Apple Creative Learning PLN

Teachers from across the province came together in Sydney this month for the Apple Creative Learning PLN. This opportunity is offered to educators in grades  P-4, along with specialists, Learning Centres and Language teachers who work with students in this grade range.

This PLN began because Apple Education offers Educational Support to us which we wanted to share with our schools across the province.  They also have an Apple Indigenous Initiative that supported 10 indigenous communities throughout Canada and Eskasoni and We'koqmaq were two communities involved.

We've been offering this program for the last 2 years and the group of educators who started with us last year are attending again this year as mentors to the new attendees. "We are really starting to see the effects of this program because teachers are sharing what they've learned with others in their schools and also collaborating with teachers from other communities", said Kim MacKinnon, Elementary Technology Integration Consultant.

We have 35 educators involved in the program and they meet once a month. We offer in-person training during the months of October, November, March and April and online in January and February when it's unpredictable for travel.

The main goal for this project was to demonstrate to teachers how they can creatively integrate iPads into their teaching and student learning, reflecting the way students engage with the world today. Teachers also work on becoming apple certified teachers by taking the free program through Apple. All teachers are provided with an iPad Pro, Pencil and Magic Keyboard as part of the program. This allows us to all have the same technology and less glitches while we're together.

There are plans to continue to offer this program in the years to come. Teachers from previous years are always welcome to attend again as mentors provided they completed their Apple Teacher Certification.