182 Days of Learning

#CBE182 Day 51: Evan, Annie, Sunny, Nico and Jinkoh, Students, Louis Riel School

11/21/2016

#WEARELOUIS

   On November 15th, 2016, Louis Riel School had the opportunity to attend the Everactive Schools’ Healthy Active Schools Symposium (HASS). This conference allowed us as Louis Riel students the opportunity to interact with different schools in a collaborative environment. We connected with other schools on how they are making their school communities healthy, and how to work on improving our own community.

    Our school has a dynamic community made up of two programs, Science and GATE. This year at Louis Riel we want to work on creating a more unified school community, where we are ONE school community and not just individual programs. We were hoping that we could band under the title of “WE ARE LOUIS”, bringing the two diverse communities together. It was also very interesting to meet other teachers and students, and trying to figure out how together the entirety of the CBE could work together to make us each a little better. It was especially interesting hearing Travis Price speak about “what to do with an idea” and the story of creating Pink Shirt Day helped us understand that small ideas have the potential to have big impact.

    Participating in HASS has given us the tools to examine our school community using the Comprehensive School Health model and design ways to help our school community become ONE. Our principal, Mrs. Goodman and PE teacher Mrs. Boutette were very interested in hearing the respective views of our students at Louis and how to make our school community united. Our next step for us is to meet as a “S.W.A.T” (School Wellness Action Team), using the tools from HASS to develop an action plan on how we can improve our school community to be even more cohesive, healthy and united.

CTV news interview aired November 15th, 2016 https://t.co/cby67VguU8

Evan, Annie, Sunny, Nico and Jinkoh
S.W.A.T Louis Riel Grade 9 Students

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#CBE182 Day 50: Megan McClelland, Adapted Physical Education Teacher, Christine Meikle School

11/18/2016

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Physical Literacy and Wellness In Action

One of my greatest fears as a teacher is becoming complacent, irrelevant, or too comfortable in what and how I teach. In August, when I found myself staring at my old unit plans and trying to figure out how to plan this year’s program, these worries started creeping up on me again because so much of what I’d done in the past was starting to look the same. Now, at Christine Meikle, we work with students with severe and complex cognitive, behavioural, and medical needs, so there is something to be said for not reinventing the wheel. In fact, by repeating similar units each year, many of my students have progressed closer toward the overall aim of the physical education Program of Studies, which is for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to live an active way of life. The more they do something, the more familiar they become with it, and maybe the more likely they might be to want to use some of those skills if they encounter a ball or a hockey stick somewhere in their adult lives long after they have left my program. However, I couldn’t help but wonder, if I was starting to feel like “oh, ok, this again…” about certain units, how might my students be feeling about them?

As luck would have it, I rediscovered two physical literacy-based programs at the end of August that gave me the spark I needed to re-ignite my planning energy and put a new spin on my tried-and-true units from the past – DANCEPL3Y and the AMA Youth Run Club. I say rediscovered because, as is often the case in teaching, I had been introduced to both programs at least a year before, but my initial introductions were at a point where I already had my plans made so I put both programs on the back burner. Long story short, I ended up doing the DANCEPL3Y Kids instructor training course at the end of August and I signed Meikle up for this year’s Youth Run Club right around the same time. Inspired by how both these programs focus on getting kids to be active and have fun, I then buckled down to figure out how I could adapt some of the specific physical literacy skills and present them in such a way so that my students would understand what was going on. Here are some of the things I did:

DANCEPL3Y (www.dancepl3y.com)

If choreography was too fast, we slowed the dance down and picked 1-2 moves to do instead of trying to do them all at once.
We used floor spots to create our bubbles of awesome and offered students choices of activities they could do to make their bubbles awesome (e.g. jump on the spot, helicopter turn, balance on one foot).

AMA YOUTH RUN CLUB (www.amayouthrunclub.com)

If students were physically unable to run or didn’t understand the concept, we isolated training concepts and worked through circuit activities targeting each skill (e.g. arms at right angles, high knees, bum kicks).
For students in wheelchairs, we talked about Fartlek training (run/walk) and pushed them at different speeds to help them understand. We used “first run, then walk” language and made visual schedules to help them understand the expectations. We also used “fast” and “slow” to describe how we were moving.
We had different culminating Fun Run activities for each class. One class did a blackout bingo goal setting activity during their warm up routine, and it took them a couple of weeks to complete. Other classes did timed walks outside on the ring road or participated in fun locomotor based tasks on the playground.

In conclusion, I have to say that the thing that has made the biggest difference to my program this year has to do with positive communication. Part of the DANCEPL3Y program involves finishing each class with the 3 most important words you can say to yourself: I AM AWESOME. I spent a good chunk of last year on a stress leave and these were the last 3 words on my mind at that point, but I was determined to change that and have a way more successful year this time around. I also knew this year was going to be challenging, especially as our school community prepares to move from our current site in Bridgeland to our brand new facility in Varsity. Thus, I took this mindset back to work and incorporated it whenever I could – saying “I am awesome” when people asked how I was, high fiving people in the hall and saying “You are awesome” whenever I could, and teaching students to say “I am awesome” at the end of each and every class, either with their voices or augmentative communication devices. The result? After 2 months, some students are asking if there are other fun words we could use other than awesome, other students are high fiving each other during class and using positive language more often, and I see more smiles and hear more positive talk from staff in the hallways on a regular basis. CMS, WE ARE AWESOME!

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CBE182 Day 42: Natasha McKay, Learning Leader, Prince of Wales School

11/7/2016

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“What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.”

As a teacher I want my students to think big, be brave and to take risks. To question the world around them and to figure out where they fit in. I ask my students to look deeper and be willing to get out of their comfort zone on a daily basis. Learning new things is hard and uncomfortable, and that’s o.k. I tell my students all the time that if something isn’t hard, you aren’t learning anything new.
Everyday I give this message to my students, and yet I was hesitant, scared even to challenge my thinking, to get out of my own comfort zone, to do something that was going to be hard.
When I was given the opportunity to move to a new grade this year I was scared and nervous and full of doubt. Moving from my comfortable world of grade 2 with a curriculum I loved terrified me. I was a grade two teacher for many years. I Love the grade two curriculum and I loved the fact that I knew the curriculum like the back of my hand. I could make connections and create tasks that hit every part of the curriculum plus more. I liked the comfort and confidence that came from the ease of teaching the same grade for many years. Not only was I going to teach a new grade, but it was 5/6 split. Two new curriculums, plus the pressure of PAT’s at the end of the year. What was I thinking when I said yes!
Now I was being asked to take a risk, be uncomfortable, do something hard.
I was asked to move out of my comfort zone, to challenge my thinking, something I ask my students to do everyday and yet it terrified me.
Then I stepped back and thought as teachers we expect things from our students, but are we willing to do the same things in our practice? Everyday I ask my students to take risks but why was it so hard for me to do the same thing?
If I want my students to be brave, to do things that are difficult and challenge their own thinking, then I too need to be willing to do the same.
It is now 3 months into grade 5/6. I am happy I made the move but it has definitely been a HUGE learning curve. Grade 5/6 is a whole new world…
It is hard, uncomfortable, exhausting and scary some days. I have been challenged in my thinking and pushed out of my comfort zone everyday (even writing this article challenges me to try something new, difficult and uncomfortable). Taking risks is hard but it is what I want my students to see me as, someone willing to challenge their own thinking and practice and to learn it’s ok be uncomfortable, because that means I am learning something new too!

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#CBE182 Day 39: Heather Goodman, Principal, Louis Riel School

11/2/2016

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We Are Louis (@WeAreLouis): Building an Inclusive Culture Across Divisions and Programs.
It has been well documented throughout educational research that a key component to student success is feeling a sense of belonging at school. This is no surprise, as it aligns with everything we know about Maslow’s hierarchy. As Elizabeth Moje (2000) stated in her study of adolescent’s sense of belonging, “They just want to be a part of the story”.
At Louis Riel, the characters within our “story” are complex and diverse. We have 875 students ranging in age from 4 to 14, enrolled in one of two system wide programs: GATE (Gifted & Talented) and the CBE Science Program. Our students come from all over south Calgary with a vast diversity in learning needs, and for many, the only common denominator is the place they gather to learn. Along with the students who are divided amongst two programs, so are the teachers. Creating a culture of inclusivity among all members is vital. If we are going to create an authentic sense of Community and a place where student success thrives, working to diminish an “us versus them” culture between the two programs had to be a top priority for our Leadership team as we venture into the new school year. We want Louis to feel like home.
We decided to start the year with a project that would bring everyone together, regardless of grade, age and program; it was called, “The Best Part of Me”. Based on the book of student-written poetry, by Wendy Ewald, students in all grades were to identify what they felt was the best part of them. However, unlike the book, we encouraged students to look beyond their physical attributes. Students from kindergarten to junior high were encouraged to think about all the things they loved about themselves and find a way to represent that trait. Teachers across grades and programs worked alongside one another, utilizing the expertise of our CTF teachers to collaborate with students on how they could best represent their self-expression. The results were amazing. On our September Welcome Back Open House, the halls of Louis Riel were filled with stories, poems, drawings, sculptures, paintings, woodworking and songs. Some projects were not complete. It was the process, not the product that meant the most.
Although this project was a great way to start the new school year, we are mindful that this momentum has to continue. Creating opportunities for cross-program interactions has to be intentionally woven into our daily work. This is accomplished through scheduling both GATE and Science students together into French, Band, CTF, PE, Health, field trips, clubs and activities. Additionally, every Friday is #WeAreLouis Day, with staff and students proudly wearing their Louis colours. With over 20 extra curricular clubs offered to students throughout the grades, creating leadership and community building opportunities for student has become a priority.
For teachers, providing opportunity to collaborate and share between programs has also been essential. Under the umbrella of Design Thinking, Professional Learning Communities have been intentionally structured to provide all teachers with opportunities to share student work across grades and programs. This also enables teachers to learn in the company of their peers, sharing expertise and understanding of not only task design and assessment, but their expertise in understanding who are students are as learners.
The work of creating a unified community across a diverse population is not easily accomplished. However, by intentionally providing meaningful opportunities for our students and staff to share in their accomplishments, their struggles, their differences and their similarities, we are taking the first steps in building a community of success for all learners. #WeAreLouis.

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#CBE182 Day 51: Evan, Annie, Sunny, Nico and Jinkoh, Students, Louis Riel School

#CBE182 Day 50: Megan McClelland, Adapted Physical Education Teacher, Christine Meikle School

CBE182 Day 42: Natasha McKay, Learning Leader, Prince of Wales School

#CBE182 Day 39: Heather Goodman, Principal, Louis Riel School

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