Tag Archives: google chrome

Initial thoughts on Cohort 21 2013-2014

 

Cohort 21 is a unique professional development opportunity open to teachers and school leaders who are seeking to build a learning network amongst CIS Ontario member schools. The Cohort 21 community will be built on a foundation of collaboration and innovation and together, will investigate and refine 21st century teaching and learning best practices through the rich experience of “learning by doing”.

It’s taken me a good night’s sleep to gather my thoughts from yesterday’s first Face to Face session with this year’s Cohort 21 group. What an exciting, whirlwind of a day, packed with information and ideas – it’s hard to stop thinking about all the possibilities presented at yesterday’s session. Of course I saw so many ideas that I thought “Wow, that would be neat to do on Monday morning” but of course, these things require time. So I am grateful for the year-long aspect of this “project” / undertaking though, obviously, being a teacher is also being a life-long learner. You never stop learning in order to better your practice.

Even though I was familiar with a number of the tools we learned about (Twitter and Word Press in particular) using them for a different purpose than my food blog places me firmly back at square one (as in, hardly any followers, and learning my way around a new Word Press theme) which sometimes feels like a tricky place to be but it’s good to be challenged and it’s especially good to sometimes feel a little like our students must feel every day – a little overwhelmed and confused and needing to work hard to understand what’s going on. Yesterday was a good reminder of what it’s like to be a learner again. It was a little scary but I’m pleased to be on this journey with so many like-minded souls. I am sure together we will find our way!

My two big takeaways from yesterday in terms of practical “stuff”? Google Chrome and Diigo. I’m excited to see what a powerful browser Chrome is and all the possibilities it affords and Diigo looks to be exactly the tool I have been looking for to bookmark and save articles of interest all in one place. These are tools that I feel can really help my own productivity as a teacher which is a great place to start when you are embarking on a journey of discovery like Cohort 21.