About
What I am really excited about:
I
have been a maker for my whole life. As a kid I took apart almost every gift I ever received and then built other things from the parts… such audio mixing-boards, loudspeakers, robots, and radios. I spent endless of hours building with cardboard, string, tape, paper, and Lego. I also loved to write stories, create photographs and videos, draw, and write music. Creating and building things were/are the only times in my life when I experience flow so that has become a significant line of professional inquiry for me:
- How can educators support a maker learning culture in the youth of today?
- How do we foster both creativity and critical analysis as equal players in the educational endeavours of teachers and students alike?
Where I share online:
In my professional role as a resource teacher, one of my goals is to learn and share ideas with my colleagues. I use six online tools to share ideas, code, resources, videos and presentations:
- Twitter: @cashjim
- Blog: makelearn.org
- Scratch: JimmyC
- Prezi: user/jim
- Tackk: @jimc
- YouTube: my channel
Brief career summary:
My current, professional work is focused on collaboration with educators to support their efforts to design learning environments in which technology is used in the service of learning. Effective technology integration is only possible by continuously and critically evaluating how technology is being used by the educator and by students.
I am currently
in my 7th year as resource teacher for educational technology in my board. Over my 20+ year career, I’ve taught grades 1-8, and some secondary, in both public & private schools. I have also served as a department head and as vice principal for many years.
During the summer of 2016, I was one of several authors of a renewed vision document for teaching and learning in Peel DSB. The result is Empowering Modern Learners. The document includes clearly articulated beliefs about learners, educators, learning environments and communities. It also describes the moral imperative behind the vision and links to six actionable items, called innovative elements, that are the focus.
My undergraduate degrees focused on developmental, social and cognitive psychology and education. In my 1991 BA thesis, I examined Seymour Papert’s microworld learning environment (as described and developed in his 1980 book Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas).
In 2012, I graduated from the MET program from the University of British Columbia.
I use Twitter (@cashjim) as my primary means of connecting to other professionals who have similar interests and who are, in turn, also learning and networking with others.
Even though my blog posts will often relate to my work as a resource teacher in my board, it should be noted that all blog posts are my own and do not necessarily reflect their policies or opinions.
Thank you for creating this blog. I am reviewing this blog for an assignment for my course, Integrating Technology and Information in the Classroom. I can send you a copy when my reflection is complete.