Hi, my name is Danielle Peters. I live in Burnaby (B.C., Canada) and I am a grade 3 teacher in the Surrey School District. I have previously taught grades 2, 5, and 6. I am also one of our districts Coding teachers. Once a week I visit other schools and teach students about design thinking, coding, and programming. I also teach the classroom teacher how to implement the new ADST curriculum. I am passionate about literacy and authentic assessment. I majored in English Literature and Visual Arts in my undergrad. On the side I enjoy hiking, photography, and reading. This is my 5th or 6th class in the MET program. I recently completed the 4 core courses. I am looking forward to learning how digital technology can support my students in numeracy and science. I am also looking forward to connecting with more educators. I have made great connections through the MET program.
Monthly Archives: May 2017
Hey from North Vancouver
Hey everyone,
My name’s Jocelynn and this is my 5th course within the MET program. I am a French Immersion teacher for the younger kiddos at the grade 3/4 level at an IB school in West Van. They are a wonderful group to work with and I love this age group. Since this course is more designed for the older level, I am interested to learn strategies of teaching math and science using technology from a different perspective than I am used to. I am also particularly interested in the neurology of learning, and so I hope to delve into that bit in relation to learning STEM, which is quite different from the arts.
When I’m away from the classroom, I also enjoy long hikes in the mountains with my dog or trying out new crafts from Pinterest.
Can’t wait to get to know you all through this course this spring/summer!
Jocelynn
Greetings!
Hello all from wet and hot Thailand!
My name is Ryan and I am the Vice Principal of the British Columbia International School of Bangkok.
I am currently taking three courses so will be at luck number 8 by the end of this semester.
From an administrator’s perspective, I really want to learn ways to support STEM in my school and empower students through this. I recently hired an actual computer science teacher with experience in the field and a teaching degree and I couldn’t be more excited about collaborating.
When I worked as teacher in Qatar I took up robotics as an after school club and this turned into my kids competing in the national robotic olympiad, placing 4th overall. I’ve since been keenly interested in learning programming and being forward thinking in my school planning.
Looking forward to learning with everyone!
Email and Richard Scarry
My first memories of technology in an educational setting were in grade 3 or 4 when our class was corresponding with students from Australia. We were given an introduction on this thing called email and we could write letters about life in Canada and would receive responses from our ‘Pen Pals’ on the other side of the globe. In hindsight, I appreciate that my teacher would have explored email as a pedagogical tool to make the learning real when it would have been much easier to just have traditional English class.
Another highlight comes from the same class because once our weekly email was sent, we were allowed to explore Richard Scarry’s Busy Busy World. It was a computer game and I don’t remember much other than if you clicked on something it would react and possibly a speech bubble would say something. This was my only experience with Richard Scarry but now I often find I gravitate towards those stories in the library when helping my 4 year old pick out books.
Baljeet
Hello from Abbotsford BC
Hello all,
My name is Baljeet Gill and I currently teach at the Rick Hansen Secondary School of Science and Business in Abbotsford BC. I am a business education teacher (marketing, entrepreneurship, economics, accounting) but have also taught both math and science classes. I worked as an accountant, at various levels, for six years before realizing my passion of helping students realize their potential and entering the world of education – its a good story, maybe it will come up in the discussions.
I am currently enrolled in my 9th and 10th course of the MET program and have enjoyed the learning communities I have been a part of through my journey. Our school is in the process of constructing a dedicated makerspace that will be open for student use this upcoming September so I am hoping to gain some insight into both the theoretical and practical ways to utilize this space.
I try to spend most of my summer riding my motorcycle and am hoping tomorrow’s forecast of sun for the next week is accurate – it has been a dreadful spring for riding thus far.
I look forward to getting to know you all as our term progresses.
Baljeet
Hello from Coquitlam, BC
Hi Everyone,
My name is Wanyi. This is my 9th/10th MET course and I’m taking it along with another MET course ETEC 531 as well. This also means that this is my last semester. I work for a private education company that has exclusive contracts with selected private secondary schools in BC and Toronto, as a Student Coordinator. So I work with many international students from all parts of China, who have come to Canada to study. My job requires me to think outside the box quite a bit, especially when helping schools or students with problems that range from academics to everyday life. I am currently doing this MET program, partly for self-interest and partly due to self-improvement as my education background is in Education and Interactive Arts. I taught in South Korea for 5 years, after receiving my first BA from SFU, then my B.Ed from Lakehead in Ontario.
I look forward to working with everyone this summer. Have a great week even if the rain lingers longer than it should.
Cheers,
Wanyi
Hello from Rossland
Hello everyone, I have been teaching for about 15 years and I am currently a grade 5 teacher in the little ski/ mountain bike town of Rossland, BC. This will be my 3rd course in the MET program, I am also taking 512, raising two toddlers and teaching full time, so I will be busy! I have been working on applying our new ADST curriculum and core subjects into physical computing (Raspberry Pi’s/coding), 3D printing/design (Tinkercad) and Multi User Virtual Environments (Minecraft) over the past 5 years in my classroom. I hope that through this course I can gain new perspectives and ideas from both the course itself and all of you, that I can apply to my teaching practice. I love making music with digital tools, laser cutting and 3D design as well as playing with my kids. Looking forward to an interesting course!
Hello from Victoria, BC
Hello Everyone,
My name is Sarah and I live in Victoria, BC. I am currently in course 7 and 8 of my MET journey and this is my last required course. I have enjoyed taking 530, 540, 565A and I am currently also in 533. It has been busy but I am constantly amazed at this adventure I am on.
This is the course that drew me to met. The idea of being able to bring technology into my Math classroom is intriguing and while I have done a little with tech in my classroom I look forward to gaining more ideas and frameworks to bring into my classroom.
In my life outside MET, I am a vice principal at an elementary school and also currently teaching Grade 4. In rare, quiet moments, I enjoy hanging out with my husband and two boys. Caleb is in Grade 4 and Zachary is in Grade 2.
Here’s to a great semester. Sarah
Greetings from Vancouver, BC
Hello all,
I am glad to see many familiar names in the introduction so far. I live in Vancouver, Canada and this is currently my 7th course in the MET program. I have taken all the core courses and a few electives including ETEC 522, and ETEC 565M. I hope to learn about better ways to utilize technology in my Mathematics classroom so that I can give students new ways to learn, as well as new ways to make my job easier.
Outside of the MET program, I am a high school Math teacher in the West Vancouver school district.
Anyone remember Oregon trail?
My earliest well-remembered memory of using a computer in school was when I played Oregon Trail. I can’t even remember how long ago that was, but sometime in elementary school. Only those students that finished their assignments were allowed to play this game. I remember loving it, and didn’t even consider it an educational activity at the time. Looking back, this shows how gamification is a really effective pedagogical tool and I would certainly like to delve into the theories behind gamification and how it could be used effectively in math and science education.