Greetings from Toronto

By Gordon Chiu on May 10, 2016

Hello fellow ETEC522ers!

For the past 3 years I have had the pleasure of working at Pickering College, an independent school in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Pickering College is a K-12 school founded in 1842 by Quakers and is still deeply rooted in Quaker values including servant leadership, simplicity, and social conscience. For the past 2 years I have been working as a Technology Integration Specialist; in a nutshell I am a digital visionary and firefighter to my fellow staff and students. Each day I collaborate with teachers, curriculum leaders, technology vendors, and like-minded cohorts to develop capacity and creativity in staff and students at Pickering College. On-going projects include the implementation of collaborative technologies (Google Apps for Education, Office 365), learning management systems (Edsby, SesameHQ, Edusight) and pedagogical initiatives including Design Thinking, Critical Thinking, and Global Leadership within all grades K-12.

One of the major achievements or benchmarks that we encourage in every student that graduates from Pickering College is the creation of a machine, program, system to solve a significant problem. Students at Pickering College do similar venture pitches as in Assignment 3; in Grade 9 they pitch a solution as a group to a problem of social significance, and in Grade 12 they pitch a solution to a problem of their own choosing with Global significance. In light of this, I am taking ETEC522 in the hope that I might experience this for myself so I can use the experience to help both my students and teachers.

Here is a video of one of our International students describing her experience at Pickering College: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRyGtty_ZUU

As for me as a person, I have a number of passions including music (guitar, vocals, cajon), sports (golf, tennis, snowboarding), food (or at least trying not to make a complete disaster of food), and geeky things (mirrorless cameras, building computers). I look forward to this semester and having the opportunity to work with all of you!

Cheers,

Gordon

 

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15 May Posted on Greetings from Toronto

Pleasure to meet you, Gordon! There seem to be many people in this course who are situated in Ontario. I work out in Oakville at Rotherglen School and we, too, have been experimenting with various collaborative technologies and learning managements systems. Would love to be able to pick your brain sometime to find out what worked and what didn't work for your school. -Claudia

15 May
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Claudia Marchessault @cmarches

Pleasure to meet you, Gordon! There seem to be many people in this course who are situated in Ontario. I work out in Oakville at Rotherglen School and we, too, have been experimenting with various collaborative technologies and learning managements systems. Would love to be able to pick your brain sometime to find out what worked and what didn't work for your school. -Claudia

15 May Posted on Greetings from Toronto

Hi Gordon, That is interesting that there is a college in Newmarket called Pickering College. I grew up in Pickering and was confused when I started to read your post as I did not think we had a college in Pickering. My husband works at Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario. I teach science in Ajax. I also love music and taught instrumental music for 3 years. My favourite instrument in the saxophone. It is a pleasure to meet you. Christine

15 May
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claychri @claychri

Hi Gordon, That is interesting that there is a college in Newmarket called Pickering College. I grew up in Pickering and was confused when I started to read your post as I did not think we had a college in Pickering. My husband works at Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario. I teach science in Ajax. I also love music and taught instrumental music for 3 years. My favourite instrument in the saxophone. It is a pleasure to meet you. Christine

12 May Posted on Greetings from Toronto

Hi Gordon! It sounds like your school is doing great things! I especially like the challenge problem the students in grade 9 and then again in grade 12 have to solve. I think it's a great way to incorporate global citizenship and sustainability to the school. Great to meet you!

12 May
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michael bui @buim

Hi Gordon! It sounds like your school is doing great things! I especially like the challenge problem the students in grade 9 and then again in grade 12 have to solve. I think it's a great way to incorporate global citizenship and sustainability to the school. Great to meet you!

12 May Posted on Greetings from Toronto

Hi Gordon, I found quite a few similarities to your current work and what I’m undertaking in my own work, I too like your use of the term firefighter to describe the balancing of the melding of the various roles you perform , I look forward to following your journey of experiencing an aspect of learning that is similar to what students at your school are doing.

12 May
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mlamey @mlamey

Hi Gordon, I found quite a few similarities to your current work and what I’m undertaking in my own work, I too like your use of the term firefighter to describe the balancing of the melding of the various roles you perform , I look forward to following your journey of experiencing an aspect of learning that is similar to what students at your school are doing.

12 May Posted on Greetings from Toronto

Hey Gordon, Nice to meet you - I teach at St. Michael's College in Toronto and know your school well. It seems like we have similar roles at our respective roles and I would love the opportunity to discuss some of the success you have had a Pickering College. Perhaps we can set something up before the end of the school year.

12 May
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Mark @viola815

Hey Gordon, Nice to meet you - I teach at St. Michael's College in Toronto and know your school well. It seems like we have similar roles at our respective roles and I would love the opportunity to discuss some of the success you have had a Pickering College. Perhaps we can set something up before the end of the school year.

12 May Posted on Greetings from Toronto

Hi Gordon, Great to meet you. Pickering College sounds like a fascinating and progressive school - very similar to the one I teach at here in Hong Kong. Our professions are very similar as well but I spend most of my time in the classroom. I like your description as a firefighter - it perfectly describes what it's like to work somewhere between tech coach, IT and tech teacher. Glad to also see another musician out there too. Looking forward to learning more from you!

12 May
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Aaron Lam @boketo

Hi Gordon, Great to meet you. Pickering College sounds like a fascinating and progressive school - very similar to the one I teach at here in Hong Kong. Our professions are very similar as well but I spend most of my time in the classroom. I like your description as a firefighter - it perfectly describes what it's like to work somewhere between tech coach, IT and tech teacher. Glad to also see another musician out there too. Looking forward to learning more from you!

11 May Posted on Greetings from Toronto

Interesting stuff Gordon, I was unaware of a Quaker school when I attended high school back in the 1990s in Newmarket. Way back when, I lived in Jordan's and the door I wandered through as a little kid was a remnant of the Mayflower.

11 May
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Noan @noan

Interesting stuff Gordon, I was unaware of a Quaker school when I attended high school back in the 1990s in Newmarket. Way back when, I lived in Jordan's and the door I wandered through as a little kid was a remnant of the Mayflower.

10 May Posted on Greetings from Toronto

Hi Gordon! It's interesting that you say you are working with GAFE; I just finished a course in which I collaborated with a group of teaching to produce a website: "getgoingwithgafe.weebly.com". It's too bad you're in Toronto.. I was a drummer in a band in Malaysia, and I've been trying to find a frontman/guitarist here in Vancouver, to no avail!

10 May
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cquarrie @cquarrie

Hi Gordon! It's interesting that you say you are working with GAFE; I just finished a course in which I collaborated with a group of teaching to produce a website: "getgoingwithgafe.weebly.com". It's too bad you're in Toronto.. I was a drummer in a band in Malaysia, and I've been trying to find a frontman/guitarist here in Vancouver, to no avail!

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