strategy for inclusion, a mechanism to reconsider formative and summative assessment, and a fun way to learn. In the end, it was a fun-filled 90 minutes.

THANK YOU SANDRA… and we can’t wait for PART 2… coding with SCRATCH.

Ian Landy: e-Portfolios and Blog

September 18, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431- September 17, 2019 – Reflection

Oh my goodness… WHAT A DAY!!! I am rudely reminded of how difficult it is to TRY SOMETHING NEW… TAKE RISKS… and MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN (from nothing). I’m not sure what I am thinking in designing this EDUC 431 course and facilitating it… but what brings me GREAT SOLACE is my friend, #bcedchat co-moderator, and edu-colleague, Ian Landy (@technolandy). What an incredible person and educator!!! His calm disposition and wealth of knowledge, I had nothing to worry about… but did anyway.

Although I continually emphasize with my students in teacher education that “we don’t know people’s stories”… “we teach who we are”… and “we are always showing our A-game… face-to-face and online.” Here is the pot calling the kettle black. As much as we want teaching and learning to appear “easy-peasy,” the truth is, it’s sometimes messy and unexpectedly last minute. We were up until the class time setting up technology and I learned that OUR CLASSROOM is not set up to host online events as I had intended (in my imagination… of course). Thank goodness for the IT Support Team for problem solving with me and making something happen for EDUC 431. It doesn’t matter if you are a Teacher Candidate in Practicum or seasoned educator of 25-years (like me and Ian) in Teacher Education… doing something for the first time is STRESSFUL.

Admittedly, I was not myself. There is a lot on the go and well… I’m not making excuses but I am AWAKENED by “never taking things for granted” and emphasize “self-care” as discussed in #BCEdChat 241 – Teacher Wellness: Early in the School Year. We always want something to work “perfectly” and often it never does… because that’s life. We had only one microphone, we compromised tech delivery, and we had some connection issues during the presentation. THANK GOODNESS for people like Ian Landy… who has infinite patience and has nothing but GOOD to offer. I feel so lucky to have people like Ian in my PLN (professional learning network). He shared his 100 page PowerPoint, a draft of his book (in progress), AND blog post just for us: https://technolandy.wordpress.com/2019/09/17/day-11-of-189-dear-educ431-at-educationunbc-with-christineyh/ 

I was so happy that Ian was able to speak about his experience with portfolios and e-Portfolios as an educator and learner. He spoke about the purpose of e-Portfolios for students and teachers, the value of blogging as a reflective practitioner, and shared parts of his WordPress site and why it’s important to him. My “aha” to relearn from today’s presentation was the IMPLEMENTATION DIP. I first learned about this from my leadership courses from SFU (Simon Fraser University). I am reminded that I AM THERE. I’m in the dip… and the notion that I am trying something new and that there are challenges faced on the way… it always seems like it’s the best time to QUIT or give up when you are in the dip. I don’t think I’m too far in the dip, but as I mention in my last blog on my other WordPress site: “Notice and Listen.” I have to be OPEN to how I am feeling… be RECEPTIVE to feedback… and ACT.

What I need to do next is to remember about the Implementation Dip. I am trying to model to my students what it means to take risks, be humble to change, and be persistent and resilient to see the full implementation of EDUC 431 as I first imagined it. It’s tough to think and feel this through in the dip, but it’s about GRIT and belief in THIS IS GOING TO WORK. “Learning takes time and patience.” I need to be kinder to myself as an educator and learner… and remember to take one step at a time. What’s so great about the teaching profession is THE LEARNING, the relationships, and developing one’s efficacy over time (and thankfully with others). The dip is only temporary. My students are meeting expectations and some are exceeding. They are PERSONALIZING their own learning as TEACHING PROFESSIONALS. What more can I ask for? i feel very lucky and grateful. Thank you Ian Landy for your time, expertise, and collegiality… and thank you EDUC 431 for coming on this ride with me. WE will see “NEW BEGINNINGS.”

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