Beryl teaches Provincial Curriculum and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses at Halifax West High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her current classes include Math 12 Academic, IB Math Studies (grade 11 and 12), and Math 10 (IB Prep). She has an Educational Technology diploma from Cape Breton University.
Eighteen months ago, Beryl's department head was impressed by a Mimio demo at an NCTM conference. The following summer, eight Mimio Interactive systems were ordered for the department. Beryl quickly got her Mimio up and running, and after a couple of weeks did in-service instruction for the other math teachers in her department. She says that all of the teachers - even those who are generally not very confident with technology - found Mimio easy to use in the classroom every day. She also says that having a group of teachers who could share ideas and help each other was a great learning experience.
Beryl has been a teacher for 17 years, but Mimio has definitely changed the way she teaches. From improving her general organization to facilitating the incorporation of technology in the classroom, Beryl says she can now reach her students in many more ways, and that they can really see math in action. She can show various representations of the same idea, incorporate graphing with ease, and use graphics and interactive websites. These advantages help students make connections more easily, which improves their overall understanding and retention. Beryl received lots of positive feedback from parents, students, and colleagues when she began adding her Mimio notes to her website. She's now planning to include on the site notes for traditionally difficult concepts, which students can use for exam review.
Beryl is impressed with how Mimio can improve learning experiences for students with disabilities. A visually impaired student whom she taught last year really excelled because she had her own monitor set up next to her desk, displaying everything they did together on the board using Mimio.
Known as "a bit of a technology guru" among her colleagues, Beryl has been getting requests to give Mimio demos to other departments in the school and to other schools in her district. Next to teaching math, she says that her teaching passion is to help colleagues with anything related to technology. She has done professional development for teachers on topics such as Web page design and software applications, as well as using Mimio effectively in the classroom.