Zoe Branigan-Pipe

Following in the footsteps of my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, I began my educational jouney in 2000 and am currently certified under the Ontario College of Teachers. I thank my MOM for giving me a social justice perspective and I present why this matters in a TedX Ontario presentation. My initiatives at the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board HWDSB have taught me that 21st Century learning is about using the most current tools, our growing access to information, resources and technologies – and particularly using networking and collaboration to grow ourselves.

My passion and advocacy for the arts in education gives me strength and has made it effortless to differentiate instruction and use innovative teaching methods to engage all my learners.

As a leader of the Ministry TLLP project, (Teacher Leader and Learning Project) "LivewithLivescribe", I learned how important it is to openly reflect and share our learning. I discovered how valuable the use of AUDIO is when used as both an instructional and teaching tool. This project led me to be strong advocate for open learning models that emphases inquiry, critical thinking and social networking in education and I will stand by my beliefs that today's technology tools and literacy mediums will give opportunities to our students like never before.

In my most current endeavors, I am exploring local, national and international initiatives that build on 21st Century models of education. As a co-founder, and organizer of Unplugd11 (and Unplugd12 - International) I hope that bringing Canadian, and international educators and leaders together will bring authentic voice and perspective to our changing learning environments.

As learners ourselves, we need to leverage the power of technology to extend the scope of our influence beyond the confines of our schools and district stand by actively to cultivate our online professional learning networks. We need to stay current and cutting edge.