Hello everyone,

My name is Justin Young and I am originally from Mount Pearl, NL. I graduated with a B.A (history and geography) and a B.Ed from Memorial University. I started my teaching career at Father Porte Memorial Dene School in Black Lake, SK way back in 1998. Teaching and living in this community of indigenous people was a great experience that I will never forget.

In September of 1999, I started my career at Mentor College and have just finished my 20th year at the school. Over the years, I taught grade 7 and 8 before moving to the high school division. I enjoy teaching Canadian and world studies courses to grade 9, 10, and 12 students (CGC1D, CHC2D, CGW4U). I am also the head of the Humanities Department.

In addition to teaching, I have spent many years coaching basketball at the intermediate school level, and for the past six years have been involved with coaching my sons' baseball teams in Mississauga.

In terms of the use of technology in education, I believe that it very important for us, as educators, to help our students embrace technology and use it effectively and appropriately. When I first started teaching, there wasn't much use of technology in the classroom as devices were either too expensive or non-existent. Now almost every one of my high school students has a cell phone and about half use a laptop. With access to wifi, the potential is limitless for learning opportunities and creating fun and meaningful assessments for/as/of learning. I also believe that we need to maintain some balance between using technology effectively and avoid having it be a distraction from valuable learning opportunities that may be lost if students are using their devices for other purposes.

I am excited about taking this course as I want to incorporate technology more effectively into my classroom and discover fun and meaningful ways to develop assessments using technology. I would describe my knowledge of technology as being at the beginner stage. I look forward to working and learning from all of you.

Cheers,

Justin