In the Loop – June 20, 2024

June 20, 2024

KEY RESOURCES IN LANGLEY

HONOURING TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

June is National Indigenous History Month
A reminder that June is National Indigenous History Month – below are some links to some fabulous Indigenous resources for teachers as they wrap up the school year as well as a link to a list of excellent indigenous books to choose from for your own summer reading.

  • National Indigenous History Month offers access to a learning portal with various Canadian resources to learn about Indigenous history, languages, cultures, and experiences. Much of the learning material was created or co-created by Indigenous Peoples.
  • 35 books to read for National Indigenous Month is a list of books by First Nations, Métis and Inuit authors. A wonderful list with succinct summaries of each offering, it’s a great resource to help you choose some of your summer reading selections.

DISTRICT PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
To see our full calendar of offerings, visit www.thinklangley.com

Ensouling Our Schools 2023-2024 with Len Pierre | Think Langley On-Demand website
“Teach us love, compassion, and honour that we may heal the earth and heal each other.”
– Ojibwe Prayer

As part of the Langley School District’s continuing work around Truth and Reconciliation and Ensouling our Schools, over the last year, we had the good fortune of having Len Pierre provide us with an incredible speaker series that touched on topics such as reconciliation, embedding Indigenous cultural safety into our lives and schools, two-eyed seeing, and Indigenous teachings on wellness. This four-part series is a must-watch for any district staff and is available for all staff to access at any time through our Think Langley website (see link above).

Part 1: The Path to Reconciliation | Register

Part 2: Embedding Indigenous Cultural Safety and Humility into Our Schools | Register

Part 3: Introduction to Two-Eyed Seeing: Indigenous Cultural Safety Practices | Register

Part 4: The Teachings of Wellness | Register

Provincial Pro-D Day | Friday October 25, 2024
While it may seem like a long way off, it is never too early to start thinking about options for the Provincial Pro-D Day next October.  The Langley School District will be hosting two Professional Development Conferences here in Langley on Friday October 25 – see below for more details:

  • NEW! Connecting the Pieces: The Early Years Conference | October 25, 2024 I Register
    Connecting the Pieces: Pre-K and Kindergarten Conference is our annual conference dedicated to professional development for kindergarten teachers and early childhood educators.
    Our workshop line-up includes local and internationally recognized experts selected to share their innovative and practical ideas for working with young learners. Featured Speaker Raffi!
  • Langley Middle School Literacy Conference | Save the Date | October 25, 2024
    We are excited to be hosting the first ever Langley Middle School Literacy Conference at Yorkson Creek Middle School on the Provincial Pro-D Day on Friday October 25!  This will be an opportunity for Middle school teachers from around the district to gather together and share best classroom practices, strategies, resources, supports and intervention strategies for middle school learners.  Our keynote speaker will be Robin Bright, Professor at the University of Lethbridge and author of “Sometimes Reading is Hard.”  Registration and more information will be released when schools reopen in September.

EXTERNAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Register for the First Peoples Summer Learning Institute | Aug 27-29, 2024
Registration is now open until August 19 for the Learning First Peoples Summer Institute August 27-29 in downtown Vancouver. Coordinated by the First Nations Education Steering Committee and First Nations Schools Association, the institute is designed to support educators to bring quality, authentic First Peoples teaching and learning into B.C. Classrooms. Email info@fnesc.ca if you have questions.
Workshops:

  • 27: English First Peoples Gr. 10-12 Teacher Resource Guide
  • 28: BC First Peoples 12 Teacher Resource Guide
  • 29, Math & Science First Peoples Teacher Resource Guides

UBC Faculty of Education Pro-D Opportunities:

  • TELP (Transformative Educational Leadership program) | Start Date: October 2024 | Application Deadline: July 14, 2024
    Join the Transformational Educational Leadership Program (TELP) and be part of a community dedicated to driving significant changes in the educational system as they celebrate a decade of impactful leadership! TELP is a one-year, cohort-based program for K-12 professionals and those in related fields who are eager to lead system-wide educational transformations.
  • Assessment for Equity online program | Start Date: October 2024 | Application Deadline: September 15, 2024
    Discover the transformative power of assessment for learning (AFL) through a culturally diverse lens! This fully online program invites educators to explore how formative assessment principles transcend cultural boundaries. Gain insights into designing instructional strategies that truly connect with every learner in the multicultural classrooms.
  • Masters of Educational Technology Program | Start Date: January 2
    The Master of Educational Technology (MET) program equips professionals with the expertise to harness and understand digital learning technologies. This fully online graduate program offers a unique opportunity to study and engage in Technology-supported instruction and planning and management of learning technologies and eLearning. Design and development of digital learning technologies and environments will also be covered, as well as digital literacy and digital culture in formal and informal learning contexts.

UBC Bursaries available for French Language Educators this summer | More info
Bursaries are still available for teachers wanting to practice their French language skills this summer. UBC is offering in-person and online French Summer Institutes with three different options: one week, two weeks, or three weeks. Participants will take part in authentic Francophone experiences and will focus on conversation and culture.

French Summer Camps for Kids, Teens & Adults | Alliance Francaise Vancouver | Kids & Teens | Adults Summer camps are starting soon, with a new session every two weeks! Register your children now, there are still a few spots available. We also offer summer courses for adults in July and August, so take advantage of the summer to learn French!

CAfLN Alberta Conference 2024 – Assessment as Communication | Oct 3-5, 2024 | More info
This fall conference is taking place in Canmore, Alberta. The organizers are incredibly excited to be working with  Alberta Assessment Consortium (AAC) and the Calgary Regional Consortium (CRC)
The CAfLN Alberta Assessment Conference will draw from assessment experts nationwide! Engage with keynote speakers, including Damian Cooper, Lorna Earl, Ken O’Connor, and Katie White. Dive into breakout sessions, led by local and national classroom assessment experts, exploring diverse assessment topics including sessions on the conference theme ‘Assessment as Communication: Let’s Talk’.

Provincial Pro-D Day | Friday October 25, 2024
While it may seems like a long ways off, it is never too early to start thinking about options for the Provincial Pro-D Day next October.  There are a number of great opportunities for professional learning available in the fall – some where registration is already open, and others which would be to save the date and mark your calendars – see the options below:

  • 63rd Northwest Mathematics Conference – October 24-26, 2024 | Register
    The Northwest Mathematics Association will be hosting their annual conference in Whistler on October 24-26, 2024.  This year’s theme is “Landscapes for Learning Mathematics” and the organizing team has put together a very impressive list of presenters including Joanne Archibald, Howie Hua, Dr, Peter Liljedahl and Dr. Mariam Small. As well, the full schedule with over 90 breakout sessions is now up on their website and registration is now open.
  • Classrooms to Communities: Rooted in Relationship | Provincial Conference Oct 25-26, 2024 | More info
    Based in British Columbia, Canada, the C2C Education Network connects classrooms and communities across the province to grow collaboration, leadership and mentorship capacity for place-based education and environmental literacy. Join us in October for this transformative 2-day professional development event featuring engaging speakers, workshops, networking and celebrations on Friday, Oct. 25 and immersive, community-based field experiences around the Metro Vancouver region on Saturday, Oct. 26.

POPEY Presents: Matt Glover online writing series | More info
POPEY is presenting a learning opportunity for next year with their guest presenter Matt Glover, based on work from his newest book: How to Become a Better Writing Teacher: Supporting Engagement, Composition, and Quality in Student Writers. There’s a one-page overview, followed by four additional pages which each outline a detailed descriptor for all of the sessions. These four after-school sessions are FREE to BC primary educators and registration is now open!

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STAFF/STUDENTS/CLASSES

An Invitation to OTOSAN: A story about love beyond words | In Theatre February 2025 | More info
2024/25 educators and classes are invited to attend a captivating and enriching new theatre for young audiences show titled Otosan, playing in February 2025 at Gateway Theatre. This play is A Little Onion Puppet Co. production, created by Vancouver-based artists Shizuka Kai, Randi Edmundson, and Jess Amy Shead, and presented by Gateway Theatre. Join Shizu and her Otosan (father in Japanese), as they traverse through snowy landscapes and tackle challenges together, eventually learning how to communicate their love.

Best Buy Opportunity | Teen Tech for Tomorrow | Deadline June 28, 2024

  • Teen Tech Grants | More info
    Teen Tech Grants are available for Canadian public secondary schools to help introduce or improve tech for students from Grades 8 to 12 (2nd year Secondary to 1st year Cégep). All Teen Tech Grant recipients will receive grants of up to $10,000 and become members of our new Teen Tech Network, a national community of teens and schools who can collaborate on projects and compete for prizes and technology.
  • Teen Tech Teams | More info
    Our new Teen Tech Teams program will provide funding for high school level robotics teams for materials and equipment to attend a robotics competition in the 2024/25 season. We’re proud to partner with Alienware to provide each winning team with a $5,000 grant and one Alienware laptop by Dell.

TECH TIPS

Digital Year End File Clean-up. Teachers and students need to take some time to manage their files and download files from cloud spaces. This is an important yearend habit that will save students future frustrations when trying to find a file and will prepare teachers for a fresh digital start in September.

Student Images:

  • For Teacher Safety: To maintain FOIPPA protocols, teachers should not have student photos on their personal devices (eg. Phone). If you do have student photos on your device,  go through your phone and delete the student photos that are no longer needed. If there are student photos that are needed, upload them to the school Team. There should be no student photos on your device when you go to leave for summer (this is for your own safety!).

Microsoft Class Teams:

  • Students should save items from the Team into their OneDrive
  • Teacher: should remove students from the Class Team so they do not continue to communicate through over the summer when the teacher may not be seeing the communications
  • Teachers should archive the team:  Archiving a Class Team  (Web view)

Book Creator:

  • Students/Families at home: Should download on to their family device and Book Creator books their child created by a date set by the teacher. Downloading a Book Creator Book: Downloading a Book Creator Book  (Web view)
  • Teachers: Should tidy up their book creator libraries deleting practice books and student books once they have downloaded them at home.

OneDrive:

iPads:

  • Teachers (or student leaders monitored by teachers), could go through the iPads, deleting photos from the Photo app.

Design/ADST Competition grades 4-12. win a 3D printer:

  • We (SkilledTradesBC) would like to share an immersive hands-on Maker Mini Golf project on behalf of UBC’s Edith Lando Virtual Learning Centre and crafted by Nate Lott, a visionary Tech Ed teacher from School District 20 – Kootenay-Columbia. According to Nate, students will dive into the world of real-world problem-solving as they embark on creating their very own mini golf course. Participants will engage in planning a model of a mini golf course while honing essential trade-focused skills.
  • Once designs are complete, students will have a chance to showcase their work to the world and win a 3D printer for their classroom! Whether teachers guide students through a comprehensive slide set, or students tackle the project independently, the Maker Mini Golf project promises an exciting journey of learning and discovery.
    • Open to Grades 4-12 students. See attached poster and → visit the website for more details.
    • For more information about the project, please contact Nate Lott at nlott@sd20.bc.ca.
    • Submissions to win a 3D printer will be accepted up to June 30th, 2024 (this date is confirmed).

 

Instructional Services | #Think35

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