Professional Development

Session Name
Anti-Bullying Awareness Week: Oct. 16: Bullying in the Workplace Oct. 16: Seeking Social Justice: An Examination of Bullying Oct. 17: Dont Laugh at mePreventing and Dealing with Bullying Oct. 18 Teacher as the Bully

Date

Synopsis
These four sessions were put on by the Education Undergraduate Society to promote anti-bullying awareness. Each session focused on different aspects of bullying, and each was very informative. They promoted proactive strategies to deal with bullying in the classroom and workplace. They also brought attention to the concept of teacher as a bully, and discussed ways to ensure that your behavior (conscious or unconscious) does not marginalize students or make them feel excluded in any way. This session discussed and explained teaching contracts. Keith Hadden educated pre-service teachers on the types of teaching contracts we may be offered, and what the legal implications of each are. This workshop was centered on exploring differentiated instruction for inclusive education and sought to make the idea of differentiation not so overwhelming for beginning teachers. The goals of the workshop were to explore applications and strategies of differentiated instruction. Lenee was a great role model, going through a wide variety of strategies for differentiation throughout the workshop. This PD session was aimed at educating pre-service teachers the benefits of creating and maintaining online portfolios. Kurtis Hewson spoke on how to establish unique and professional online portfolios that may impress potential employers. This session offered tips and advice to pre-service teachers about what to keep in mind when applying for our first teaching jobs. He brought up things that would intrigue potential employers and suggested ideas for etiquette that would benefit future teachers, such as sending a thank-you email following an interview.

October, 2012

Teaching Contracts By Keith Hadden, ATA

January, 2013

Differentiated Instruction Workshop By Lenee Fyfe, Teacher at Fleetwood Bawden

February 1, 2013

Exploring Online Portfolios By Kurtis Hewson, U of L Associate Faculty member

February 5, 2013

Getting That First Teaching Job: 10 Things you may not have Considered By Kurtis Hewson, U of L Associate Faculty member

February 13, 2013

SWATCA: Move and Play Through Physical Literacy By Stephanie Wierl

February 21, 2013

This SWATCA workshop focused on the importance of physical fitness in individuals through all ages. Stephanie discussed ways to incorporate fun activities in physical education classes. They also created cards (which I purchased) that assist teachers and activity leaders with integrating physical literacy into everyday life. These cards have been very helpful in planning physical education classes and are useful at a variety of age groups. This workshop went through a variety of ways to use Smart Notebook in the classroom. Candace went through all the basic tools and functions of the program and explained how to use them to create different style lessons incorporating the Smart Board. This workshop discussed a variety of tools and strategies to engage elementary aged students. I found that many of the suggestions made could be applied at any grade level, however. It discussed aspects such as the way your classroom is arranged, such as allowing natural lighting whenever possible and setting up your classroom to allow for movement breaks as necessary. She also discussed the benefit of fidget toys and gave us examples of classroom-friendly fidget toys. I attended this SI (School Improvement) day while I was placed at Burdett School for my Professional Semester 2 practicum. The school had a 90% Mennonite population, so it was very beneficial for me to learn more about the culture during my placement. It gave the staff a brief overview and history of the culture and how they arrived in southern Alberta. The school liaison, who served as a translator and connection from school to home came to discuss what parents life was like at home and additional information on the Mennonite culture.

SWATCA: Smart Notebook Content Creation: Early Literacy and Numeracy By Candace Beaton

February 21, 2013

SWATCA: Universal Classroom Supports to Engage Elementary Aged Students By Teresa Eveleigh

February 22, 2013

Understanding Low German Mennonite Culture and its Implication for Teaching in a Rural Alberta Public School Burdett School Improvement Day

March 15, 2013

Teaching Boys By Carmen Mombourquette, U of L Faculty

October 8, 2013

This session offered facts on the differences between educating boys and girls in school. It was very interesting to learn about the importance of differentiating instruction for gender as well as different learning styles. One example was allowing younger boys opportunities to move around throughout the day. For instance, do not punish children (especially boys) by keeping them inside during recess, as this gives them great opportunities to burn off energy. This session discussed the formal and informal process of teacher evaluation once being hired as a teacher. It also provided additional information on the creation of Teacher Professional Growth Plans. This PD session discussed how to use a professional portfolio in a job interview and informed us on good examples of artifacts to include. Dr. Mombourquette discussed the importance of understanding and knowing examples off hand of how you meet the KSAs. He gave us example job interview questions and ways we can prepare for the interview.

Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation By Keith Hadden, ATA

October 9, 2013

The Job Interview By Carmen Mombourquette, U of L Faculty

October 22, 2013