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I am a teacher in training in the Master of Teaching program at the University of Toronto. I completed my Bachelors of Arts degree in English at UofT Scarborough, with a focus on feminism and equity studies. My thesis for the Masters of Teaching degree investigates the relationship between gender and race, and the achievement gap in education in Arts and Sciences. As a student and teacher, I am dedicated to learning as much as I can both inside and outside of the classroom.

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I saw this recently in the corner of a classroom in OISE, and registered surprise. I hadn't expected to see these old-timey pieces of tech ever again.
When I was a student in elementary and secondary school, televisions and projectors like these were the extent of technology in the classroom. What strikes me now about them is that they were largely operated by the teacher to make it easier to transfer knowledge to students. To put simply, there was no interaction with technology in my classroom as a student.
Now, things are changing. Technology is more interactive than ever and there are numerous tools available to teachers and students to further learning in a variety of different ways that don't just transfer knowledge to students; rather this technology makes it possible for students to question, interact with, and create knowledge in new and innovative ways. That is not to say a television and projector are not useful--they are. However, they should be seen as tools, not technology.

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One of the most important things to cover before teaching anything involving the internet is the matter of online safety. While teaching, I found that although many students seem to be well-versed in using technology, the intricacies of managing privacy settings or understanding that whatever they upload is then permanently online is not as apparent to them. Because of this, I find using posters, or custom made infographics are incredibly useful for summarizing discussions with the class. I made this particular graphic using infographic.com; interactive and very easy to use, this website can be used to make any kind of graphic on a variety of subjects. Invite students to make their own versions of an "Online Safety" or "Online Code of Conduct" poster. And most importantly, stay safe.

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I always believed teaching children how to code would be very difficult, considering the complex way in which I learned it in computer science. My first experience with coding happened with Turbo Pascal, and it amazed me to see how simple Code.org was. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I believe this website is incredibly useful to me both as a teacher and student of coding.

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One of the most fascinating things about technology and the online world is how much easier it is to bridge the gaps between people who come from different countries and speak different languages. However, for the most part, the most dominant language appears to be English. My relatives in Pakistan have learned English through their exposure to the Internet.
That is why I think apps that teach different languages like Duolingo are so important. I chose this particular app because it is the one I use and am most comfortable with. Available both for computers and as a phone app, Duolingo offers free, easy to follow lessons on numerous languages, from English and French to Romanian, and even High Valyrian, an invented language spoken in George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones. The lessons include vocabulary and tracks progress to let the user know their level of fluency. The app lets you connect your friends to maintain motivation and is also expanding its set of languages, inviting the public to contribute to new courses in languages. This gives people who are fluent in multiple languages to offer their knowledge and interact with different languages to benefit others.
Classroom Connections:
I encourage my students to use Duolingo to strengthen their grasp of French, as it is an official language of Canada. I also invite them to contribute their knowledge of their other languages. By interacting with language at their own pace from the comfort of their phones or laptops, students feel more in-control of their own language learning. Students are more likely to be engaged and interested in the app if they can contribute their own language to it.
That is what makes this app so wonderful for students who are English Language Learners. While they strengthen their own grasp of English, they can provide knowledge of their other languages through the app which will help them grasp English faster and also help them build connections between the language(s) they are fluent in and the one they are learning now.
Duolingo is an opportunity for use to never "lose" a language to the passage of time again. As long as we are still interested in learning it, it will be there.