#girlswhogame - Part 1

A wonderful opportunity was presented to me last winter by my School Board's Learning Innovation Consultant (Suzanne Smart - @mssuzannesmart). She asked me if I wanted to be part of the "Girls Who Game" (GWG) initiative being run by Dell in partnership with Microsoft Education, Minecraft Education Edition, and the Ontario Science Centre. Of course, I said yes! 

Unfortunately, COVID19 entered into the picture at around that time and the school buildings ended up closing and we all found ourselves engaged in remote/online teaching and learning.  My school's participation in this amazing project would have to wait until the physical school buildings opened back up again. 

Not long after we returned to school in September, we were asked if we wanted to participate and of course we said YES! Sherry MacDonald - @teachermackie (St. John CES VP) and I are the club leaders but there is always room for other staff members to assist and get involved in any way that they would like. 

The girls getting together for the first time to do a survey about gaming.

The GWG initiatve is a robust one as it provides the girls and the leaders with hardware (Dell laptops) as well as support around gaming (using Minecraft: Education Edition), the Global Competencies, STEM, leadership, and mentorship. The girls, who are in the grade 5/6 class at our school, will be getting together at least two times per week to play Minecraft, connect with Brenda Sherry - @brendasherry (Minecraft coach), and other guests who will share their experiences in STEM fields.  

The girls have come together several times now in order to do the gaming survey, talk about their interests, strengths, and areas of growth, and to start up and set up their Dell laptops. Sherry and I have met with Katina Papulkas - @KatPapulkas (Canadian Education Strategist for Dell) twice and Brenda Sherry once to learn more about the initiative and take care of some logistics. 

Brenda, Sherry, and I meeting to talk about the initiative.

There are a number of reasons about why I am excited to be part of this initiative. My passion for edtech, the opportunity to be a positive role model for the students, to practice being a 'leader' with my VP Sherry, and to serve my school community are a few of them. In addition to those reasons, I have to say that I am quite please to get to work with Katina and Brenda. I have met both of them before through the Ministry of Education's Teacher Learning and Leadership Program. My interactions with them have been second to none so it is a real bonus that I have connected with them again for such an important and worthwhile project. I have learned so much from them face to face, and now I can continue to learn from them virtually.  

Exciting times are ahead as the girls discover more about gaming using Minecraft as well as the Global Competencies, STEM, and future career paths that may be of interest to them. Please make sure to follow us on our journey by reading and commenting on our blog posts and on twitter (@gwgthunder).