Sonya's Teaching Blog

Connecting Stories to the World Using Tour Creator In BC’s updated curriculum, it is encouraged across the curriculum to connect learning with place. In the First Nations Education Steering Committee’s First Peoples’ Principles of Learning it states that “Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).” In this increasingly connected world, we need to be not just aware of what is happening in our immediate vicinity but also what is happening around the world. Education needs to be grounded in its connections with the real world. The following lesson and activity guides students through connecting the stories they read with real world places and happenings through the use of Google's Tour Creator . Students will create a virtual reality tour using real images of places discussed in a novel and draw connections with other artifacts, such as news articles, drawings or videos. ...

I have never been drawn to technology. In fact, I'm much more likely to seek, out very old tools and technology, such as learning to spin and dye my own wool. That being said, I can still recognize that technology is inevitably becoming a part of our lives and I will gladly integrate any tool that that will make my life easier as a teacher or improve the experience of the students in my classroom. Reluctant as I am, there are certainly teachers in schools even less inclined towards technology that myself. I believe that my reluctance towards technology puts me in a better position to understand the more technology-averse teachers in the school and as the teacher-librarian, I would be in a great position to try and reach out to support their development of ICT skills. 3D printers are incredibly satisfying to watch. Video by WildRose Builds. One of the most scarce resources for teachers is time. When in their busy schedule of writing lesson plans, marking and (hopefully) livi...