EDUC+8Y34+–+Sec7+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 7: Wednesday 1-3**

On October 28 & 29 I attended the Arts Matters Conference at Brock University. At this conference there were four workshops that I attended: dance, drama, visual, arts & music. At each workshop I was provided with a number of lesson ideas in these subject areas, as well as learned about how to integrate the arts into other subject areas. I chose to attend this conference because I do not have experience with the arts and I wanted to gain ideas and feel more confident in these subject areas for when I have to teach the arts in my practicum. I was provided with a number of ideas through hands on experience that will be extremely useful to me in the future. Here is a picture of me with the guest speaker David Booth.

Marie Anne



This is a photo of myself, some fellow teacher candidates, and the project wild instructors, Nicole and Greg during the project wild workshop. Project wild is a program sponsored by the World Wildlife federation and encourages teachers to integrate outdoors, nature and the environment into their teaching. I would use this information specifically during a science lesson about animals. I would actually take my students into the environment and expose them to different animal sounds and tracks made by animals in the environment. I choose to attend this workshop because in the future I want to incorporate the environment and nature into my lessons when teaching. The activity book that we received at the workshop is a great tool to use when using the environment in your lessons and is something that I will be sure to use in the future.

KRISTINA HACHEY

In this photo is from the left Virginia, Marsha, Lauren, Josh, Myself, our instructor Gail Philips, Shogo, Laura, Amanda, Melanie, and Marina on Thursday, October 8th at our Tribes workshop. The Tribes workshop highlighted strategies to develop a positive environment using learning groups to increase participation and peer support in the classroom. The classroom teacher would use this information for instructional purposes by using the various strategies outlined in the text “Reaching All by Creating Tribes Learning Communities,” such as the name wave where students stand in a circle and one person says their name and at the same time makes a motion or gesture and then this continues around the circle. I chose this workshop because I feel that I learned valuable strategies that I can implement in my future classroom so that I can create an inclusive learning community. I will implement these strategies through supporting the Tribes mission in my future classroom by assuring the healthy and whole development of every child so that each has the knowledge, skills, and resiliency to be successful in a rapidly changing world. I definitely see a real need for the Tribe strategies because students need to feel welcomed, safe, and included within the school and classroom. The movie that was played during the workshop was very moving and simulated how a teacher created a Tribes learning community. **(By: Jessica Horne)**
 * Tribes – Creating a Learning Environment – October 2010**



In our social studies class we went to Battlefield House. As a community we were engaged in many different activities that thought us many new skills. In grade 3 social studies curriculum students need to learn about early pioneers. At Battlefield House we have been thought how early pioneers have lived their everyday lives. We learned about their everyday activities that they had to do. It was a great day filled with many facts and fun information. I would use this field inquiry to teach students hands on about early pioneers. I feel that field trips are an important tool for teaching the primary/junior students because they can get real world experience and retain more knowledge that way.

Tomas Kusnir

This is a photo of my cohort class (Group F-Online). We took a picture of all of us with our native talking sticks. Native talking sticks were a communication tactic used to create attentive listening and communication within the classroom. The main idea that I agree with the most in Tribes was creating inclusion within the classroom. This is something I will model in my classroom and encourage students to model this as well. Not only is this a great tool for a classroom, but for the whole school as a community as well. I think this was a beneficial course to take because all of the new Halton school boards are Tribes schools. I think this would be a great resource to have on my resume when I am interviewing in any boards. If anybody else in this class is interested in taking this course, Gail Phillips is the lady to talk to. She is a great instructor and I believe she is teaching a course in May.
 * __Emily Armstrong__**

This is a photo of Virginia, Marsha, me (Lauren), Josh, Jessica, Jamie, Gail, Shogo, Laura, Amanda, Melanie and Marina on Friday Oct 8 at day 2 of Tribes training with cohort F. The main idea of Tribes is to develop a sense of community in schools and classrooms; we learned techniques for developing a positive atmosphere and talked about meeting the needs of at risk students. I will definitely use some of the ideas of Tribes, such as the agreements, energizers and activities, to build a classroom based on respect and inclusion. I chose this particular professional development activity because I believe that the atmosphere of a classroom can make or break the learning potential of the students. With the recent media attention on bullying as well as the number of students who continue to be unsuccessful at school, programs like Tribes should be mandatory for all people working in schools. (**Lauren Hughes**)

This is a photo of me(Anna), Ricky Racoon and the Project Wild instructors, Greg and Nicole. Project Wild is a workshop sponsored by the World Wildlife Federation that encourages teachers to integrate environmental issues into their lesson plans. I would use many of the numerous activities that are listed in the Project Wild Activity Guide. I would use the information about Awareness and Appreciation of the environment from the Enviro-Ethics activity in my Social Studies lesson plan(as well as cross reference Science and Language Arts). I will use these types of activities in my classroom. I believe the children will be engaged during the lesson, will enjoy performing the the activities as well as retaining the knowledge that they will be learning throughout the lesson.

This is a photo of Sajreen, Greg, Anna, me (Karen), and Niki at Project Wild that took place last weekend. Project Wild is an initiative that the World Wildlife Federation is doing and the main topic of this event was to help integrate the environment into lesson plans in schools. It educates students using games that implement the required information that students are expected to know from the curriculum at the different grade levels from one to twelve. I could see myself using the information that I learned from Project Wild in my classroom by using the Turtle Hurdle game where students would learn to describe the life cycle of leatherback turtles and be able to recommend ways to minimize factors that contribute to its possible extinction. There is a need for this type of strategy of instruction in the classroom because it helps to cross a few different subjects within the same lesson. For example, the Turtle Hurdle can be used to teach Science, Physical Education, and Drama simultaneously. I selected this presentation because I will be able to use it for my Phyical Health class assignment next term.



This is a photograph of Sajreen (me), Greg (one of the presenters), Anna, Karen and Nikki (the other presenter) at the project wild workshop which happened on Saturday October 2nd. The main purpose of this presentation was to teach us how to incorporate lessons on teaching about the environment into the school curriculum. As a teacher, we got a great resource which is the project wild handbook which is full of lesson plans that are sorted by grade levels to incorporate into our classrooms. The reason I chose this workshop is because of the great things I have heard about it from people who had attended in previous years and also because I am very interested in teaching about the environment and wanted to get some resources to help me to do so. I definitely feel as if I gained valuable tools that I can use later in my teaching years by referring to the book that we had received and also from the activities that we all participated in during the workshop. **(Sajreen Sidhu)** _Below is a photo of (from left to right) Virginia, Marsha, Lauren, Josh, Jessica, Myself, Gail Philips, Shogo, Laura, Amanda, Melanie, and Marina in attendance at a Tribes seminar. The purpose of Tribes is to teach strategies and reasons behind inclusive classrooms. Inclusive classrooms make everyone feel welcome and build meaningful relationships between students, which shows students why they should "do unto others...". As a teacher i will use the information learned at tribes to build an inclusive classroom and show students the purpose of respecting others. Not only is Tribes worth while for every teacher candidate, Halton holds tribes in high regard, which is why i chose to attend. I believe that attitudes adopted from tribes will help to reduce bullying. **Jamie Luxon**



**Project Wild Professional Development Day - October 16, 2010**
This is a photo of me (Katelyn Macaluso), Lisa, MarieAnne, (front row – left to right) and Kristina, Julie, Greg (instructor), Nicole (instructor), Maggie, John-Paul, Andrea, and Sarah (back row –left to right). This photo represents the **Project Wild professional development day** that took place on October 16, 2010. This session provided student teachers with ways to bring new resources and knowledge from the environment into the classroom. The instructors, Nicole and Greg, also provided us with an activity guide that outlines many strategies for teaching when it comes to incorporating the environment into all grade levels and subjects. This activity guide will become especially beneficial when trying to cross reference subjects, such as science and physical education. I believe that when it comes to commitment to students and student learning, it is vital to engage students in lessons at all times. Engaging students not only sustains pupil interest, but also demonstrates a dedication and interest in establishing good teacher-student relations. As such, this activity guide provides an active and exciting platform for student learning. The Project Wild workshop helped me to realize that environmental issues can involve students in exciting and interactive ways. Ways include physical expression, games, artwork and drama; these activities can help students to become more aware of the environment, too. Overall, I have learned that lessons must be engaging, exciting, and fun in order to sustain pupil interest, and I feel that this activity guide is a great tool in maintaining such a positive learning environment! **(Katelyn Macaluso) **


 * Project Wild Professional Development Day - October 2, 2010**

Project WILD is designed to be infused into mandated curriculum subjects, such as art, health, language arts, math, music, physical education, science, and social studies. It is appropriate for use by classroom teachers and over the 8 hour day we participated in many interactive activities, as well as create our own lesson that we presented as a group. Overall Project Wild was a very useful activity. Not only did I obtain many great strategies for teaching lessons relating to our environment, but I also recieved a great resource book with hundreds of great ideas for lessons **(David Ciardulli).**



This photo is from Federation day at the Hamilton campus, where we were presented with information about the Ontario English Catholic Teachers association and our roles and responsibilities as future teachers. The presentation also highlighted teachers pay scales, funds, taxes, application processes, and teacher profiles that we are not informed about during the semester. What caught my attention during the presentation was the video we watched on student diversity, as a teacher, this video presented many viewpoints and situations that we as teachers should be aware of and consider in our classroom every day.(Cassandra Fiorino)



Below is a picture of me (far right in the pink pants) and some fellow teacher candidates with the president of the Ontario Teaching Federation (OTF), Rian McLaughlin, taken at the Federation day assembly on November 5, 2010. The presentation outlined important information about the OTF and more specifically, presented information about the Elementary Teacher's Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and our roles, duties and responsibilities as future teachers within this division. During the presentation, a short video about diversity and the harsh effects of bullying was presented, which reminded me about the importance of celebrating diversity in the classroom and being proactive about preventing bullying from occurring. I'm considering contacting the OTF to ask for a copy of the video so that I could use it as a teaching tool in an older classroom, to show students some first-hand detrimental affects of bullying. To be honest, I attended this presentation because it was required and because it was one of the only workshops that fit in with my busy schedule and though the information was definitely useful, it was also very repetitive of what has already been taught in our law course. **Nicole Parisien**



I attended Project Wild on Saturday, October 23rd and I would use the information presented to teach language, physical education, geography, math, or art. One reason I selected this workshop was because it fulfilled requirements for science, Phys. Ed., and technology, but, wow, did I have a good time! The topics focused on wildlife and how we impact their survival in our areas. I will DEFINITELY use some of the activities provided in the manual, especially for art lessons. There is a real need for these types of strategies because they emphasize integrating being conscientous about willdife and the outdoors across several curriculums.

I am pictured here with Greg - leader of Project Wild! **KELLY DI SALVO**



Post for JOHN REYNARD: On October 24, 2010 I attended the Project Wild Workshop at Brock University- Hamilton Campus. This workshop provided ways of integrating environmental and conservation education into the classroom. The workshop provided an array of teaching resources and strategies (games, activities, etc) that we can use as teachers to promote the wild in all areas of the curriculum. At the end of the workshop we were provided with a very well organized text book that highlighted games/activities for all the grade levels. This was a big highlight of the presentation for me. I will definitely be adopting much of the material from the text into my lessons. I truly believe that students need to take an interest in learning about our natural world and these resources will assist in this. There was no technology used during the workshop that was explicit to the presentation of the material. This could have been done purposely to keep with the theme of the ‘natural environment.’

Here I am pictured with Greg and Linda:



This was a field trip with my social studies class. We went to the Battlefield House in Stoney Creek. This is such a great place to take a grade 3 or 7 class to learn about pioneers and the war of 1812. Students have a chance to participate in writing letters with quills and sealing them with wax as well as dressing up as a soldier back in 1812. This field trip taught me a lot more than what I thought I knew and definitely kept me engaged so I can only imagine how much students will enjoy going to this. The people who work there made a very clear and detailed connection that made the learning really fun! -- Nicki Ho

This is a picture of me (Sheri Bolton) with the President of the Ontario Teachers Federation on Friday November 5, 2010. This information was vital for me as a teacher to understand my rights, as well as my obligations from the perspective of the federation that is there to protect my interests and support my professional career as a teacher. I selected this presentation because I really appreciated the honesty and frankness in which it was delivered and the relevance to today's environment as a teaching professional. It was a wealth of information and an excellent resource for future reference when my head stops spinning!! Great feeling to know we are strong because we are united!

_ This is a picture of me with Lisa and Sherri (HWDSB math facilitators). I attended a math in-service with my placement school. This was a 4 session workshop to learn about math lesson structuring, problem-solving, and collaboration. During the 4 sessions, we created a research lesson with all of the information we had learned, and then presented to the students, and collaborated the results. It was a great leaning experience and I felt confident about the material. I was pleased to see a lot of overlap between what we are studying in Math at Brock, and the current math research going on with the Hamilton board. Krista Commission

FEDERATION DAY-NOVEMBER 5 On November 5, we had representatives from all of the divisions of the Ontario Teacher Federations. This presentation highlighted important things that new teachers need to know. This is a picture of fellow teacher candidates, Nicole, Cassandra and myself (Megan Moffat) with Rian McLaughlin, president of OTF. In this presentation we learned that as practice teachers, we are still represented by the union, which for me would be ETFO. ETFO has a number of resources available to teachers, and the presentation highlighted how we could take advantage of some of these resources. The presentation was very informational for new teachers, and contained a lot of useful tips for us while we make our way through teachers college!

I attended the **Arts Matter: Integrating Arts into the Curriculum** conference on October 28 and 29. Although I had a lot of assignments to work on I am so happy that I made the choice to attend this two-day event. On the first day we started with a keynote speech from **//David Booth//**, he is an expert in literacy and an advocator for The Arts. His speech was inspirational and encouraging! The stories he shared with us about the difference Arts can make in a student’s life will not be forgotten. The first day I participated in the Dance and Drama workshops and learned about many activities and cross-curricular exercises. The day of the workshop started with a performance from the Roseneath Theatre titled **//The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh//**. The champion in this play is a positive role model for young people with ADHD in a remarkable play that will promote greater empathy and understanding around learning disabilities among teachers and students alike. [] I would highly recommend anyone to see this performance, it really put things into perspective and reminded you to be sensitive about things that could be happening in the child’s life outside of school. On the second day I participated in the Music and Visual Arts workshops and came away with many resources and lessons to use with future students. The two-day conference ended with comments from **//Brock’s Dean of Education Dr. Fiona Blaikie//** who also is an advocate for The Arts.

** BY: MARLEE MANNARINO **


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This is a photograph of Linda, Greg and I during the Project Wild Workshop that was held on October the 2nd. I found this workshop very enjoyable and feel that I have learned more about the natural world and how our actions affect the sustainability of life on our planet. I did this through many different activities they designed for us, both inside and outside of the classroom. The presenters were very enthusiastic and made the whole day fun and engaging for us. They also gave us a handbook which is a collection of lesson plans and activities that we can use in our classrooms. It is very easy to read because it is organized into seven sections and has clear headings such as: objectives, methods, procedures, evaluation suggestions and grade levels etc. I especially like it because it could be infused into other curriculum subjects such as art, science and social studies. I chose this workshop because I heard very good things about it and wanted to learn even more about the environment. The different activities in the handbook are great ideas that I could use to teach students and develop their awareness, knowledge and skills about wildlife and the environment. I definitely recommend project WILD to everyone! _

November 5th, 2010 Federation Day This picture is myself with the president of the Ontario Teacher Federation, Rain McLaughlin. This presentation gave us student teacher some important information that can be useful for us. One important thing is that even though we are just student teachers, we would still be represented. It allowed me to be reminded of my rights and the level of protection and professionalism I ought to have as a student teacher. I also learned how large the OTF is and how many teachers they represent in out province. Part of the OTF presentation also included a short video of students who have been bullied because of their sexuality or ethnicity. It was important for us to understand the importance of bullying and how negative it can be in a school and learning community. Finally, we also had a representative of the ETFO and they provided us with resources and documents to help us know the policies and professional standards of educators. Overall, it was very imformative and will help me know what being part of this established federation would be like. By: Matthew Terrana