Hi everyone! My name is Chalyn Smith and I have been a Special Education classroom teacher at Kitchener Community School for the past 5 years. I have been teaching at Kitchener since I received my Bachelor of Education after degree from the First Nations University of Canada in 2011. The program that I facilitate is called a Structured Learning Classroom (SLC), which was a created to meet the needs of all learners within the public elementary system. My classroom focuses on providing a safe, nurturing and caring environment where my students feel comfortable building relationships with all team members and students. I strive to meet each student’s social, emotional, behavioral and educational needs. I encourage and focus on the strengths of our students.
I am blown away thinking that this is my sixth graduate class at the University of Regina in Curriculum and Instruction. I love the flexibility of the online courses offered by Alec, this is my second course with him and Katia as I took 831 last semester. Meeting in person last week allowed me to again see some familiar faces. I enjoy looking at different classmate blogs, and challenge myself to explore even more this semester. 
Luckily my wonderful co-teacher Kayla (who I share my classroom with), convinced me to jump into the debate with both feet, eeeekkk we present next week with Steve. Hopefully we can convice you all that technology does not actually improves learning. Wish us luck!!
I managed to create my 831 blog last semester and since beginning to blog and leaning more about technology I’ve tried to increase it in the classroom. I have attempted to do mini lessons on such things such as formatting, email, and all the other things little I had overlooked. Currently I share all sorts of cool articles and video’s off Facebook (wow I love the save link feature), I also have began to use Kahoot and the students love it. I am lucky to have 2 iPads, a student laptop, and 4 Chromebooks permanantly homed in my classroom. If anyone has any cool ideas or suggestion to add to my tech toolbox please share.
See everyone next week in the Zoom room!!
Chalyn's Online Journey Through Technology 
It’s nice to see another familiar face in this class Chalyn! I look forward to learning from you again this semester.
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My students LOVE Kahoot as well! They are always incredibly excited to do revisions at the end of units because I often use Kahoot to help them along.
I look forward to hearing your debate this week about technology! You have an interesting stance to take, and I applaud you for volunteering to do it week 1. You will do great!
Good luck!
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Also my sixth class Chalyn. I look forward to learning lots from this class. angela
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After reading your blog I realize I have lots to learn – I don’t even know what a Chromebook is – lol – well I guess I will learn many new things. Best of luck.
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I also did an email mini-lesson! We did a digital citizenship and social media crash course in my classroom aft er wards too. If interested it’s on my web page under Websites and Resources – Digital Citizenship Presentation!
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Sweet Logan, thanks for the resources!!
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Looking forward to the first debate. Kudos to you guys for taking on the challenge right off the bat! All the best!
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Great to meet you! Mini lessons are awesome way to integrate technology into the classroom. Congrats on crossing the halfway point in your journey. It’s nice to be in the home stretch.
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I am so excited to be in another class with you this semester Chalyn! I am excited for the debates to begin tomorrow night and to learn from your group. I know your group will do a fabulous job! 🙂
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