WE GOT SOME CATCHING UP TO DO (Feb. 20) Shelagh Rogers gave a speech to us about the importance of recognizing the hurt that we have cause our indigenous peoples, and about the importance of having genuine interactions with these people in order to close the gap of separation that we currently have. Her speech talked a lot about reconciliation following the era of Residential Schooling and how we need to recognize our past flaws, have sorrow for our dark history, and look at how we can contribute to making sure that we support success for those who are still suffering from this era, and how to ensure that we never repeat history. The quotes that stuck with me the most during her presentation were "why would we deny ourselves the pleasure of aboriginal company?" and "why wait for a tsunami to become helpful to one another?". I thought that it was a very insightful presentation!
MATH GAMES USING CARDS, DICE, AND MULTI-SIDED DICE FOR GRADES 4-6 (Feb. 20) Linda Williams brought in "Boxcar learning" materials such as 10 sided dice, triple dice, counters, and cards to teach us many ways to use math games to teach concepts. It was great to play around and get to "be the students" during this interactive session! I am hoping that some of the materials that I gained from this session can be used towards my Professional Inquiry Project which deals with math application through games. What amazed me was how effectively she was able to show us ways that math games can lead to deeper realization of math concepts, and also how easily some games are to differentiate for high and low learners!
MOVE & PLAY THROUGH TRADITIONAL ABORIGINAL GAMES: (Feb. 20) Lethbridge College Be Fit for Life Centre gave us a great presentation about how easily traditional aboriginal games can be used to get kids excited about fitness, but also while teaching them about traditional native cultures. I decided to go to this session because I am currently finishing up the "Living with the Land" unit in Social Studies 4 and I have been wanting to do some traditional aboriginal activities as a "wrap up". I loved how the ladies described the importance of respectively gathering proper materials, and how they gave us the "original significance" of why each game was created. I think that I will try to integrate some of these games within the next few weeks and I know that my kids will love playing these games and hearing why the natives played them!
"LOLLIPOP" MOMENTS (Feb. 21) Drew Dudley's closing keynote was FANTASTIC. I was highly entertained throughout his comedic speech, but was also able to take away many inspirational stories and goals after watching his presentation. I loved the idea of trying to define the 3 values that you HOPE you embody on a daily basis. By defining your values you are forced to recognize what the value looks like in practical application and you can ask yourself whether you have really been meeting those benchmarks on a daily basis. The questions that Drew posed were deep questions such as "What positive thing have I said to someone's face today?" and "How have I made someone else's life richer by interacting with them today?". I also loved that his philosophy leaves room for human imperfection... he recognizes that we can't all reach our goals every single day, but he stressed that we should define ourselves by the "every day" rather than by the "extraordinary days". His views on leadership, healing, and forgiveness were very inspiring and I know that his speech is one that I will personally remember and strive to live by for a very long time.
EXPLORING THE WORLD: SEVEN CONTINENTS IN ONE GLOBAL MICRO-LIBRARY (Feb. 21) The "gurus of literature" Pamela Winsor and Beth Cormier teamed up to create an excellent compilation of literature that represents genuine people and cultures in each of the 7 continents. This resource has been created and made readily available for teachers to be able to build upon for the individual needs of their classroom. I was able to preview many fantastic picture books and novels that support student connections with other cultures, and it was awesome to hear other teachers' input on how they could utilize this resource in many different ways. The resource includes a detailed annotated bibliography for each continent, and also came with cute little "passports" and "stamps" for kids to review each continent and show that they have 'visited' each of these continents. Some of our discussions mentioned the possibility of being able to use it across a whole school, to use it as a support for the grade 3 social curriculum, to use it as a starting point to launch a "cultural awareness night" at a school, and to use it as an "Amazing Race" challenge!
FINDING THE 'ART' IN LANGUAGE ARTS - (Feb. 21) I decided to attend this session by Linda Gringas because I have been missing teaching language Arts this semester, but also it sounded like a 'marriage' of my 2 most passionate subjects, so I knew that it would be an interesting topic for me to explore! As there turned out to be very few of us that attended this session, I was somewhat forced to volunteer as the 'chair member' which was unexpected but also rewarding. It was great to be able to try a few descriptive writing assignments based on abstract art pictures and it was really eye-opening to realize how easy it is to misinterpret unclear directions. The main assignment was for one person to look at an abstract painting, then to try and successfully get the other partner to draw the painting by using correct and effective direction. The assignment was really fun to do but also had a lot of value to highlight the importance of descriptive writing and speaking. The presenters gave us many assignment ideas to try with our students, and it was also just a great opportunity to collaborate with other teachers who were looking for some meaningful art lessons. We ended up using the end of our session as more of a 'sharing' time to show each other pictures of assignments we have tried, or to show some teachers great resources such as Pinterest.