EDUC+8Y34+–+Sec8+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!!**
 * 8Y34 Lab 8: Wednesday 3-5**

PLC Reflection—October 27/28 2010 Arts Matter Conference Shelley Lifchis #4666418

Attending the Arts Matter conference at Brock Hamilton was amazing: I listened to David Booth speak about the arts and its impact on education and students and I participated in workshops that clearly outlined the importance and value that the arts can have on reaching and teaching children. I specifically enjoyed the dance workshop where we participated in some exercises using creative movement to express feeling and concepts we all experience. The “bullying” activity we did really had an impact and I can totally see using this theme and activity in any classroom I find myself in. It also allows for interpretation so that individuals can use their own point of view and expression to make the activity their own, meaningful and authentic. In terms of using technology, this type of activity can be used in a podcast to share with other schools/classrooms, can be videotaped and presented in assemblies, etc. to showcase the effort and creativity that students put into it.

I went to the WIld Life Conservation workshop which I found very informative. At the workshop we learnt practical ways to incorporate the environment into our everyday classrooms. One activity that we did as a group was "Oh Deer!", In this activity we learnt the importance of roles like predator and prey. The whole class lined up on one side of the field representing either; food (hands on mouth), shelter (hands over head) or hunger (hands to mouth). There was one person representing a deer on the oppasite side of the field. Both sides turned around not facing eachother and then faced eachother at the same time demonstrating either food, shlter, or hunger, the "deer" that had the same symbol as any one of the resources ran to grab that resource (indicating reproduction) and brought them back to the oppasite side. Very quickly the "deer" side began to increase. Through this activity we learnt the impact that resources, predators and prey have on ecosystems. This activity is also cross-curricular because it incorporates physical education. I thoroughly enjoyed this activity and found it practical in incorporating into my classroom. Another suggestion this workshop mentioned was creating a fish tank, or animal in the classroom as a class pet. Animals, or class pets have been proven to help behavioral children and children in general destress. Incorporating a fish tank in the class can become an area of peace and tranquility for children to escape to and for behavioral children to reflect. Overall the Wildlife workshop was very informative! Jenn Kanoza



I attended the Project WILD Workshop which is an interdisciplinary, environmental and conservation education program for educators of kindergarten through high school age young people. The facilitators discussed the human impact on the environment in an interactive way. We were given an activity guide to follow with many activities to incorporate into our lessons about the environment. The activities we did in the workshop were fun, interactive and would definitely suceed in engaging students of all ages. I would use many of the activities in the guide in the future as they integrate Language Arts, Science, and The Arts to name a few. I do see a need for these activites for the reasons stated above - the Activity Guide presents the information to children in an engaging way. The workshop did not involve technology, but they did give us many useful websites to access. Virginia Allibon Kampe



http://www.livescribe.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/LDApp.woa/wa/MLSOverviewPage?sid=ZQtJhnVqX4rh Sarah Van Sligtenhorst

I attended the Project WILD workshop which provided the participants with information regarding environmental education. The goal of Project WILD, as stated in the activity book is to “assist learners of any age in developing awareness, knowledge, skills, and commitment to result in informed decisions, responsible behaviour, and constructive actions concerning wildlife and the environment” (p. //v//). The program is aimed at educators, who will have the opportunity to pass the information included in the workshop on to their pupils. As a teacher candidate I believe that this workshop has been extremely valuable, and I will definitely be making use of the Project WILD activities in my own classroom. I believe the goal of Project WILD is an extremely important one and can be accomplished using hands-on activities in the classroom. The workshop did not include anything regarding technology, but I can certainly see how many of the themes in the activity book could be complemented using a variety of technological resources! Lindsy Nicholson



I attended the Project Wild Workshop which presented the participants with a wealth of information regarding how teachers can insert an environmental awareness into multiple subjects and provide active and exciting platforms for learning. This workshop provided an amazing lesson plan resource book that I will be able to turn to for developing ideas and activity based lesson plans in my future classroom. The Project Wild Workshop gave me a passion for creating lessons that involve students, through physical expression, artwork and drama that also give rise to important environmental issues that students need to become aware of as they grow up and become more active in our society. There was no use of technology in this particular seminar, however websites and on line resources were available upon request. I am fascinated at how easy it can be to provide differentiated learning that is fun, active, informative and authentic. Lisa Caruso

I attended the Tribes Training Workshop which was facilitated by Gail Phillips. Throughout tribes training, our cohort learned about creating a positive and respectful environment for all students and coworkers. Tribes focuses on community building through inclusion and caring. We learned about the 4 tribes agreements which are: Mutual Respect, Appreaciation Only, Active Listening, and the Right to pass/Right to Participate. This workshop training program provided us with a detailed informational text with ideas for energizers and team building activities. As a future teacher, I believe tribes will be very benifical to my growth as an educator, as well as the way in which I treat and interact with my students. Tribes has taught me that by giving respect to others, you will get it back. Kind actions and looking out for others will only make your school and classroom community stronger. Overall, Tribes was an excellent experience, and our leader Gail did an amazing job of conveying and demonstrating the key aspects of what tribes represents.

Melanie Skanes 3612140



I attended Tribes Training on October 7th and 8th, 2010. Our Tribes Training instructor was Gail Phillips (our Cohort Leader, you can see her squeezed in the circle near the front). Tribes Training is focused around an innovative learning process designed by Jeanne Gibbs. The Tribes learning process is all about inclusion; focusing on participation/the right to pass, mutual respect, appreciations/no put-downs, and attentive listening. Throughout these two days, I learned an incredible amount of information including energizers and methods of learning, such as Al Cullum. This Tribes Training provided me with many resources and a chance to create an inclusive classroom for myself and my fellow peers to learn in as well throughout our year. I think that with Tribes Training, teachers will have a positive impact on the lives of all of their students. Amanda Dennis (3794617)



THAT IS NOT ME!!! I attended the Project Wild Workshop on October 2nd, 2010. The day’s events and activities provided me with information on how environmental and conservation education can be integrated throughout the curriculum. I participated in active lessons about the environment, getting exercise and gaining background knowledge at the same time. Most importantly, I received and learned how to use the Project Wild Activity Guide; a resource that I’m sure to make full use of during my first practicum for both DPA requirements and grade 5 science.

Cami Boyko

I also attended the Project Wild Workshop. We learned how to incorporate environmental learning throughout all areas of the curricula. I thought the physical education games would be really fun to do with students. The manual is a fantastic resource for new teachers because it is organized by subject, topic, theme and keyword. It is also designed to complement the current curriculum documents. I think that environmental awareness and conservation are growing in importance and that students need to be knowledgable about it. As a teacher it will be very imporatnt for me to model the importance of conservation as well as teach the technical information involved. Robin Perry

I attended the Project Wild workshop at Brock Hamilton campus. There was an abundance of cross curricular information. I will use this resource frequently during my teaching profession. I choose this workshop because I had heard that the resource book that you recieve is an excellent tool. It is really easy to use because it catogorized it's activities in many different ways and it includes all different strands. For example there is a game called Oh Deer! which is a glorified game of tag that includes science, math and physical education. _ I attended the Integrating the Arts conference on October 28 and 29th, 2010. We participated in four sessions. One each of drama, dance, music and visual arts. My favourite was the visual arts portion. We did a lot of activities surrounding the book "Something Beautiful". We wrote out what was beautiful to us, we acted out parts of the book and we also created a scrapbook page of what was beautiful to us based on what we had written at the beginning of class. The scrapbook page was very meaningul to me and I will actually cherish it forever! I also look forward to using this lesson in my second placement as it is geared more for a junior class. The activity was authentic to me because it was about me and I love to scrapbook. I was so into what I was doing that I was disappointed when the class was over! This is a picture of me with David Booth. Marnie

I attended the federation professional development day. This was conducted by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario. They pretty much just went over our right, and duties as teachers. This information was valuable for teaching because it reinstated the values, beliefs and rights of teachers and what we can do in various situations. This presentation was selected because it was mandatory. Technology was used in this presentation in the form of a powerpoint. It was not really fascinating to me, as I have made these presentations before. ANDREW.



I also attended the Federation Professional Development Day on Friday November 5th in the gym at Brock University. The entire presentation was provided to us on a USB Flash drive and I found it interesting to learn about the rights of the teacher and the duties to be performed We learned alot of the information already in the law course, but it was a good refresher about who to contact when you have a question. As a learner of 21st century I technologies I found the power point presentation could have been spiced up a bit with some interactivity among the students present. Overall it was a great experience and here is my photo with the Elementary teachers of Ontario representative. Sabrina Catallo

I attended Tribes Training on October 7th & 8th, 2010 facilitated by Gail Phillips. Tribes centers on creating a positive and inclusive environment for all students and teachers. This workshop provided me with many ways I can implement these strategies into my classroom. I was able to participate in many energizers, and the community circle to build inclusion and community. I believe this training has provided me with a great deal of ways to build a community in the classroom. I will definitely adapt strategies of this sort to my teaching since it is important for students to feel included and safe. Tribes is a great workshop to attend there are many schools which are labeled “Tribes schools”. It was an amazing experience. I would recommend this workshop to many others.

Marina Sieukumar



I attended the Project Wild educational workshop. Project Wild is a wildlife curriculum for teachers developed by the Canadian Wildlife Federation. The program was developed based on the Ontario curriculum and each activity includes the specific expecations from the curriculum that apply to the lesson. Therefore, it is very teacher-friendly and it is easy to implement within the curriculum. Although the program is obviously Science-based, many of the activities also integrate other subjects, which make it extremely cross-curricular. The workshop itself was very practical and hands-on and we participated in a number of the lessons and also had the opportunity to teach a lesson. I selected this workshop for two reasons. The first was for the very practical reason that I was able to use the workshop as credit for both my Science class this term and my Physical Education class next term. I also wanted to participate in it because I actually attended the workshop a number of years ago and remembered how valuable it was but I felt I needed a refresher in order to actually implement the program effectively.

Kirsty Muileboom Wednesday 5-7

This is a picture of me and the keynote speaker from the arts matter conference, David Booth. He spoke on the first day of the conference first thing in the morning. He is a well-known proponent of the arts and their importance across the entire curriculum. He was very happy to see that there were a couple of males at the conference, because he doesn't believe that the arts are a female driven subject. He told stories of his experiences as an educator, parent and person experiencing the arts. The one item he stressed was that teachers need to demonstrate their work through means other than long-drawn out essays. One of his doctoral course at OISE has a final project that must be a multi-media compilation. I was not totally sure about the conference when I signed up, but I actually felt better about myself after listening to his message. He is an older man, but he is more forword thinking than most of us (a much older Zoe hahaha). I wish I could have spoken with him longer, because he seems to be a wealth of knowledge but more importantly a person who understands education today. I can now see why the profs who organized the conference all described David as their hero or the person they look up to the most in education.

Matt MacDonald Wednesday 5-7

I attended the Project Wild Workshop. The activity ideas provided in the resource book will be very useful for creating cross-curricular science lessons. I selected this presentation because I was told that the book was a very good resource to have. No technologies were used in the workshop, but they could easily be added. I will definitely use the activities in the future. –Kristen Wells



I attended federation day. The information that they provided to us was very useful, as we need to know what our unions are doing for us, will do for us, etc. All the information that was said about ETFO was given on a USB key. The picture above is of myself, Ryan McLaughlin (OTF President), Cassandra and Megan.

Nicole Stokes