George Couros' 5 great reasons to create an online portfolio... just in the nick of time!

Why create an online portfolio? Who better to take notes from than Mr. George Couros?!  Just as I was contemplating why I should spend countless hours creating a professional online portfolio, I came across this blog from George: 5 Reasons Your Portfolio should be online. Talk about perfect timing!! For those of my classmates who are short on time and contemplating creating their own online portfolios, here's what George has to say in a nutshell!

1. The Google Factor: A digital portfolio means a digital footprint! As future educators it is important that we have a positive online presence and teach our students to create the same!
2. Searching and Organization: Rather then flipping through a large paper binder, fellow teachers and employers can easily navigate though your online portfolio and quickly find what they are looking for.
3. Anywhere, any place and any time access: This point is all about convenience. Don't have that portfolio binder on hand? No problem, here's the link!
4. Creating Opportunities instead of looking for them:  It's important to remember that the thoughts and ideas you have are unique and may be very useful to others. When you publish your work online, anyone can view it, connect with you, and as a result, opportunities may come knocking. Aren't you glad you clicked, "Share?!" :)
5. Continuous Learning: George encourages us to, "look at online portfolios as both a way to "showcase" and "learn."" The process of creating a portfolio is a great way to solidify ones ideas, beliefs and philosophy surrounding education. As future teachers this is a very important process for us to go through. 

For the full version of George's 5 reasons to create an online portfolio, check out the link posted above. Good luck everyone and stay tuned for the publishing of my online portfolio... this slight perfectionist better get to work! ~T

Shelley Wright: An inspirational Inquiry-Based Teacher

I have just realized  a new reason to love blogging! In my previous post, I shared some thoughts I had on inquiry-based learning and expressed my interest in continuing to learn about this teaching style. One of my professors, Mike Nantais read my post and suggested that I follow Shelley Wright's blog, a high-school teacher from Moose Jaw, SK. So I've read through some of her blogs and watched the above video, and as a result I have been left feeling so inspired! Not only am I inspired by Shelley and her students, but I'm also inspired by blogging. If it hadn't been for my previous post, I may have never been able to learn from Shelley, and hopefully connect with her in the future.

"Our students will exceed our expectations of them, if we only give them the opportunity." I love this quote from Shelley in the above video. As adults, I think many of us are guilty of limiting young people with our expectations. We tend to be more rational, logical and realistic. However, kids aren't like that, and when given the opportunity, they can do amazing things. Shelley's video is a great example of that. If you are also interested in inquiry-based learning, I recommend following Shelley Wright's blog.

Have a great day! ~ T

A Return to Blogging and my thoughts on Inquiry

Well, the last time I blogged was at the end of the "Internet for Educators," course last year. While I enjoyed organizing my thoughts through the process of blogging, and had good intentions to continue throughout other classes and student teaching placements, my blog seemed to fall lower and lower on my list of priorities, and was eventually forgotten. That was until the course, "Using ICT in Education," started again this January. My classmates and I were given the option to blog once a week, or come up with a summative assignment capturing the learning that took place throughout the course at the end of the term. Choosing to blog was an easy choice for me, as I find it helps me through the learning process. I hope that this time I will be able to stick with it and blog throughout my final student teaching placement and into my teaching career. I think blogging is a beneficial practice for all teachers.

The illustration I created above, using "tagxedo.com," is a reflection of my brainstorming that took place when thinking about technology and its many uses. There is one word that I find especially meaningful. This word is, "Inquiry." Lately I have been learning about inquiry circles, and  the inquiry process through the science curriculum. The idea of having an inquiry based classroom has totally shifted the way I feel about teaching. We have talked a lot about how we were taught in the past. The classroom was teacher-led and the teacher gave you all the information for each subject. Students crammed for tests to regurgitate this information. No wonder school sometimes felt like a drag, instead of an exciting place of learning. As future teachers, we are now being taught to teach through inquiry, and allow our classrooms to be more student-led. Instead of "teaching" and providing students with material, we are instead facilitators of learning, as well as co-learners with our students. We provide our students with ways to find the answers to their questions. I feel that researching through various forms of information to find answers is such a useful skill for students to have in this modern day society where information is held at everyone's fingertips. I also think it's important for students to be taught how to properly research on-line. An inquiry-based classroom is an engaging one, where meaningful learning takes place. I look forward to furthering my knowledge in this area, and teaching more through inquiry in my final student teaching placement. A great resource from which I've been learning about Inquiry Circles, is the book: "Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles in Action," written by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels. This book is very helpful in learning how to implement Inquiry Circles into your classroom and I highly recommend it. Until my next blog.... ~T