Cal Armstrong

Cal Armstrong

Presentations R Me

I mentioned it in yesterday’s blog post and realized I hadn’t discussed it before. I had done a presentation on line with Lync and although Lync does do recordings, the presentation was pretty dynamic with questions coming from the participants.…

Improving the message

Our Guidance Department hold a series of information nights throughout the year and the most recent one was on our School’s curriculum.  We do follow the provincial (i.e. government) curriculum so that our students leave with the expected high school…

It’s not you, it’s me (iPad edition)

I always hesitate to discuss this issue publicly because I know I’m coming from a place of privilege.  We had Apple in for a meeting last week and they were, of course, trying to sell us on the iPad — but it…

Documenting our Action Research

Our school has our teachers choose a working group that meets every third week of the school year; they choose a topic to look at and then work through a discussion, research and perhaps reach a project.  I had the…

Moving forward with Sharepoint & Word

Well, I’ve nudged some middle managers forward. While OneNote is the major collaborative space that we use here at School, it’s not the most comfortable working environment for folks groomed on Word, Excel and Powerpoint. We have in the past…

You can lead a horse to water…

So on Monday morning (Family Day holiday here in Ontario), I ran across the following tweet: @principalspage: Can you teach someone how to teach? And I replied with the cliche @sig225 You can lead a horse to water… Much like any…

Padlet née Wallwisher, Part II

Well I’ve spent a considerable amount of time responding to the feedback on Wallwisher; the students have definitely found it convenient to have a space to voice their concerns.  While I began it as place to talk about improvements to…

Wallwisher

I have, of course, been an avid user of technology since I left the crib (much to my mother’s chagrin) so I’ve experimented with a lot of things for a long period of time.  Working with our Upper School Director…

Lync, redux

Well, there’s been some great outcomes from the Lync PD last week. I had a social group that’s planning dinner events ask how to use Lync so that they can meet without having to be physically together — in the…

It’s too far to walk

I heard this twice yesterday. From two different sides. Both were about venturing into a different space. I have my feet in two distinct camps, that of the IT Department and that of the faculty.  And I heard the exact…