"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn" Benjamin Franklin I love this quote. Somehow, great teachers have always understood the value of engaging students in learning. As an AISI Researcher, I have the opportunity to meet and work with many of you and the pleasure of experiencing first hand the way you and your schools are working to "involve" your students. As a teacher "fresh" out of the classroom, I know that I was so busy working to meet the diverse needs of my students, I seldom had or took the opportunity to "look up" and see the great ways other teachers in my school and across the division were involving or engaging "kids" in their learning. I would like to use my blog posts to share samples of the "gems" we discover as we work to increase student engagement in classrooms across the division. Enjoy! Get the Body and the Brain Moving ... Ongoing research supports the belief that movement is essential to learning. Dunstable students and staff "kick start" their day in a yoga session led by James McKenna! connections ... Michelle Ruttan from WES combined art and math outcomes to help students connect 2D shapes to the real world! Using and storing personal whiteboards ... The use of personal whiteboards is a great strategy to ensure all students do "the thinking." Instead of posing a question, waiting for hands up, and then asking one or two students to share their answers, pose the question and have students illustrate, write, or calculate their answers on white boards. Check out how Laurie Brinsky from BES stores whiteboards. I wish I had thought of this!
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Bonjour Montréal! Muriel Lafitte, Krystan Properzi, Margaret Benham, Amber Spearin, Caroline Borduzac, Annette Sweeney La semaine dernière six enseignantes de nos écoles d'immersions ont fait le voyage pour visiter la belle province. Cette année, le congrès ACPI s'est déroulé à Montréal. Notre séjour était rempli d'expériences positives et de moments d'apprentissage. Nous avons eu l'occasion de collaborer entre nous et avec nos pairs de partout dans le pays. Last week six teachers from our immersion schools made ââthe trip to visit âLa belle province.â This year's ACPI conference was held in Montreal. Our stay was filled with positive experiences and learning opportunities. We had the chance to collaborate together and with our peers from around the country. Nous avons tous eu beaucoup de plaisir à magasiner pour le IMC. Les nouvelles ressources achetées au congrès seront disponibles sous peu pour tous les enseignants en immersion. We had a great time shopping for French resources for IMC. The new resources will be available shortly for all French Immersion teachers. How can we support struggling students in our immersion program? When we are concerned about how a student is performing in the French Immersion program we should consider the following steps. 1. Gather all the evidence This process will include gathering all samples of students work, formal testing such as current reading levels and performance assessments. It may also include observations by the teacher as to the behaviors observed in the class and during transition times. 2. Try new strategies Once you have identified the student`s specific difficulties, it is time to try different strategies to help the student meet their educational needs. This is a great time to try some differentiated instruction strategies. Find innovative ways of meeting the needs in their classrooms so that all students may benefit from learning French. During this time, you should continue to collect evidence of studentsâ progress and work samples. This will help you determine if the new strategies have helped the student. 3. The Learning Team If you decide that specialized assessment is needed it is a good idea to hold a meeting with key players that will form a learning team. This team will include the parents and other special education personnel in your school. The parents will need to provide informed consent before any specialized assessment can be given. 4. Assessments If the student requires an assessment such as an IQ test, it is recommended that the studentâs first language be used to ensure the validity of the test. The other academic test can be done in French. 5. The Plan The last step is to develop an action plan with the learning team that will best address the studentâs needs. French Immersion classes are as diverse as any other classrooms. At times, students will need interventions and may require accommodations to meet their learning needs. By practicing inclusive education, we are giving equal opportunity to all students to be included in the program of their choice. Margaret Benham |
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AuthorsThis blog and resources website has been developed through the work of various AISI coaches in PHRD. The lead collaborative teachers for the 2015/2016 school year, Cheryl Frose, Christine Quong and Tammy Tkachuk will continue to update this site. If you have resources you would like to share or would like to contribute to the blog, please contact us. Archives
May 2016
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