Judy+Byers



Hi! My name is Judy Byers and I am with the Saskatoon Public School Division. I am in my tenth year as Program Leader for Online Learning. I am delighted to be part of this wonderful learning opportunity. Having a 17 year old daughter has helped me stay abreast of what students are logging into outside of school hours. She has been very obliging in helping me with intricacies of Facebook and was amazed that I had some followers on Twitter. It is a very different world that she lives in from the one that I grew up in. She regularly keeps in touch with her friends from school, in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan and across North America.

This year is shaping up to be very exciting as we work on our two school division’s priorities – Literacy and Collegiate Renewal and several core strategies: Safe and Caring Schools, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Education, Learning, Teaching and Assessment Models, Technology, Special Education, Innovative Programming, English As An Additional Language and the renewal of the Saskatchewan K-12 curricula. Renewal began with the common understanding that K-12 students must be educated to participate in a world of rapid and complex change. This dynamically evolving environment requires that students develop multiple literacies, increase depth of knowledge, and acquire a range of twenty-first century skills and abilities. Students must also develop a desire for personal and collective achievement, and a willingness to collaborate for the well-being of themselves, others, and their planet. ([|Renewed Curricula: Understanding Outcomes], 2010, p. 1) Another interesting initiative that I will be part of this year is our school division's Collaborative Inquiry Teams (CIT's). Our CIT process is explained on our school team's page. I will also be working as part of our technology team with technology grant projects in 11 elementary schools. We have already started working with our external consultant, Bernajean Porter and had an amazing two days with her. A new teacher technology survey, formulating school and team goals for the use of technology with student learning at the centre, moving the teachers into transformational use of technology, and school technology audits are just part of the grant process. We are confident that we can share the knowledge with the rest of our schools and build capacity for instructional technology leadership and support. It will be great to share with all of you as we journey together. Judy

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