Excited to be here! ?

Hi everyone!

My name is Valeska Porras and I am really excited to be taking EC&I 830 this semester with all of you. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge when it comes to educational technology and learning about new technology that could be used in the classroom to help engage my students.

I am a French Immersion teacher with Regina Public Schools, and I have been teaching with this division for the past ten years. Currently, I am the Grade 2 French Immersion teacher at École Centennial School.  I started my graduate program last winter and this is my sixth course toward my Master’s in Education. Like many of you, I am enrolled in the Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Program. This is my 2^nd technology course and I am excited to see what I can learn this semester so that I can, later on, integrate it into my teaching.

Technology is very present in my daily routines at work. From the moment we start the school day I am needing to rely on technology to teach and to meet all my responsibilities throughout the day. I am using technology from the moment I take attendance up until the moment when I check my work e-mail before heading home for the day. I also rely heavily on my projector at school and I use it daily. We have class sets of Chromebooks and iPads as well that are available for teachers to use with their students throughout the day. We also use Edsby daily at school to communicate with our families and to document our student’s progress. Obtaining resources for French Immersion can be challenging and our resources can be limited; having the internet opens up more possibilities for us to find useful and relevant resources in French to use with our students. We can search for different songs, videos, and stories in French on YouTube which is super helpful. We can also gain access to reading material in French with applications such as: 1) Je lis je lis; 2) Lalilo and 3) Boukili. I also enjoy using Kahoot and Quizlet with my kiddos in class to enhance what we are learning. Additionally, I became familiar with Google Classroom when we had to teach online during the pandemic. To prepare for my lessons, I love to use PowerPoint, Word, and Canva.

At home, I have a 16-year-old teenager who uses technology daily. She uses technology to interact with her friends and does most of her homework on her laptop and iPad. We try to maintain a healthy balance when it comes to technology while we are at home. We do not use technology while we are eating, hanging out, or having a conversation. However, we do use lots of technology when we are both doing homework or getting material ready for school. We also use technology to communicate with family back home in South America – videoconferencing has definitely made it easier to connect and communicate with people in different parts of the world.

I look forward to getting to know you all this semester and learning from you! Happy blogging team!

Valeska