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Candace
07 September 2017, 7:45 PM
About me
I am a teacher with the Calgary board of Education, currently I am teaching in a Jr. High school (grades 7-9) in the Career and Technology Foundations (CTF) area. My focus is on Fashion, Film and Leadership however I have also taught Foods which also falls under the CTF umbrella. This year I will be teaching academic courses as well as CTF. This year, upon returning from maternity leave, I was asked to teach Language Arts and Social Studies to grade 7 and 8 students. So far it has been very exciting and I have had the opportunity to apply many of the skills I have learned in my journey. July 2015 I married my best friend, he is my rock and has been so supportive through this whole process. In September 2016, we were blessed with our first child. He was very healthy but during labor ended up becoming distressed and so we had to have an emergency cesarean section. This resulted in a seven day hospital stay because I ended up with an infection in the incision point. Having my masters to focus on during my maternity leave has really helped my mental state and shown me how amazing learning can be. Thank you for taking the time to read my profile.
- First name: Candace
- Last name: Gartshore
- Country: Canada
My career before The Masters
While I was doing well with my career and teaching in ways that I found to be engaging, I found myself trying to recreate my programs every semester to keep myself engaged. While doing this I started to bring technology into the school, my Fashion Studies Program started me on a journey where I would create videos for instruction so I created a Film club where I could teach and learn more about video cameras and editing software. During this process there became enough interest that the school administration decided to start a Film Studies course in which I would be instructing. This opened the door to many more technologies, such as, Green Screen and extra lighting. I then started to Film the school play and have the students edit the clips to create full length films, using the many angles in which they were the camera people. I became proficient in iMovie and Windows Movie maker and found myself again looking for more excitement. I decided that trying to create activities that the students could access from a distance was my next step.
How it all started
After graduating high school I knew in my heart that I was going to be a teacher. Even from a young age I would make my sister play school instead of house. While playing Barbies I would also have my character be considered a teacher or something in a leadership capacity.
My Masters journey started in 2014 when I was feeling as though my career was no longer challenging my brain and I was feeling stuck. I had been teaching Fashion, Film and Food studies for three years and mentally I was bored. This lead to my now husband and I talking about options for my career path. I wanted to continue to teach, as well as, have options to move up with in the school. We decided that doing a masters was the best option and so this is where my journey began.
How did I get here?
After graduating high school I knew in my heart that I was going to be a teacher. Even from a young age I would make my sister play school instead of house. While playing Barbies I would also have my character be considered a teacher or something in a leadership position.
I went to college and took a Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education with the plan of becoming a preschool teacher. Having a practicum in such a position showed me how amazing it was to teach and that I was definitely on the right path. I did not feel that preschool was the right place for me and so I continued to further my education by attending the University of Alberta for my Bachelors of Education focusing on Elementary grades.
Upon graduation I found myself supply teaching in many different settings, including high school and junior high. I found myself being drawn to the higher grades, this surprised me as I was so set on teaching Kindergarten when I first graduated.
After a year I was fortunate that my sewing skills landed me in a position where I was teaching in junior high, grades 7-9. I taught for three years learning and developing a program that could use online and face-to-face instruction to enhance their sewing skills. My program became very successful and the students were learning skills in grade 8 and 9 that most high school students would struggle with.
At this point I decided I needed to challenge myself academically and so my journey with the University of Athabasca began.
The Path I Traveled...
September 2014 - MDDE 601 Introduction to Distance Education and Training
January 2015 - MDDE 602 Research Methods in Distance Education
September 2015 - MDDE 603 Foundations of Instructional Design
January 2016 - I took a break here as I found out I was pregnant and was having trouble staying on task
May 2016 - MDDE 617 Evaluation in Distance Education
September 2016 - MDDE 604 Instructional Design in Distance Education
September 2016 - MDDE 622 Openness in Education
January 2017 - MDDE 631 Inclusive Leadership and Practice in Educaiton
January 2017 - MDDE 651 Gender Issues in Distance Education
May 2017 - MDDE 623 Introduction to Mobile Learning
September 2017 - MDDE 610 Survey of Current Educational Technologies and Applications
September 2017 - MDDE 694 E-Portfolio
Candace's portfolios
Artifact 5 and MDDE 610 Reflection Page
Candace Gartshore's e-Portfolio
(7 pages)Candace's connections
Candace's wall
Lori - 24 October 2017, 6:34 AM
Hi Candace
Sorry I am having a bit of a hard time navigating your portfolio (especially between the Candace and Introduction pages). Is the Candace page your profile page or is the Introduction page? Also this section is out of sequence with Introduction last "Candace's portfolios" I'd remove the "s". Also maybe think about renaming Artefact 5 to match the formatting of the others? I'd also change the name of the photo with you and your husband from image to something more personal? I am looking forward to reading your artefacts.
Rebecca Fitzgerald - 27 September 2017, 12:32 PM
Hi Candace
I enjoyed reading your introduction page. It is nice your are on your journey to recognize your personal goal of becoming a principle. I believe that this page should not include your resume as it is a developmental e-portfolio rather than a showcase e-portfolio but a list of your courses you have taken through your Master in Education, (Distance Education). As well, the 5 artifacts and reflections on your chosen artifacts that will be displayed in your following pages should be present here. I look forward to reading your reflections. Becky
Candace - 12 July 2016, 5:27 PM
Today I posted my last paper for MDDE 617. In the fall I will be taking MDDE 604 and MDDE 622. I am hoping that the new baby will sleep just enough to let me accomplish my goals of completing two courses at a time.