“Technology will never replace teachers,” says Grade 3 teacher Aaron Ball, “but it will enhance the teaching experience.”

Ball worked with Microsoft’s Innovative Teachers Program to create an online lesson plan. Boats and Buoyancy was bought by Microsoft and is available for teachers to download and work into their own classrooms.

A class server that Ball utilizes lets parents go online to see how their children did on a test. He also integrates technology into the classroom by posting a daily agenda on a television screen every morning to let his students know what to expect. He says this is especially helpful to students with behavioural disorders by giving them a heads-up on what to expect that day and when.

“They don’t stress out with a plan,” Ball explains. “They know where they should be and where we’re going to be next. They know language arts is going to be ending in five minutes so they should get into a math mindset.”

The 28-year-old also studied theatre arts at Grant MacEwan College before he finished his education degree at Concordia University College. He believes his skills in theatre have helped him in the classroom.

“Half the time I feel like I’m performing for my kids to get them to pay attention.” He encourages his students to perform in a readers’ theatre in his classroom. “They get to dress up in costumes and play with the words more.”

In the coming months, Ball will begin earning his masters in education with a leadership in technology major. For the next two years, the teacher becomes the pupil as he takes evening and correspondence classes to get his after-degree.

Ball credits Concordia with imbuing the importance of life-long learning.

“I don’t ever want to stop learning.”