Pro D Funds

The Pro D fund sheets for our school district at at this link.  You can download a PDF file or a word document file.  Thank you.

PSA Conferences coming up

PSAs are coming up with plenty of opportunity for professional development this 19th.  But there are more opportunities then this.  See below:

Supporting Emotional Needs of Gifted - SENG 

Parent Support Group

Building the Foundation to Support Your Gifted Child

 

Call for a Complimentary 30 Minute Session, make sure we are the right fit for you.

 

This Unique 12 week support group establishes an environment so parents of gifted children can interact and learn from each other.  It will increase parents awareness that gifted children and their families have special emotional needs and will develop parenting skills for nurturing the emotional development of gifted children. 

 

October 24 - January 16,  Wednesday's 7:30-9pm PST

 

Location: 11115 - 163A St, Surrey

Topics Covered:

Characteristics of Gifted Children,  Communication, Motivation and Under Achievement,  Discipline and Self Management, Stress and Depression,  Acquaintances and Peers, Only Children and Siblings,  Challenging Customs and Parent Relationships.

 

Parent Feedback on Support Group:

"Really liked the book,  great for those with no other support or who doesn't know other gifted parents".   Ryan

"I wish it was longer! thank you Susan for coaching us through it".   Lori

"Not feeling alone and having a community all in the same situation has been reassuring".   Sarah

"Taking your course when I did really helped to get us on the right track".    Gail

 

Bonus Offer - Discover Your Gifts, a 4 week program that builds your child's self esteem.

 

Learn how to enrich and fulfil your child’s life through discovering not only what their Gifts are but yours as well.  When you use Gifts the way they were meant to be used, you produce profound effects, far beyond what you would normally create with simply a talent or a skill.  There is no greater way to impact humanity and to have the experience of loving your life than  to know the Gifts you have AND the ones you don’t have.

 

"Discovering Your Gifts is one of the greatest parenting tools of all time.  A parent's greatest dream for their children is for them to be happy in life.  Imagine knowing how to nurture your child's gifts so they choose a path in their journey of life that allows them to live and work in their gifts.  Priceless!"          Lori

 

About your facilitator:

Susan Hogarth is a Certified Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, SENG parent group facilitator, Discovering Your Gifts mentor & Course of Action instructor.

 

Cost: $335 incl. tax, plus $15 for SENG Parent Hand Book

 

For more information and to reserve your spot please contact Susan @ 604-581-4452

 

 

Susan Hogarth
Comfort Zone Coaching
CZcoaching.com
604-581-4452

Professional Development Dates

There are 6 days for Professional Development in our school year.  The following are those dates:

Sept 6 - summer Pro D for those who voluntarily come to it.  In lieu day 9th.

Sept. 24th - Communication Professional Development Day.

October 19th - Provincial Specialist Associations - see list below for your area of study and their links.

November 9th - staff who did not do the Professional Development Day in the summer must work on their individual goals.  They are required to tell administration what conference, if any, they are attending and where they will be.

Feb 8th - our day.

May 3rd -District STA Convention Day

May 27th - Admin Day

Please check the BCTF website for updated information regarding  PSA Conferences For further information, click on the links below: Aboriginal Education Assocition (AEA) Annual Fall Conference - 2012 October 19 Association Provinciale des Professeurs de l'Immersion et du Programme-Francophone BC (APPIPC) - 2012 October 18-20 BC Association of Math Teachers (BCAMT) Conference - Math in Bloom - 2012 October 18-20 BC Association of Teachers of Modern Languages (BCATML) Conference - 2012 October 19 BC Business Education Association (BCBEA) Fall Conference - 2012 October 18, 19 BC Co-operative Learning Provincial Specialist Association(BCCLPSA) Conference - 2012 October 19 BC Culinary Arts Specialist Association (BCCASA) Annual Fall Conference -2012 October 19 BC Music Educators' Association (BCMEA) Fall Conference - 2012 October 18 - 20 BC School Counsellors Association (BCSCA) Fall Conference - 2012 October 18, 19 BC Educators for Peace and Global Education (PAGE) - 2012 October 19 BC Teachers of English Language Arts (BTELA) Fall Conference 2012 October 18-20 BC Teacher Librarians Association (BCTLA) Fall Conference - 2012 October 19 BC Technology Educators Association (BCTEA) - 2012 October 18, 19 English Language Learners (ELLPSA) Fall Conference - 2012 October 19 Learning Assistance Teachers' Association (LATA) Fall Conference - 2012 October 19 Learning Disabilities Association - YOU and EYE - 2012 October 19 Teachers of Home Economics Specialist Association (THESA) Fall Conference -2012 October 19

Professional Development in Regards to First Aide.

The Purpose of Professional Development:

The Board and the Surrey Teachers’ Association recognized the value of professional development activities to enhance curricular knowledge, to heighten instructional skills, and to broaden exposure to pedagogical theories, methods and strategies.

It does not cover wellness or team building.  It’s district money that the Board gave to the union, and there are rules and protocol to follow.  It does not cover First Aide Attendance.  If you teach first aide in your course then you can use the funds for this training, to further your understanding of first aide for your students. If you are using it for giving first aide to your students or staff you need to ask Health and Safety Committee for the funds before you take the course and volunteer to be the first aide attendant for the staff.  We were given some understanding last year in our application but this year First Aide training only applies to Physical Education and to Home Ec. since both teach the students how to use First Aide.  I hope this clears up this matter.

Pro D money cannot cover Pre-fieldtrip planning.  You can do field studies – go somewhere to research to bring into your classroom.  It’s the rational, enhancing your curriculum.  

Team building can be done but only for a specific program – and money is there for it.  Team building can be done at the school, not outside, doing physical activity that does not enrich your program with your students.  UBC has the program that can be brought in.  This is acceptable.  

I hope this clarifies the matter.  Thank you.

N. Painchaud

Review: Assessment in the Learning Organization: Shifting the Paradigm

The following resource is available for Sullivan Heights teachers in our Learning Commons: 

Review of “Assessment in the Learning Organization: Shifting the Paradigm” edited by Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick
Edited by Costa and Kallick, this book is a collection of writings by practicing educators on a variety of issues related to assessment. As the name suggests, the book argues for a paradigm shift in assessment. It is divided into seven sections:

• Part I. Systems Thinking: Interactive Assessment in Holonomous Organizations
• Part II. Process Design: Feedback Spirals as Components of Continued Learning
• Part III. Shifting the Paradigm: Giving Up Old Mental Models
• Part IV. Shared Vision
• Part V. Teams Build Assessment – And Assessment Builds Teams
• Part VI. The Developmental Continuum of Personal Mastery
• Part VII. Envisioning the World Anew: Seven Tasks Facing Learning Organizations

This book explains the theory behind the effort to continually improve the assessment process, but also provides practical examples (many from schools here in BC!) to help illustrate the concepts. Some examples include student notes to parents, student self reports, samples of report cards, suggestions of ways to evaluate a variety of tasks, and much more.

Review: Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom

The following resource is available for Sullivan Heights teachers in our Learning Commons:
 

"Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom" by C. Moss and S. Brookhart  is a book which deals with the formative assessment process in a unique way. The central theme throughout the book is using "feedback that feeds forward", moving the students forward  in their learning.  Teachers are supposed to help students progress, or gain from the feedback. The authors do a good job of analyzing certain practices, such as grading, goal-setting, and questioning, and view them through the formative assessment lens.

There are a lot of practical ideas in the book, but the overall take-away idea is to remember how important it is that teachers teach students how to learn and provide them with resources to support this learning. This represents a shift from a focus on what to learn. While both are important, great learning requires a feedback cycle that includes the following elements:

• specific
• positive
• focused on work
• descriptive
• compared to the target (objective, goal)

One of the more interesting discussions in the book dealt with goal-setting.  Moss and Brookhart believe that goal-setting is not an event, but a process that needs to be practiced in a minute-by-minute manner as part of learning.

New Resource: A Whack on the Side of the Head (How You Can Be More Creative)

  Here's a new title that has been added to our professional library: A Whack on the Side of the Head (How You Can Be More Creative) – Roger von Oech (Author)  – Paperback

This is the 25th anniversary edition of this book. Over the years, A WHACK ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD has been praised by business people, educators, scientists, homemakers, artists, youth leaders, and many more. The book has been stimulating creativity in millions of readers, translated into eleven languages, and used in seminars around the world.

Introduction

If this is the first post you are reading here, welcome! This is the professional development blog for Sullivan Heights Secondary School in Surrey, BC, Canada. This blog will be used primarily to communicate with the teachers on our staff, but we welcome all other visitors too.