Road Trip to Oshawa
In our last post, I talked about our team's exciting realization that we have enough money left in the TLLP to visit the other Section 68 schools in the province. Since then, we've been busy reaching out, making connections and doing a bit of travelling! Last week, Deb, Allison and I were thrilled to visit Campbell Children's School in Oshawa. We were thoroughly impressed with the warm, welcoming and positive atmosphere from the second we walked into the school. From Janet, the school's principal, who scheduled time to chat with us about student population and delivery models, to Shaun, the 21st Century Teacher, who enthusiastically demonstrated and shared a number of innovative tools and gadgets, to the classroom teams who welcomed us into their rooms to observe all of the teaching and learning going on- this school is a great place to be!
With regard to technology, we viewed a number of tools that could greatly enhance our students' access to writing. Of particular interest to us, was an app called Snap Type Pro, which enables an educator to upload any worksheet or paper based activity to a tablet, so that a student who does not 'print' is able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding by typing or circling answers. While this particular app might not be appropriate for more physically complex students, it has great potential for students who are dysgraphic or who struggle with paper/pencil tasks, but have achieved basic early writing skills/knowledge.
I think I've mentioned previously in the blog, that one of the most salient themes emerging from our TLLP is the desire of section 68 special educators to connect with colleagues. In speaking with colleagues from Bloorview, Hamilton Special Day School, Campbell and John McGivney, we continue to hear the same thing: "We need more opportunities to connect with the other section 68 schools!" We have really been finding that most of us who teach in our particular realm, find that there is a dearth of opportunities to collaborate with each other and that finding and participating in PD that truly pertains to our students proves endlessly difficult. In talking with Shaun at Campbell, the idea of a sharing platform was suggested. We have begun to explore this as we feel that cultivating a space in which Section teachers can learn from and with others in our unique role, would be of enormous benefit to our pedagogy and, ultimately, to our students. We will continue to update as we make our way to Kitchener, Windsor and Ottawa!
With regard to technology, we viewed a number of tools that could greatly enhance our students' access to writing. Of particular interest to us, was an app called Snap Type Pro, which enables an educator to upload any worksheet or paper based activity to a tablet, so that a student who does not 'print' is able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding by typing or circling answers. While this particular app might not be appropriate for more physically complex students, it has great potential for students who are dysgraphic or who struggle with paper/pencil tasks, but have achieved basic early writing skills/knowledge.
I think I've mentioned previously in the blog, that one of the most salient themes emerging from our TLLP is the desire of section 68 special educators to connect with colleagues. In speaking with colleagues from Bloorview, Hamilton Special Day School, Campbell and John McGivney, we continue to hear the same thing: "We need more opportunities to connect with the other section 68 schools!" We have really been finding that most of us who teach in our particular realm, find that there is a dearth of opportunities to collaborate with each other and that finding and participating in PD that truly pertains to our students proves endlessly difficult. In talking with Shaun at Campbell, the idea of a sharing platform was suggested. We have begun to explore this as we feel that cultivating a space in which Section teachers can learn from and with others in our unique role, would be of enormous benefit to our pedagogy and, ultimately, to our students. We will continue to update as we make our way to Kitchener, Windsor and Ottawa!
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