Not a deep philosophical question, just a little bit about me:

Hi, my name is Yvonne Dawydiak.

Where I work and live:

Currently, I teach at White Rock Elementary in White Rock, B.C.  (I’ve taught a variety of levels gr. 1 to 7 over the past 18 or so years of teaching but have been teaching Primary for the past 10). I am also the tech facilitator at my school and help support staff to integrate technology. This is a voluntary role in elementary school, though from 2004-2007 I held a two day per week grant position supporting literacy and techno-literacy by co-teaching and planning with staff! I LOVED that job! Really LIKE my current job but LOVED that one! Too bad the funding dried up.

Where I’m at in MET:

September 2009, ETEC511 is the sixth course in my program. I’ve completed ETEC500, 510, 512 plus two non-MET summer courses: LLED565 and CSED400. My research experience is limited mainly to my current studies in MET, though I have done some research at the local museum (assisted to a great degree by a very helpful archivist!), participated in some action research projects in my district and, of course, avidly search the net whenever a question arises!

I’m very interested in science education and developed a paper during my studies in LLED565 (a course focussed on journal publishing, copyright and open access): Making Learning Relevant: The Use of Digital Archival Material in Elementary Science Classrooms. I thought it would be interesting to test out the process I learned so much about during the course, so I submitted it as an article for publication with an on-line journal.  I’m now in the second round of peer review and waiting… waiting… waiting. Hope one day to either post a link here or, if it gets turned down, post the article! Until they ‘release’ it, I can’t do anything with it… what an interesting (yet frustrating) process.

Interests:

Away from work and school:  I am involved in local marine stewardship. As the education director for a local environmental non-profit (www.birdsonthebay.ca), I have developed several educational outreach programs that we deliver by donation (often free of charge) to local schools and community groups (Surrey, Delta, Langley, White Rock). I also helped put together an exhibit at the local museum centered around an atlas we published (the Georgia Basin Habitat Atlas). A big perk of this exhibit was the creation and installation of a SEAquarium. This is a local saltwater eco-system that is now on permanent display at my school and is becoming a very valuable teaching resource. Seaquaria in the Schools is a terrific program partnered with World Fisheries Trust.

BTW – why are my WordPress login and my Skype names kapoho17? Kapoho is my favourite spot in the world – it’s located on the Big Island of Hawaii near Hilo and is the most phenomenal inshore snorkelling I’ve seen… and I look around! Kapoho Tide Pools is basically an immense lava rock shelf filled with giant tide pools – tide pools you can swim in! Luckily it is also a marine protected area, so tread lightly and keep your fins up! (why the 17? My anniversary is St.Patty’s day – my irish granny was so pleased).