Once Upon A Blog

Welcome to my blog! My name is Sabrina Irvine and I live on Treaty 6 Territory in Saskatoon with my family. While I was originally born in Saskatoon, this province has not always been home for me. My childhood was spent moving from town to town as my parents were both ordained ministers, and this quite often meant short-term stints in various small towns across the continent. As children my younger sisters and I often hated the constant moves, we rarely developed long-term friendships and struggled to establish ourselves in communities. I have moved seventeen times throughout my life, although my childhood was a bit chaotic, it presented the unique opportunity to live in four different provinces and we even spent my grade six year in the southern United States. While I could easily take the perspective that this was a crummy way to grow up, I have chosen to shift my perspective to focus on the experiences this lifestyle provided for me and my family. I may not have had many deep friendships, but I met so many different people in different parts of the continent. I experienced the beauty of summers on Lake of the Woods in Ontario and the magical snow globe winters of the prairies. 

My education journey has been a bit unique, in 2012 I completed my Bachelor of Arts in English through Athabasca University and went on to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities as a Dance Studio Owner. I always had intentions of returning to school to obtain an Education Degree, but life always got in the way. In 2022, the desire to pursue a second degree began to rise again within my heart. I began my journey with the University of Regina in September of 2023 and I am currently on track to finish the BEAD program (middle years) in December of 2024.

High quality technology in my grade one classroom.

Educational technology has been a huge part of my post-secondary journey. If it wasn’t for the flexibility of educational technology I’m not entirely sure if I would have ever received post-secondary training. In 2012 I convocated from Athabasca University, a university that operates almost entirely through online and distance learning. I spent five years watching the various platforms and integrations evolve as the technology deepened. Throughout the time I spent at the university, I went from learning my course content from booklets to receiving everything through an online platform. In the early years of my degree, I remember having to visit testing centers for final exams, in the final years of my degree I was able to complete final exams from the comfort of my home using online proctoring technology. Although I have mixed feelings about someone watching me in my home, there is no denying that educational technology has played a role in my journey. I am excited to spend time learning about ways in which technology can effectively be woven into my future classrooms. 

I love writing and have had the opportunity to do a great deal of writing through my English degree. In 2020, I had the opportunity to write weekly blog posts on motherhood for Little Einstein’s Nanny Agency in Saskatoon. At the time this opportunity presented itself, I was going through a bit of an identity crisis, and the writing opportunity provided me with an outlet to express some of the internal struggles I was facing. Blogging has somewhat fallen to the wayside as I have thrown myself into my studies, I am excited to have the opportunity through this course to dedicate some time once again to the art of blogging.