May 30, 2024

KEY RESOURCES IN LANGLEY

• Clickable PDF to Key Resources in Langley
• Instructional Services Website: For all your district-vetted resources K-12!  Check it out!
• Aboriginal Resources vetted by the District
• TCS Sites (TCS SS-grade 3, 4-8, Secondary): Key resources are still being placed in these Teams. If you need access to one of these Teams, please email dzurbuchenjonker@sd35.bc.ca
• District Learning Commons is a lending library of classroom and teaching resources available to all school staff in the Langley School District. All of our items are available to view and book online through the Insignia Library system. Find instructions, an area to check out new resources, request new resources and report lost or damages kits here: https://sway.office.com/qbfcZW739otNIwLe?ref=Link
  We deliver and pick up all the items you request through district mail twice per week (check with your admin assistant to see which days your deliveries are on).

HONOURING TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

June is National Indigenous History Month | More info
June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada. This is an important month for all of us to recognize and celebrate the rich history, heritage, resilience and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Metis in Canada.  The Government of Canada has an entire website devoted to Indigenous History Month which includes access to learning resources, information about the ongoing Reconciliation journey in Canada and information about National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21.  You can access the website at the link above.

The world’s first Digital Indigenous Sport Gallery | BC Sports Hall of Fame | More info
The world’s first fully immersive Digital Indigenous Sport Gallery is now live. The digital experience is now live for the world to experience with the 360-degree virtual reality tour of the gallery, featuring Indigenous athlete interviews, 3D captured artifacts, and additional interactive components.

4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning 2024-2025 Course | More info
The BC Outdoor Learning School in partnership with over 50 non-profit organizations, is offering this course to support participants in deepening their understanding of Indigenous history, knowledge and perspectives while strengthening connections with the local Land and supporting more respectful, reciprocal relationships.
This course, designed for school system staff, runs from October to May. All participants receive:

1. Access to Self-paced Learning Modules (30 mins/month)
2. Monthly Virtual Gatherings with Indigenous Presenters (1 hour/month)
3. Access to the Presentation Recordings
4. $25 towards excellent Indigenous Learning Resources
5. A Certificate of Completion

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

More Than Just Speech to Text and AAC: Technology for Digital Equity, Engagement, and Opportunity with Vicky Kidd I Register
Learn how to enhance your use of technology to plan and program for ALL students. This session looks at the technology competencies from BC’s Digital Literacy Framework and introduces two models for designing, implementing, and evaluating learning experiences. It is through creative and mindful integration of technology into our practice that we can support, equip, and inspire today’s and tomorrow’s students.

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:

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

Literacy. Language and Learning Graduate Diploma – Vancouver Island University | More info
Vancouver Island University is offering teachers an online opportunity to upgrade their qualifications and expertise in current research-evidence practices in all areas involving supporting students’ literacy development at the K-12 level. Teachers can register for single courses (new courses starting July 2024) or they can enroll to complete the full program; a new cohort will also start July 2024. This Graduate Diploma offers the opportunity for teachers to ladder into a Master’s degree in Leadership or Special Education, if they wish. Please see the attached flyer for more details.

63rd Northwest Mathematics Conference – October 24-26, 2024 | Register
It is not too early to think about the Provincial Professional Day in October 2024!  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. Registration is now open on their website.

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.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR STAFF/STUDENTS/CLASSES

“Sharing Stories” – Celebrating Arts Education | Thursday June 6 | More info
All Arts Educators from across the Langley School District are invited to gather and reflect on this past year and look ahead to next year. This is a ‘come when you can and stay as long as you can’ event for K-12 teachers from all art disciplines. The event takes place in the Theatre at Walnut Grove Secondary on Thursday June 6 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm.  Please RSVP to Jill Steacy at jsteacy@sd35.bc.ca and please see the flyer below for more information.

Best Buy 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.   All Teen Tech Grant recipients will receive grants of up to $10,000 and become members of Best Buy’s new Teen Tech Network, a national community of teens and schools who can collaborate on projects and compete for prizes and technology. For more information and how to apply, check out the link above.

Discovery Farm Tours at Academy Farms – K to 12 | More info
Academy Farms is a local and one-of-a-kind farm that has been operating in the Township of Langley since 2021. In addition to raising unique animals such as bison and water buffalo, the farm also takes great pride in their innovative, sustainable and modern approach to agriculture.  Academy Farms is now offering Discovery Farm Tours for classes at all grade levels – K to 12 – that is directly linked to the provincial curriculum. To learn more about the Tours and what is available as well as for information on the pre and post tour resources available to teachers, please check out the full Academy Farms brochure found at the link above.

PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL READINGS AND RESOURCES

Three Instructional Shifts to Facilitate Student-Led Learning | Article
This article from Catlin Tucker provides teachers with three simple strategies and instructional shifts which take some of the onus off teachers and shifts more of the responsibility for learning onto the students. By using these strategies to foster more student responsibility for learning, this also helps students build up their critical thinking and collaboration skills.

How Cell Phones are Killing Our Kids and What We Can Do About It | Article
This is a must read for all educators and parents!  Built off an interview with social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, the article focuses on Haidt’s research and the negative social and emotional impacts that providing cell phones to our youth at an extremely young age is having on our kids and society.

TECH TIPS

For families: Media Smarts, a Canadian company, has created a resource for families that schools could share: Family Guide to TikTok

AI Tool Report: Our Report: Meta and Google are in talks with major Hollywood studios to license their content to improve their AI video generation models, which can generate realistic scenes from text prompts.

Key Points:

• Google announced its new AI video generation tool—Veo—during its Google I/O conference last week, and Meta has been working on its own AI video model—Emu—since last year.
• Netflix and Disney don’t want to license their content but have “expressed interest” in some sort of collaboration, while Warner Brothers is willing “to license some of its content.”
• This comes after Google and Meta’s rival, OpenAI, had discussions with Hollywood execs, back in February, about the potential integration of its text-to-video model, Sora.

Why you should care:There’s a growing concern among Hollywood studios about how AI companies might use (and have used) their creative work without permission—infringing copyright laws—which was exacerbated this week, when actress Scarlett Johansson accused OpenAI of copying her voice for its “Sky” voice assistant in ChatGPT.

Quick Bits

• WhatsApp is testing an AI feature that enables users to generate a custom profile picture from a text description.
• Elon Musk’s AI start-up, xAI, is nearing the close of its funding round which will value the company at over $24B.
• Google’s AI Overview seems to be giving users inaccurate and dangerous responses.
• Microsoft’s new AI weather forecast feature has improved capabilities that give users real-time forecasts and highly accurate cloud and precipitation maps.