"The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you're learning, you're not old"
- Rosalyn S. Yalow
Professional Development Sessions
NBTA Council Day - May 3rd, 2013
The NBTA Council Day was a great opportunity to meet and get to know other teachers with similar interests from all over the province. I was really impressed by the wide variety of session offerings and had a hard time narrowing my choice down to just four workshops. In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed each of the workshops I attended. I was particularly impressed by Chris Ryan's presentation on the Philosophy course on Citizenship that he designed and now teaches at Riverview High as I am very passionate about youth engagement. Mr. Ryan's course seemed to be a great way to help students begin to think about their personal views on citizenship and their own responsibilities as a part of a larger society.
I attended this PD day at Harvey High School during my second field placement. While UDL and differentiation were something we had discussed extensively in my university classes, I still found it challenging to always plan my lessons to fit every learner's needs. This PD day gave me the opportunity to sit down with a variety of teachers at my school to discuss and share strategies we used to implement a Universal Design for Learning in our classrooms. With the help of other staff members, I was able to come away with new strategies and activities I could implement in my classroom. As well, the online module added additional information and ideas about UDL that allowed me to reflect on and revise my own teaching practices.
Professional Learning Communities - March 1st, 2013
This workshop on Professional Learning Communities was one of my favorites that I attended at St. Thomas. Organized by the Education Department's Professional Learning Communities class, all the activities were fun, interactive and extremely informative. Prior to attending the workshop, I felt that my knowledge of PLCs was very limited; however, once the session ended I felt I had acquired a strong understanding of the benefits of working in a PLC and had developed strategies to deal with some of the challenges that can arise when working in large groups with differing personalities and opinions.
Secondary Writing Workshop - January 25th, 2013
Although I enjoy expressing myself in writing, I often find my mind goes blank once I put pen to paper. For students who experience this same type of "mental block", creative writing can seem to be a daunting or tedious task. During this workshop, I got to participate in a variety of different activities that can be used to inspire students to get writing. The main thing that I took away from this sessions was that creating a fun environment can help to remove some of the pressure for students who experience difficulty writing; furthermore, free-write exercises give students who struggle the opportunity to focus simply on expressing themselves without having to worry about conventions or grammatical concepts.
Differentiation Instruction - October 12th, 2012
Within any given classroom, there will always be a varied range of abilities and needs among students. Personally, I believe that this diversity is both one of the most challenging and most rewarding aspects of teaching. In this PD session, we had the opportunity to learn about the pyramid of intervention for assisting students' academic needs - from accommodating students using differentiation and a universal design for learning, all the way to modifying curriculum and creating Special Education Plans.
Co-Operative Learning - October 5th, 2012
The concept of group work can be a little intimidating for new teachers as it raises a number of questions: how should I go about forming groups? how can I make sure students are using time effectively? how do I ensure all students are doing their share of the work?
I found this workshop on Co-Operative Learning to be very informative as it helped me develop strategies to ensure that all students are held accountable while working in groups. By assigning each student in the group a specific role and individualized tasks, Co-Operative Learning differs from traditional group work as it adds more structure to increase student accountability while still allowing students to develop the important social skills that accompany working in groups. During both of my internships, I was able to use these Co-Operative learning strategies to keep my students on task and accountable while working in groups.
Integrating Technology into the Classroom - September 18th, 2012
In society today, it seems as though technology is becoming increasingly integrated in our daily lives - and the classroom is no exception. As a result, for the majority of students, technology is an important part of their daily lives. During this workshop, I had the opportunity to listen to a presentation by Bryan Facey who showed us some unique ways we could use technology in the classroom to engage students and enhance their learning experience.
The NBTA Council Day was a great opportunity to meet and get to know other teachers with similar interests from all over the province. I was really impressed by the wide variety of session offerings and had a hard time narrowing my choice down to just four workshops. In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed each of the workshops I attended. I was particularly impressed by Chris Ryan's presentation on the Philosophy course on Citizenship that he designed and now teaches at Riverview High as I am very passionate about youth engagement. Mr. Ryan's course seemed to be a great way to help students begin to think about their personal views on citizenship and their own responsibilities as a part of a larger society.
- Local Option: Teaching Citizenship
- NB Elections: Youth Engagement
- Teachers' Institute for Parliamentary Democracy
- Using Debate in the Classroom
I attended this PD day at Harvey High School during my second field placement. While UDL and differentiation were something we had discussed extensively in my university classes, I still found it challenging to always plan my lessons to fit every learner's needs. This PD day gave me the opportunity to sit down with a variety of teachers at my school to discuss and share strategies we used to implement a Universal Design for Learning in our classrooms. With the help of other staff members, I was able to come away with new strategies and activities I could implement in my classroom. As well, the online module added additional information and ideas about UDL that allowed me to reflect on and revise my own teaching practices.
Professional Learning Communities - March 1st, 2013
This workshop on Professional Learning Communities was one of my favorites that I attended at St. Thomas. Organized by the Education Department's Professional Learning Communities class, all the activities were fun, interactive and extremely informative. Prior to attending the workshop, I felt that my knowledge of PLCs was very limited; however, once the session ended I felt I had acquired a strong understanding of the benefits of working in a PLC and had developed strategies to deal with some of the challenges that can arise when working in large groups with differing personalities and opinions.
Secondary Writing Workshop - January 25th, 2013
Although I enjoy expressing myself in writing, I often find my mind goes blank once I put pen to paper. For students who experience this same type of "mental block", creative writing can seem to be a daunting or tedious task. During this workshop, I got to participate in a variety of different activities that can be used to inspire students to get writing. The main thing that I took away from this sessions was that creating a fun environment can help to remove some of the pressure for students who experience difficulty writing; furthermore, free-write exercises give students who struggle the opportunity to focus simply on expressing themselves without having to worry about conventions or grammatical concepts.
Differentiation Instruction - October 12th, 2012
Within any given classroom, there will always be a varied range of abilities and needs among students. Personally, I believe that this diversity is both one of the most challenging and most rewarding aspects of teaching. In this PD session, we had the opportunity to learn about the pyramid of intervention for assisting students' academic needs - from accommodating students using differentiation and a universal design for learning, all the way to modifying curriculum and creating Special Education Plans.
Co-Operative Learning - October 5th, 2012
The concept of group work can be a little intimidating for new teachers as it raises a number of questions: how should I go about forming groups? how can I make sure students are using time effectively? how do I ensure all students are doing their share of the work?
I found this workshop on Co-Operative Learning to be very informative as it helped me develop strategies to ensure that all students are held accountable while working in groups. By assigning each student in the group a specific role and individualized tasks, Co-Operative Learning differs from traditional group work as it adds more structure to increase student accountability while still allowing students to develop the important social skills that accompany working in groups. During both of my internships, I was able to use these Co-Operative learning strategies to keep my students on task and accountable while working in groups.
Integrating Technology into the Classroom - September 18th, 2012
In society today, it seems as though technology is becoming increasingly integrated in our daily lives - and the classroom is no exception. As a result, for the majority of students, technology is an important part of their daily lives. During this workshop, I had the opportunity to listen to a presentation by Bryan Facey who showed us some unique ways we could use technology in the classroom to engage students and enhance their learning experience.