Hello from sunny Thailand!
My name is Ryan and I am the Principal of the British Columbia International School of Bangkok.
I have completed five courses thus far, so I am looking forward to moving on to the back five. I was actually registered in this course and two others in the summer semester 2017 but had to pull out in April due to a heavy workload. I was a VP at the time, moving into a principal position, and had taken on some major projects in the summer on behalf of my school. Something eventually had to give and I ended up dropping the courses I had and taking the fall semester off. While I will certainly be busy in my professional life this semester I’m quite content with pulling it back to one course, realizing this isn’t a sprint to the finish. It will come and I’d rather not get any additional grey hairs in the process.
I picked this course specifically because I really want to learn ways to support STEM in my school and empower students through this. I have an actual computer science teacher with experience in the field and a teaching degree this year on staff. It has been great collaborating with him and the more I learn I feel the better I will be able to support him as the principal.
When I worked as a 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!
P.S Sorry for the late post. I was just added off of the waitlist today
Hey Ryan, it’s great to meet you! I can’t tell if we’ve taken a course together before… maybe your name is just familiar… who knows!
Your situation with ETEC533 resonated with me – this is the second time I’ve been enrolled in this course as well, and I also pulled out due to the heavy workload. Sometimes working full-time, and taking another course (or two), and life, gets in the way! No shame in taking a little longer to finish, and the learning we experience will, hopefully, be deeper and more meaningful if we take it a little more slowly.
Where did you work in Qatar? I live and work there now with my wife, working through my 5th year.
Great to “meet” you, and “see” you around.
-Scott
Nice to meet you Ryan! I look forward to hearing more about your experience teaching in Thailand as well as inquiring into STEM with you and others.
Cheers,
Sarah
Hi Ryan
As an administrator, what advice can you give teachers that wish to include some sort of technology in their classroom that costs money?
Christopher