SD64 Gulf Islands

Southern Gulf Islands Schools

professional development

YOU’RE INVITED: Gulf Islands School Gardens Learning Circle

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Thursday, November 29th, on Pender and Salt Spring Islands

(FREE; Transportation & brunch provided; Teachers, please consider using your consultation time or Pro-D funds.)

Register .

Join us for a school gardens gathering for all teachers, staff, plus parents and community volunteers involved in these projects in the Gulf Islands. It’s an opportunity for us to share and learn from one another.

Goals for the gathering are to:

  • share our school garden experiences with one another (and tour several)
  • learn about regional trends & examples from Farm to School BC
  • gather ideas for the Gulf Islands School Garden Activity Guide
  • make plans for March 1, 2019 workshop about Garden-based Learning, as part of the District-wide Pro-D Day

Participants can take the early morning ferry from their respective islands to arrive in Otter Bay, Pender Island by 7:30 am, where we’ll be shuttled over to the Slow Coast Cafe (Pender folks meet there at 7:30 am). We’ll introduce the day, ourselves, and the garden projects we’re each involved with, why enjoying cafe treats.

Then, we’ll take a tour of the Pender School Garden with Julie Johnston. Following the tour, we’ll work on the Gulf Islands School Garden Activity Guide in small groups.

At 12:10, we’ll ferry over to Salt Spring Island, arriving at 12:50 and eat lunch on the boat (bring your own or buy it on the ferry).

Then, we’ll shuttle over to Ganges for a presentation by Aaren Topley, Farm to School BC, followed by a tour of the Salt Spring Elementary School Gardens, and if time allows, the Phoenix School Garden.

A survey will be passed around to get input and suggestions for the March 1, 2019 District-wide garden-based learning workshop.

A ferry at 3:35 pm will take people back to Galiano, Mayne, and Pender, with another shuttle boat available on Pender for Saturna Island participants.

Looking forward to seeing you there! ~ the organizing team (Robin Jenkinson, Julie Johnston, Toby Carson, Katharine Byers, Shelly Johnson, and Jenny Redpath)

More info at schoolgarden.ca and facebook.com.

story and photo: Robin Jenkinson

Teachers Pursue Diverse Professional Offerings

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October 21st is the Provincial Professional Development Day for BC’s teachers. There are traditionally many workshops, conferences and opportunities for professional learning throughout the province. For example, there are a number of Provincial Specialist Association events planned for the Friday. A full list of all them can be found here: Brochure

Here in the Gulf Islands we also have a number of professional learning opportunities offered on Salt Spring. SET BC – an organization that works with school districts in providing and building capacity using technology to support the diverse needs of students – is offering a workshop on a program that provides a number of literacy supports such as speech-to-text and text-to-speech on various devices. Our own Bryce Woollcombe (teaching at our middle school) will start the morning off with a workshop on Google Classroom.

The Salt Spring Island Local Action team is organizing a workshop on Crisis Response for School District 64 with the High Risk Services Team, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the Integrated Mobile Crisis Response Team.

Two of our amazing retired teachers are also offering a full-day workshop. Barb Aust and Christa Campsall will be presenting on their recent publications: The Essential Curriculum by Barb Aust and My Guide Inside by Christa Campsall and Jane Tucker.

Thank you to Jessica Willows, Professional Development Chair for the Gulf Islands Teachers Association, for sharing this information.

I also posed a couple of questions to Jess about the role that professional development plays.

DL: What role do professional development (ProD) days play in the lives of Gulf Islands teachers?

Jessica: ProD Days are very important days throughout the school year for Gulf Islands teachers. These are days where teachers are working on strengthening their instructional practices, learning about new teaching programs and philosophies and connecting and collaborating with colleagues. This last item is very important in our school district archipelago and ensures that we are working as a team and also connecting with our students.

DL: How does this impact student learning?

Jessica: This means that students are engaging with inspired, enthusiastic teachers who have been questioning and refining their classroom practices. This all has a huge impact on student learning!

— Doug Livingston
Director of Instruction, Learning Services

Mayne School Hosts POPFASD Workshop

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On Friday, January 15 Mayne Island hosted Meredith Keery from POPFASD (Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) for an outstanding learning opportunity! The workshop was attended by staff from Mayne, Galiano and other teachers from Gulf Islands schools.

What I liked most was, “the opportunity to work with colleagues (team members) on a student plan using the LEIC (Learner Environment Instruction Curriculum) tool” noted one participant in the post-workshop survey.

The workshop balanced current research, practical and real-life examples with strategically effective tools that participants engaged with in their school teams. Though the workshop was presented with a FASD background, its’ focus was on complex learners.

As we know, most strategies that are good for one student, are good for many, if not all. That was the case with the strategies and tools Meredith shared. It was a full, fun learning and sharing experience for all! A participant expressed appreciation for, “the practical/doable strategies to work with kids of all ages in the educational system”.

For more information about POPFASD and/or complex learners, contact the district partners: Cathy Walker or Marine McDonnell.

Thank you to Margo Cullen, Mayne Principal, for the write-up and to Cathy and Marine for the photos:
Mayne

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Grade 12 Biology Final Projects

Last week, a story was posted on “Learning Links” about Stacey Mitchell’s Biology 12 class presenting to grade 4 and 5 students for their final senior biology project. The younger students assessed and provided feedback about the projects, and were very engaged in the presentations. As one of the senior’s mentioned to me, students were able to make choices about the theme and how it would be presented and will remember this experience as a highlight of their schooling. If you missed this story, follow this link for more. Thanks Stacey for sharing this.

Coaching and Learning in Our Schools

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You may ask why does coaching matter in the context of learning in our schools? Coaching supports individuals to focus and change their own behaviors, which alone has value. Coaching skills, modelled by adults, are exactly the skills that students can use to solve their own issues and problems and perhaps most importantly, when adults become less prescriptive in their attitudes then students have the opportunity to feel more in charge of their learning (and their lives).

Coaching

Coaching is a way of being in relationship. Fundamentally coaching is a focused conversation designed to support and clarify choices and to move action forward. A coaching conversation can be identified as being based on respect, openness, deep listening, thoughtful questioning and confidentiality. What a great conversation to take part in!

Coaching2

When you are a part of a coaching conversation you are not trying to fix anyone else’s problems. As the “coach” you are listening deeply, asking open-ended questions and moving the conversation to action; as the person being coached you are benefitting from the reflective thinking that questions can provoke, hopefully gaining insight into your own motivations, and preparing for action based on a plan of your own making.

In SD64 we have been consciously creating a coaching culture since 2009. Check out District Initiatives for an overview of our district’s coaching initiative. If you have any questions about the initiative, contact Linda Underwood .

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Albert Einstein

Collaboration in Action

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Bo Curtis and Sue Robinson each presented one of the over 100 workshops at the Northwest Math Conference in Whistler this past weekend.

Bo’s topic was promoting numeracy through the use of the slide rule. Participants made their own paper slide rules to use, and many packed along their own slide rules specifically to bring to his workshop!

Sue’s workshop was a hands-on construction of sinusoidal functions and the unit circle, using paper and string. Sue modelled this activity with her attendees so that they can use it directly in their own classrooms.

Sue Robinson delivering her workshop at the math conference in October.

Math Workshop

photo: Jess Willows

 

Collaboration About Teaching & Learning

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Collaboration and inquiry about teaching and learning is at the heart of our work in schools. On Friday, September 25th, teachers and principals from Gulf Islands schools were engaged with each other about “What’s going on for our learners?” and what’s next for us as we continuously improve student learning experiences in our classrooms.

Teachers at Gulf Island Secondary Schools met to do action planning on five key areas identified at Planning Day last year:

  • How do we improve opportunities for collaboration time?
  • How do we promote school spirit and enhance school culture and pride?
  • How do we adopt the ‘Readiness for Learning Rubric’ and turn it into a reporting tool?
  • How do we raise the academic bar?
  • How do we make changes to our assessment practices in our classrooms?

Teachers in inquiry groups of 4 to 12 discussed aspects for each area of inquiry and summarized proposed next steps to their colleagues in the larger group.

Teacher Ian Mitchell reported out to the larger group about four ways collaboration can be supported.

  1. Creating time built in to school schedules for collaboration such as during the flex block, or by regularly using shared preparation time.
  2. Scheduling co-teaching situations that provide opportunities for mentorship, co-teaching or to support personalized learning.
  3. Using established networks such as school-based team or department meetings, or occasions presented by cross-discipline project-based learning.
  4. Teacher collaboration also promotes the sharing of resources.

Teacher Susan Robinson from the assessment group reported an interest in continuing the Breakfast Meetings about Assessment from last year.

  • A number of schools in the district collaborated around place-based learning.
  • Cate McEwen led a “Wild School” workshop at Fulford with outdoor, place-based and water theme activities followed by teachers sharing outdoor/nature activities. Cate also worked with Fernwood staff on developing a year plan to adopt Duck Creek using a water theme.
  • Physical Therapist Judith Bradley provided a workshop at Fernwood on physical foundations for learning.
    Salt Spring Elementary used a retreat format on Galiano Island to share aboriginal perspectives and resources, to collaborate on a “Mind Up” curriculum implementation, and to explore best practices around assessment and communicating student learning.
  • Brain research and the “growth mindset” themes were explored by Galiano staff.These examples of professional development represent represent deep work on the part of Gulf Island educators to continuously update teaching and learning repertoires.

These examples of professional development represent represent deep work on the part of Gulf Island educators to continuously update teaching and learning repertoires.

Upcoming Professional Development Events

October 23rd
Island Early Years Network & Island Net – Sparking Inspiration for ECE and primary teachers
Vancouver Island – Nanoose Bay

  • Also on October 23rd, and listed on the Gulf Islands Professional Development site:
  • Children Aren’t Made of China on personal and social competencies Coquitlam
  • Uncovering the Essential Curriculum for Yourself Artspring, SaltSpring Island
  • BCTELA – Story and the Landscapes of Learning Richmond
  • BCPTA – Empowering Learners Vancouver

October 27 to 29
ERASE Bullying Training SJ Willis Auditorium, Victoria
Contact your principal if you would like to learn more about ERASE training.

October 29th
Creating Circle of Support for Kurzweil Users (SIMS) SET-BC on Salt Spring

October 30
Accessing E-Text on an iPad including using ARC-BC SET-BC on Salt Spring

November 3-4
IT4K12 2015 – Transforming The Learning Landscape Richmond

January 15, 2016
Google Chrome Extensions for Struggling Readers and Writers SET-BC on Salt Spring

February 22-23
POPEI – Provincial Outreach Program for Early Intervention Richmond

Other

Educational Assistant series – anticipated again this year… information upcoming

Online courses with POPFASD – Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder at https://www.fasdoutreach.ca/training. These are not only designed to meet the needs of students with FASD but of complex learners in general.

 

Doug Livingston
Director of Instruction – Learning Services