EDUC+8Y34+–+Sec2+PLC+Reflections

Place your cursor BELOW the three lines. Type in your Professional Learning Community Reflections below. Add your image. Then place a line under your entry to prepare a spot for the next student's reflection. **BE SURE TO ADD YOUR NAME!!** In our Science and Technology class, we had the opportunity to visit the Niagara Recycling Plant for our final session with Linda Borland. The little field trip we took lasted for an hour with information stemming from how the plant is operated, how the materials are separated, refined, and sorted accordingly. It was interesting to see first hand how this is done and the steps involved along with the machines used and schedules that are followed throughout the day and week. I learned much about this and only wondered how this would differ in a larger city in terms of the size of the facility, the amount of employed staff and equipment, and if there would have to be more than one plant in operation to accomodate the population. Overall, it opened my eyes and I would like to use something like this is my science, social studies, or even math classes for my students.
 * 8Y34 Lab 2: Tuesday 10-12**

Thanks, Josie Lupoi



During one of our sessions for our Science & Technology course, we got the opportunity to attend a workshop by Generation Conservation. The workshop was great, and geared towards teaching Grade 5 students about energy and energy consumption. We were introduced to different ways to teach these topics and helpful resources to use as well. We also receieved a package containing different useful materials and resources, including a teacher's manual book. The overall presentation of this workshop was done very well and we learned a lot of new ideas about energy and energy consumption, not only to teach, but for ourselves as well.

Danielle Gasbarre

The workshop I chose was Generation Conservation presented by employers of Horizon Utilities. In this workshop we were given a tremendous amount of resources that can be used in the classroom in teaching our students how to become more conscientious about using energy and ways to reduce our consumption. They presented using a powerpoint presentation and included several different websites and videos. We did some hands on activities that could be done in the classroom with our students and they had prepared an entire package for the grade 5 curriculum strand, conservation of energy and resources and integrating it across the curriculum. This is a very important topic that we as educators must inform our students on. I believe they did an exceptional job relating it to a student's own life which would keep the students interested and engaged! Sarah Giglia

I attended a class field trip at the Niagara Regiom Recycling Centre. This trip was not only informative but also visually stunning. The sheer amount of plastic and other recyclable materials that go through the plant everyday is enormous and it's interesting to see how it's all sorted out on site. The tour consisted of a walk through the plant and a description of the facilities and sorting procedures. As a teacher of grade 4/5, I could picture the faces of my students light up as they tour the facilities. This trip could coincide with a science unit on conservation or a social studies unit touching on the same theme. Some Math could be woven into it as the students would have to calculate the cost of running the plant for a day vs. the operational costs. Laurent Lecavalier



The work shop I chose was Storytelling in the Classroom. As a primary/junior candidate, I found the workshop applicable because not only does it improve storytelling techniques and skills, but also develops a story library. The workshop is interactive and introduces storytelling resources and selections. On my block I have already been reading many stories to students and hope that this will make my delivery more successful.

Mark Infusini

_ The workshop was called Generation Conservation presented by horizon Utilities. The purpose of the workshop was to teach future teachers how to integrate conserving energy into their science and technology classes. As a future teacher i can use the information taught to me in my classes by showing my teachers the many websites that were shown to us. these websites are a very useful resource that can be shown to the students and teach them about the different fossil fuels, carbon dioxide levels and electricity consumptions daily. The workshop was also useful because it provided us with a workbook with many instructional lessons that can be used in the classroom. I think energy consumption is a very important topic and must be taught to students in the grade 5 level and up. With more knowledge about the environment made available to them, the more likely positive changes will be seen in our environment.



Linda Ismailos I participated in the Project Wild workshop. The focus was on creating student awareness of the environment. An activity guide full of fabulous activities and resources was given out and highlighted at the workshop. The afternoon was spent familiarizing ourselves with the activities, and the DSBN facilities available to schools at the St. John’s Outdoor Education Center. These are great ideas to integrate into cross-curricular lessons promoting environmental conscientiousness.

I attended the Project Wild Workshop at St. Johns Outdoor Education Centre. The purpose of the workshop was to help teachers integrate environmental issues and sustainability into their everyday teaching and to contribute to student's awareness and concern for their natural environment. I came away from the workshop with a desire to incorporate environmental issues into as many subject as possible, and a great deal of resources. The Project Wild Activity Guide is a fabulous compilation that I believe will be extremely valuable in the future. The workshop introduced me to a number of activities and services availble to teachers. I can't wait to integrate some of the project wild activities into my first block

-Alex Ayotte

Project Wild is a science and technology workshop that is part of the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s education program. This program is designed to “assist learners of any age in developing awareness, knowledge, skills, and commitment to result in informed decisions, responsible behaviour, and constructive action concerning wildlife and the environment upon which all life depends” (Canadian Wildlife Federation, 2009, p. iii). The Activity Guide has a variety of activities with cross-curricular connections for teachers to use throughout the year. I enjoyed the peer-teaching component where small groups led activities from the activity guide to demonstrate what kinds of activities were available to us in the guide. Since the workshop I have used some of the activities and plan on using many more in the future. by: Shannon Agnew

I participated in the Project Wild workshop this year and I found it extremely interesting and very educational to learn about how to include the environment in your teaching. I will use the information I learned in that workshop when I include lessons and activities from the Project Wild Manual in various subjects I will teach. I chose this presentation because I believe that there is tremendous value in including the environment in a young student’s education. I was fortunate enough to have some outdoor education activities in my elementary education and those ideas have stayed with me since then and I think it is more and more important for students to understand their environment and how they best need to interact with it and its resources. There was little technology in use during the workshop itself, but I believe that when participating in environmental education there can be many opportunities to include technology; For example, surveying tree types and then using graphing and slideshow programs to present your findings. Steve Tomlinson (I did not take a picture that day as I was planning on doing the Federation Day for this assignment. As such, I have optimized and included a picture of me in the mountains in Taiwan.)

I participated in the Arts Matters Conference on October 28th and 29th. The key note speaker was Dr. David Booth. He spoke about how integrated the arts are into all aspects of curriculum. Dr. Booth specialized in Literacy, however he said that a key part of literacy is through the Arts. He spoke about how children need to be able to express themselves through the Arts in order to show their literacy levels. The Arts conference itself was a wonderful workshop that showed us different ways of integrating them across the curriculum. I wish there had been more resources available in the conference so that I had the lesson plans taught to us that day so that nothing was forgotten. Kelly Brideau



Druing the first Arts conference at the Hamilton Brock campus, October 28 and 29th the keynote speaker was Dr David Booth. The speech was centered around integrating the arts into a classroom and how it can enage studentsd and inspire them to reach higher standards. As a hopeful future teacher of the arts the speech was inspiring and brough many people in thr audience to tears. Dr. David Booth is a well sought after speaker and the same week I heard him speak at the CODE conference in Niagara-on-the-lake, however I didn't hear much since I was playing the piano the entire time. I did have the opportunity to speak to him again before the dinner and was able to tell him what a wonderful speech he gave and how inspiring it was. During his speech he did not have a power point or untilize any technology other than his microphone on the podeum. I feel the message could have come accross even more if he had pictures or a powerpoint for visuals. Still without the teachnology the message was excellent. The conference could have had more resources or lesson plans the lack of this left me with little reference to the conference and what I had learned.

==== On October 28th and 29th I attended an Arts Conference in Hamilton. The main goal of the conference was to inform prospective teacher on how to integrate arts across the curriculum. A classroom teacher would be able to use the information gained for instructional purposes by integrating aspects of Dance, Drama, Visual Arts, and Music into everyday subjects such as Math, Science, and Language, in order to make the subject material more engaging, interesting, and fun. I feel that this conference was very valuable to me. As I begin my teaching career I will definitely use the arts while teaching various subjects. From what I have learned during the conference, I now know that teachers must use the arts to foster students’ learning. By teaching concepts through songs, plays, art, and movement, students will become more engaged in the material and will be more eager to learn more. I am looking forward to using the strategy of tableaux and movement to teach areas of science, such as simple machines. Also, I will try to use songs wherever possible to help my students learn facts, such as Canadian Provinces. ====

- Zeljka Zubic


I was just at the Niagara recycling plant with our Science class. This trip was engaging and informative because it demonstrated the magnitude of waste that could end up in a landfill if otherwise not recycled. We toured the facility and were given information regarding its operation and performance. I particularly enjoyed the learning some of the statistics regarding scrap price and operation costs. Our tour guide expressed to the class that when we are employed teachers we could bring our class for tour of their own. I will certainly take him up on this offer. I have a picture that will soon follow to verify this experience if necessary! Geoff Black



On a field trip with my Science class on November 9th 2010 we visited the Niagara recycling plant. This trip was very engaging because we were able to walk through the plant and see the process of recycling and the amount of time and energy it takes to sort through the materials that are dropped off every day. I enjoyed this field trip because it was an eye opener to see how much work goes into recycling, but how beneficial it is for our planet. The Niagara recycling plant is definitely a place I would take my junior students on a field trip because I believe they will benefit from the trip as we all did during the tour. It definitely makes you appreciate recycling! ~Rebecca O'Kurily



Mark Reaume The workshop I chose was the 'Project Wild' workshop. It was about incorporating outdoor education into the curriculum. I will definitely use many of the activities from the activity guide we received, which is a very valuable resource. I selected this workshop because I thoroughly enjoyed it and can see myself incorporating it in my classroom often, as the activities break up the monotony of classroom work. There is definitely a need for more physical ed connections in the curriculum.

I had the opportunity to experience the Project Wild workshop early in the school year. The focus of Project Wild is for Outdoor Educational Instruction. I would love to incorporate this educational facility as well as the activities within the resource they had given us within my classroom. Since the resource ranges through all of the grades I will be able to use them throughout my career to incorporate outdoor education. I chose this program because my most of my background relates to educating children in the outdoors. I spend most of my summers working at a Special Needs Summer camp where we teach a variety of skills through outdoor education. I think the more variety of resources and modes of facilitation I can bring to my classroom the more the students will benefit. At this particular workshop there was not any technology used since the primary focus was to get us outside to experience the environment.