June+2012

Friday June 8, 2012
Life gets busy working in a high school in June. Exams, Grad Plans, Convocation...I find myself wrapping up for this year with one half of my brain while already planning for next year with the other half. Not that I'm complaining; after June comes July, and July is heavenly. The busy pace of June does provide some interesting opportunities though. Today I had a chance to go and talk with the Grade 8 students at one of our partner schools about the Bring Your Own Device program that we have at Dakota Collegiate- they were a great bunch to talk with. I found it interesting that they are really looking forward to having access to their own computers at school, and yet they still have all of the same fears and concerns that the Grade 9's have always had in the past. Will I make new friends? How big is this school anyways? How scary are those big Grade 11 and 12 students? Since the Grade 9's are the youngest students in the building their concerns are natural and to be expected. I think we assuaged most of their fears, and also got to explain how cool it is to be able to bring your own computer to classes every day.

The best part of our "roadshow" presentation today was having five of our Grade 9 students along to share their own perspectives on bringing computers to classes every day. Nothing like "student voice" to engage the Grade 8's, and to empower the Grade 9's who realize that they really have something to offer. Students listen to students, and even when the presentations are less than pristine or polished or slightly off-message the connection between the kids is powerful. Having a Student-Owned Device program at our school is great, but being able to empower young people to reach out to make connections to each other and to the broader world is a powerful part of where this BYOD/SOD initiative is taking us. We are stretching outside of our building, and education is ever more about what happens outside of our building instead of only what gets assigned in classrooms.

Next year about 600 of our 1200 students will be bringing their own machines every day. In a couple of years all four grades (9-12) will carry a computer to every class. How is it impacting our students? They like it. They like having the same tools in class that they have access to outside of class. They use their machines for school work of course, but also for "life work" like connecting with friends, for recreation, and for finding out when the next city bus will arrive at the bus stop. Implementing an initiative like this takes time and effort, but it is rolling out well so far. As we roll through exams and into the Summer this old school building of ours will get a bit of a rest, an upgrade to our wi-fi, and a thorough cleaning. July will be heavenly, but this is June, and heaven can wait (for a few weeks!).

Thursday June 21, 2012
You just never know who is going to show up at your classroom door in June. [|Hope Akello] dropped in. She's back in Winnipeg after finishing up another year on scholarship at [|Humber College] where she's working on an [|Industrial Design] degree. Hope is a pretty awesome person; one of those young people that can truly inspire others. I invite Hope to speak to my grade 12 classes twice a year all about planning for the future, about scholarship opportunities, and about how to adjust to life after high school. Just Google "[|Hope Akello Winnipeg]" to get a quick idea of her accomplishments. Most notably, Hope was the only Manitoba recipient of the [|Garfield-Weston] award in her Grad year. That scholarship set her on the path to Humber, where she's doing really well.

In my conversation with Hope it came up that this is her internship year. Humber expects her to find a placement that fits her design program, and although she has had a few options she hasn't settled on anything yet. She has a full year to get some work experience before she heads back to school in September of 2013, 14 months from now. I offered to let those in my social network know about her, and so here I am, writing a bit about an awesome young person looking for an internship opportunity. Are you looking to hire an intern with cad/cam and traditional drafting and design chops? Know somebody who might want to hire Hope? I have to admit that the first two people who came to mind that might fit the bill were [|Madison Zyluk] and [|Dave Angus], but I'm sure there are others out there too.

Funny thing about Hope, she's pretty understated. When I asked her what she's up to today she mentioned that she is working downtown at an Art Gallery and that she's meeting with [|Michaelle Jean] this afternoon. It hadn't really occurred to her that this was anything out of the ordinary. After all, Michaelle Jean is only a world-class humanitarian and the former Governor-General of Canada! I think it's neat how Hope finds her way into neat opportunities, and I'm hoping that this short promo will help her to find a meaningful internship opportunity. Who knows? Maybe Hope will have landed an internship with Michaelle Jean even before I get this posted. It wouldn't surprise me.

How do I know Hope? I taught her in high school. She is one of those kids who still checks in although she graduated a while back now. I wrote a recommendation letter or two for her in years past, and I suppose this post is a recommendation of sorts as well. If you think you have an opportunity that might work for Hope you can contact her through [|Linked In] or email me and I'll pass your contact info to her that way.

So, Michaelle Jean, you're about to meet Hope somewhere in downtown Winnipeg. You just never know who you might meet on an afternoon in June.