Dr. Christine Ho Younghusband

Passionate about teaching, learning, and leading in BC education

Category: Uncategorised (Page 12 of 12)

SUMMATIVE BLOG: Fall 2019

December 3, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – December 3, 2019 – REFLECTION

When you are a teacher, you have to be willing to be a LEARNER. One would have to be vulnerable, curious, and resilient. You would also have to have a clear vision, purpose, and efficacy to forge forward and delve into what is possible. The EGO has to step aside and make way, otherwise FEAR will overwhelm you. I felt that way when I was first assigned EDUC 431 – EdTech in Teacher Education. I blog. I maintain a website. I am on Twitter and use it professional learning… but I do not claim to be an EdTech teacher. Over the summer, I was blessed with the serendipitous opportunity to be a guest speaker for Dr. Valerie Irvine’s class at UVIC. She contacted me and asked if I would on DM via Twitter. I said, “of course I would,” but wondered why she would be asking ME to guest speak to her EdTech class. She said, “because you are a regular teacher using EdTech as professional learning.” This is true. I had a great time speaking with her class via video conferencing and I was in very good company, with people other EdTech gurus like Alec Couros, Jesse Miller, and Ian Landy. It was also an opportunity to get to know Valerie and her passion and expertise as a Professor in EdTech at UVIC. Nonetheless, I was inspired by what Valerie did with her intro graduate EdTech course and wondered if I could do that with EDUC 431 at #UNBCED.

I am not an EdTech expert, per se… but I am willing to try and imagine what a learning experience in EdTech with me as the instructor could look like. I am very grateful to Valerie with her willingness to play and try something new. She is a great mentor and she is very generous with her time and knowledge. So, I started to ask people in my PLN (professional learning network) to see if they were willing to participate and share what they knew about EdTech with my EDUC 431 class. I have no budget. I’m not flying anyone in. I just asked if they were willing to share and speak to my students. Not one person said no. (Wow… that was a double negative… let me rephrase that). EVERYONE SAID YES!!! This is the “true educator.” No fear. Passionate. Willing to share and wants to share. The time it would take to prep for my class and then speak to my class OVERWHELMS and HEARTENS ME. I gave out little gifts to each of our speakers because that’s the least I could do. I have so much gratitude for each of my colleagues who stepped up and stepped in. I became the learner and facilitator. I was designing the course. I will assess and evaluate student learning. But it was my colleagues who shared their wealth of knowledge and expertise to my students (aka. soon to be teachers). What I had hoped for was for my students to learn a little bit more about EdTech and how it supports student learning, sample some EdTech tools, and create a digital footprint. In the end, we got so much more out of this course than EdTech.

We walked away with a few big ideas from EdTech. (1) Use EdTech with a PURPOSE. If you can accomplish the same thing without using technology, don’t use technology. (2) Do not be consume… but CREATE. Use technology so that students can create versus consume. Write stories. Connect with others globally. To find one’s voice. (3) Technology makes learning ACCESSIBLE. Technology can be inclusive for students to demonstrate their learning, but also accessible to those who may need additional support with reading or writing… or is unable to attend class and learn face-to-face. I really appreciated these three big ideas about EdTech and how EVERYONE who was invited to speak said very similar things… which tells me, THIS IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW. We also discussed FOIPPA, privacy of students, and where data is kept on appropriate servers. We talked about digital citizenship and digital literacy… but in fact, we were living it. Many of the students, if not most, did not have a digital footprint prior to this course. One of my core beliefs, but also found in my research is, you cannot teach what you have not learned or experienced. So, part of this course was to develop their own e-Portfolio that show exemplars Professional Standards of BC Teachers, expresses their voice and values as a teaching professional, and personalizes and depicts their learning journey in Teacher Education. We also used Twitter.

I think the BIGGEST take-away for me had NOTHING to do with EdTech… but it was the week to week experience of watching and collaborating with an EXPERT TEACHER who is passionate about what they do. That was amazing to me. One example after another, students in EDUC 431 had the opportunity to observe and interact with teachers from all over BC to engage and talk about EdTech in K-12. You can’t get that from anywhere!!! What a gift. I felt that it was a gift and that was the first time that I’ve experienced that degree of professional learning. One can only get excited about EdTech because each of these educators were excited about EdTech and their perspective on EdTech with respect to teaching and learning. It was INCREDIBLE to say the least. My second take-away, which is reminiscent of the book (as seen above), “The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do,” is that you need to accept HELP FROM OTHERS. I am so blessed to have an AMAZING PLN. I may have mentioned that already. Each person was so supportive and caring. I just loved that EDUC 431 was an opportunity for me to deepen my relationships with these people that extended beyond Twitter and for some, was face-to-face. For example, one of our presenters drove 4-hours to Prince George TWICE to share her love for EdTech with my students. I was extremely humbled. Finally, my third take-away was my students’ learning. They had to figure out what would work for them or not as future practitioners. Some really flew with what was being presented but also what they are doing on Twitter and e-Portfolios. I kinda want to say they have EXCEEDED my expectations, but I will say I am HAPPY that they found the “goods internal” to the practice of EdTech. That’s the ultimate win!!!

I want to give a HUGE thanks to Grant Potter at the University who provided much tech support the beginning and throughout this course. I could not have done this course without him and his expertise with WordPress and OpenETC. I want to thank all of my guest speakers (see list below). I know this is only scraping the surface of EdTech. What an amazing field and tool that supports and enhances student learning and student learning experiences. Thank you EDUC 431 students for coming on this ride with me. You have been incredible throughout this course, with the ups and downs of tech issues, but also with what you have learned in this course to personalize your learning and find relevance to your teaching practice. And my last comment is this… why am I writing this blog? I wanted to experience what my students were experiencing. Although I did design the learning experience, took on the role as facilitator versus instructor, and created the course framework, I wanted to engage in what the students were doing and expected to do. I wanted to model learning. And, my e-Portfolio is still in progress, but I will complete this e-Portfolio at the same time as this teacher education cohort.  Here’s to EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING at it’s finest. Yay for learning!!!

THANK YOU… to the following EdTech educators who shared their expertise:

Kristina Tzetzos: Spinndle

November 4, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – October 29, 2019 – REFLECTION

Thank you Kristina Tzetzos from @Spinndle for joining my #EDUC431 #EdTech class at #UNBCed. It’s so great to listen to someone who is passionate about Assessment AS Learning and student voice, who has been a K-12 Educator in the BC School System, and become an EDUpreneur with your platform of Spinndle. It takes a lot of courage to step aside and develop an online platform for students to use and unpack student self-assessment into 5 categories: monitoring, tracking, collecting, reflecting, and assessing. You really got us thinking about our assumptions and I appreciated how you carved out the time in your presentation for us to discuss in small groups our thoughts on assessment and how students can be metacognitive with their thinking, sense-make, and have voice.

Thank you for giving our Teacher Candidates and opportunity to use Spinndle as a learner to PLAY and figure out the use and potential of Spinndle as a tool for Assessment As Learning. Although we did experience some technical difficulties (which we normally do in our EdTech class… sadly… but it’s a reality), we could really see how a student could monitor, track, collect, reflect, and assess their learning using Spinndle. You were articulate with your thinking about assessment and why it’s important for learners to embrace, empower, and own their learning and learning experiences. I really appreciated how you talked about your learning journey as a teacher candidate, teacher, and EDUpreneur. I was reminded why we are in the “business of education”… to support and nurture student learning.

From Spinndle, I’ve learned that two of my teacher candidates LEARNED HOW TO CURL as part of their professional learning experience during the Provincial Professional Development Day (something that is near and dear to my heart), and that the platform is can be personalized to the student’s learning experience that can be based on an inquiry based learning framework. I love how Spinndle nicely ties into BC’s Curriculum but also as a vehicle for students to reflect and self-assess the Core Competencies as an ongoing practice where growth and development can be seen over time. Finally, I loved how META Kristina was with her presentation and she reveals how she planned for her guest speaking session with a LESSON PLAN and discusses how she plans and designs learning. Kristina concludes by inviting my students to create a lesson plan that incorporates one of the 5 areas mentioned above for practicum. Now that is full circle!!!

Tim Cavey: Podcasts

October 23, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – October 17, 2019 – REFLECTION

OK. I’m not embarrassed. It’s now a “thing” to take a selfie with my guest speakers who join my EDUC 431 class online. THANK YOU Tim Cavey (@MisterCavey) from the TEACHERS ON FIRE (@TeachersOnFire) podcast for sharing your learning, your experiences, and your WHY with my EdTech class. AMAZING!!! I have to admit, your session was “easy listening.” You have a radio/broadcaster voice… hands down. You came in loud and clear (which is phenomenal given our tech set up on our end at the university) and what you had to say to my class was meaningful and engaging. Although you had questioned during your online session if being visible on YouTube was desirable or not given that “Teachers On Fire” is audio only on YouTube, I think after this afternoon’s chat to my EDUC 431 proves that maybe showing your face via YouTube WILL have an audience. We were so captivated with what you had to say. I wanted to catch a picture of you with your phone in hand (see below). Can you see it? (um… kinda)

You can kind of make it out at the bottom right hand side of the screen. This is what I noticed. You were reading your notes from your phone. I LOVED THAT. How can you get any more META in an EdTech class. Here you are talking about using PodCasts as a vehicle to CREATE and have VOICE, yet you are video conferencing in to Prince George from Surrey via BlueJeans and you are referring to your notes and prep on you phone. This was absolutely INCREDIBLE to me. I hope my students noticed. And, I really appreciated the prep that you (and my other guest speakers) have put into your guest speaks for my EDUC 431. I loved that you spoke about your why. Your commentary about what is a Podcast and what motivated you to start a podcast was inspirational and exciting. Sure… why not? I have a week free during spring break… LET’S START AN EDU-PODCAST inspired by “Entrepreneurs On Fire.” That seems so crazy to me. When I think about having a week free during spring break, I’m thinking about SLEEP, not content creation. Your story was so impressive and I appreciated the gesture of you willing to mentor anyone in my class who would want to start a podcast. I love the modelling and the willingness paying it forward. Thank you Tim. I hope someone takes you up on your offer.

I really appreciated how methodical you were with what you had to say. I loved that you cited examples from your podcast and how your classmates from your Masters Cohort from Vancouver Island University (VIU) were willing participants as part of your first 10 podcasts. Wow. What a cohort!!! I love that collegiality and the collectively willingness to lift others up. I also want to congratulate you on SURPASSING your 100th episode this month AND successfully completing your Masters program in leadership. What I appreciated about what you had to say during your talk was starting your presentation with this accomplishment and referring to your thesis, which was about podcasting and professional learning. I loved that you were willing to share examples of mistakes and challenges and how you were able to overcome and learn from them. I love how your professional learning is learning from what you are doing from making the podcast, learning from those who are guests on your podcast, and how you are able to make connections from around the world to learn more about what’s the next progressive edu-idea you want to share in your podcast. Best of all, you accomplish this using TWITTER and I am so glad that we were able to meet face-to-face at CAfLN earlier this year. It makes these connections via Twitter REAL!

You had a tonne to say… Carol Dweck’s “Growth Mindset” is a MUST read for all educators!!! That was one of my biggest take-aways. I love how reading someone’s ideas can be so transformational. We talk about growth mindset in our teacher education program at UNBC, but I am compelled to return back to that book and dig deeper. I cannot believe that you thought you would be a half-hour to talk and a half-hour for questions. When people have a passion… it’s tough to capture those big ideas in 30 minutes. That said, time really flew by when you were speaking and thank you for fielding questions from my students. We loved what you had to say and we loved your recommendations and ideas. It was a fulsome hour and THANK YOU for your patience on our “technical difficulties” in setting up our A/V equipment at the university. It was our first time setting it up and I am so grateful to have students who were all willing to help out to make this video conference possible. Sorry we could not fly you up to Prince George, but having you there LIVE using BlueJeans was the next best thing. Can’t wait to listen to your next podcast. Your productivity is astounding and I hope our students will content create (like you) via BLOG, podcast, YouTube, or Twitter. Thanks Tim!!!

Carrie Antoniazzi: Computational Thinking

October 11, 2019 / / 0 Comments

EDUC 431 – October 10, 2019 – REFLECTION

Here’s the thing… one of my “things to do” is to make photos accessible to students so that they can access the collection for their EDUC 431  e-Portfolios. They can certainly access Twitter for photos like I have for this edu-blog reflection. I’ve tweeted about today’s presentation and now I have plugged my phone into my computer. What did I learn? I take a lot of photos. It is going to take quite some time for those photos to upload. So, I decided to extract tweets from the #UNBCED feed and share what was on social media. Seems to work while my phone is held hostage tonight. BTW: it’s making very little progress… sigh.

THANK YOU CARRIE ANTONIAZZI from TechUP and Science World for coming to Prince George to provide this awesome learning opportunity for my EDUC 431 students on COMPUTATIONAL THINKING without computers. I was super excited for weeks and I was not disappointed. I loved how she spoke about DESIGN THINKING, ADST and BC’s New Curriculum, and assessment & evaluation. Wow!!! A jammed packed 1 hour and 50 minutes… and there were door prizes too!!! #winning I also appreciated that it was highlighted of the many opportunities that TechUP and Science World has to serve THE NORTH (for free). I hope some of our Teacher Candidates take advantage of these opportunities during practicum or in their future practice. They seem AMAZING and why not?

What captured my attention during Carrie’s presentation of COMPUTATIONAL THINKING was what are the different parts, how does each part work or looks like, and shared a video that depicts the process really well. I loved this video.

Carrie made connections of COMPUTATIONAL THINKING to the ADST (Applied Design, Skills, and Technology) Curriculum (which is required for K-12) and DESIGN THINKING and how this curriculum was intended to be integrated with other curricular areas. I really loved how these collaborative, dialogical, and interactive learning activities capture and develop the Core Competencies and how Carrie emphasized that it was the student’s responsibility to identify what those Core Competencies are and figure out how they are developing them. Most of all, I loved the idea of TRIANGULATION of data for summative assessment using written evidence (as product), observations of students, and conversations with students to support your professional decision making… and that written evidence does not have to be a test or exam. Why not use EdTech strategies?

What now follows below are a series of tweets from myself and UNBC Education Twitter Handle @educationUNBC to depict how today’s presentation went. These pictures are phenomenal because we situated our learning at the UNBC Senate Chambers. THANK YOU CARRIE for being an EDU-CHAMPION. Loved today’s session on computational thinking. Lots learned… and plenty to remember. 🙂

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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