Hello everybody, I thought that I would start my blogging adventure off by introducing myself. My name is Joanne Schwarz and I grew up in, small town, Glenboro, Manitoba which is about 45 minutes South-East of Brandon. I loved the town that I grew up in and had a very positive educational experience through my K-12 journey, which I believe to be part of the reason why I decided to become an educator. Throughout my schooling at Glenboro, playing sports was such a huge part of why I have so many positive memories looking back. I tried to play as many sports as I could but, volleyball, basketball, and fastball were my main focus. I loved being active and competitive at this level but ultimately I think that being apart of a team was truly what drew me in. In my grade 12 year I was lucky enough to be presented with an opportunity to continue my education as well as my athletic journey at a small school just south of Winnipeg. Providence University College is where I completed my undergrad degree and was also able to play four years of college basketball. This was a big jump for me, I was diving into a very different community than I was used to or comfortable with. While I was there I completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a focus on sociology and psychology, which I had barely even heard of before attending Providence. In my final year of this degree, I decided that I wanted to become a teacher. My hope is to be a positive impact on all my students and be apart of shaping them into successful adults. Which is how I ended up at Brandon University. Though this year and a half at BU I have gone through many challenges as well as seen numerous successes and I am looking forward to this final semester and what is to come in the future.
My blog will focus on anything and everything to do with the internet and education. How these two worlds connect, how they can influence each other, both negatively and positively, and I also hope to share many resources that could be helpful in the classroom. When I think about technology or the internet within schools and education I think of a world of possibilities. It is great to see that many schools are embracing the ever-changing society and adapting to the world around them. Technology is not something to avoid or run from but rather hold on to and use to create something amazing. Being able to prepare our students for the future is a big part of the school system and that really isn't possible without the use of the internet or technology.
If we take a look at this last year, education has really relied on technology and I cannot imagine how this would have looked even 10 years ago. I have very high expectations on broadening my knowledge on all the new websites and resources that have been a product of online learning. It's great to see that through difficult times teachers have all stepped up to overcome the many barriers that the pandemic has caused.
Joanne, thank you for introducing yourself. It helps me understand where you are coming from as you write your blog posts. I agree that the internet opens up "a world of possibilities." We can use the internet for research, to share videos, to find cool websites, and for many other things. I look forward to utilizing technology in my own future classroom. It has been interesting to see how quickly we transitioned to online learning at the university and in our primary schools. I know a few parents with children in school who are struggling with remote learning right now because their lack of knowledge about technology. Unfortunately, not all of our parents have a good understanding of technology so we need to take that into consideration when sending students home with assignments that require technology.
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