"One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child."

—Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology

All children are motivated. However, not all children are motivated about that which we want them to be motivated. (The same is true for adults.) How, then, do we keep students in our classrooms motivated and engaged?
http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/minds_work.php


Learning ‘myths’ — or not
http://www.joannejacobs.com/2012/02/learning-myths-or-not/
First comes the “myth” that “Basic Facts Come Before Deep Learning.”
This one translates roughly as, “Students must do the boring stuff before they can do the interesting stuff.” Or, “Students must memorize before they can be allowed to think.” In truth, students are most likely to achieve long-term mastery of basic facts in the context of engaging, student-directed learning.


Alberta Mentoring Partnership—New Resources   The Alberta Mentoring Partnership is happy to announce that the following five new resources are available to all schools, communities and volunteer organizations:Creating Strength-Based Classrooms and Schools: A Practice Guide for Classrooms and Schools

• Strength-Based Mentoring: A Practice Guide for Mentors
• Strength-Based and Deficit-Based Concepts: A Comparison
• Strength-Based Community Mentoring: A Practice Guide for Organizations
• Strength-Based Community Mentoring: Workbook 

These resources, available through the Alberta Mentoring Partnership website, are based on the work done through the High School Completion Framework, involving Student Engagement and Positive Connections.

Smart Learning  - this week
Susan Close met with administrators on Wednesday. She is meeting with lead teachers today and tomorrow she will meet with SSF's from across the division.

Accountability is something that is left when responsibility has been subtracted. (Pasi Sahlberg)



February 17th will be our last Division Based Professional Learning Day for this school year. It is our hope that you will find the collaboration time with teachers across the division valuable.

Assessment cohort - WCHS 9:00 start  Tom Schimmer will speak in the morning and the afternoon will be spent with subject area groupings of teachers collaborating on assessment practices.

Galileo cohort - Division Office - 9:00 start -  Barb Martin will be leading the day.
Your session will be at Division Office with Barb Martin.  It will be 
from 9:00-3:30. Snacks will be provided but lunch will be on your own. 
In response to the feedback and requests from participants last time, 
the day will provide opportunity for teachers: 
1.  To view and discuss 1 or 2 examples of strong inquiry-based tasks 
and accompanying assessment practices through the lens of the Galileo 
Inquiry Rubric. 
2.  To present something that they have tried with their own classes 
since last time either in terms of an inquiry task or assessment 
strategy that they used and a sample or two of the resulting student 
work that emerged. The purpose will be to share our learnings and 
discoveries with a small group of colleagues in order to build our 
collective understanding about the types of tasks and activities that 
sponsor deep learning and student engagement. 
 This is  an opportunity for colleagues to come together and share some of the things that they've 
figured out with their own students about how to design effective learning tasks and assessment practices. It could also be a time when teachers can talk to colleagues and get ideas and suggestions about 
something that perhaps didn't go the way they expected.

Smart Learning cohort - DCS - 8:30 start - participants should have registered online with Lisa Golding by February 8th. Please check your Smart Learning Google group for more information.
Learning rounds will be taking place this week in the south and the north.
Feb .16: Smartlearning Learning Rounds* 
· Kindergarten:    EVE                 Anita Berekoff               Smartlearning in a Kindergarten Class 
  Gr.2-5               ERE                  Bev Krieger                   Math / Science *the* *SmartLearning-way* 
  Gr.2-5               ELD                  Judy Street                   Social Studies/ Independent reading* 
  Gr.6-12             HWP                 Tammy Renyard           LA and Math
Feb. 22: Susan Close works with administrators at Division Office
Feb. 23 Susan Close works with lead teachers at Division Office
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Assessment
Blog post - Myron Dueck 
“Take as long as you need…”   http://myrondueck.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/take-as-long-as-you-need/
..........as an educator who has taken on some non-traditional grading and assessment methods, I have never stated nor implied that one of my students can ‘take as long as he/she need’.   Rather, I have endevoured to put intervention systems in place to support learners who do not get work in.   For that matter, maybe I should try to allow a student whatever time they need, but perhaps not as much time as they want.  Even that may be questionable…


LearnAlberta.ca

Visit LearnAlberta.ca for digital learning and teachingresources that support Alberta's K–12 programs of study. Among the newest additions are the CBC News in Review video clips, available by search or through the Online Reference Centre. The French version, 90 jours en 60 minutes, is coming soon.

Google SketchUp Pro Coming Soon
The LearnAlberta.ca team is currently working on providing access for all Alberta schools to the Google SketchUp Pro three-dimensional (3D) modelling software. This software will be particularly helpful to students who are taking CTS Design Studies courses. 

CDX Automotive Courses Available to All Alberta Students
CDX Automotive online courses are now available to all Alberta students and teachers through a two-year licence agreement. Teacher guides for the online courses are available onLearnAlberta.ca (keyword search: CDX). To register for CDX online course material, contact Mark Murray, CDX learning consultant, at 1–877–984–6371.

Support for Mobile Devices
Many of the resources on LearnAlberta.ca are already mobile compatible, such as our wide range of videos. Did you know there are over 3500 videos available through LearnAlberta.ca? .

Math information to share with parents

Personal strategies and formal algorithms
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/docs/math-personalstrategies.pdf
Why is my child doing problem solving in math?
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/docs/math-problemsolving.pdf

Great Math website
http://www.peterliljedahl.com/teachers/numeracy-tasks
… efforts to intensify attention to the traditional mathematics curriculum do not necessarily lead to increased competency with quantitative data and numbers. While perhaps surprising to many in the public, this conclusion follows from a simple recognition—that is, unlike mathematics, numeracy does not so much lead upwards in an ascending pursuit of abstraction as it moves outward toward an ever richer engagement with life’s diverse contexts and situations.

- Robert Orrill

Image Credit
http://api.ning.com/files/rGuDVl2DcHsAI*efLv4WYQ*f-ZCiSOcTQw4hO4wQMBm8wcqRV4J2eNSV7ifNcyUJ/Accountability.gif

ASSESSMENT

Principles of assessment Browse this article:

1. 1. Introduction
2. 2. Supporting learning
3. 3. Learner engagement
4. 4. Ensuring appropriate support

Languages Update  - Language Teacher Bursaries
Are you a teacher of French and/or international languages, or a teacher or an instructor of First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) languages in an Alberta school? Are you planning professional development next summer to enhance your second language skills through a summer immersion, and/or to advance your language teaching skills? If so, you may be eligible to apply for the following bursary opportunities:Language Teacher Bursary – Alberta certificated teachers of languages other than English planning to take a summer program abroad in a language immersion/language teaching methodology other than English may be interested in the Language Teacher Bursary Program.  (Note: Individuals who have not received these bursaries within the last five years may apply.) Each year, 10 Alberta teachers are awarded a Language Teacher Bursary.

• Language Bursary for Teaching FNMI Languages – Elders/teachers/instructors of FNMI languages in grades 1–12 who plan to take a credit course at a Canadian university focusing on language, culture and/or pedagogical development, e.g., Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute (CILLDI), may be interested in the Language Bursary Program for Teaching FNMI Languages. Each year, two bursaries are available for teachers/instructors of FNMI languages.

The application deadline for both of these bursaries is February 10, 2012.

Math information for parents
What are manipulatives?
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/docs/math-manipulatives.pdf
What are “mental mathematics”?
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/docs/math-mental.pdf
What is number sense?
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/docs/math-numbersense.pdf

Honoring Informal Learning
http://www.transleadership.net/?p=1474

This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.

http://askatechteacher.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/math.jpg
Twenty Twitter Hashtags every teacher should know about:
http://edudemic.com/2012/01/20-hashtags/

MATH
We had a great week with Trevor Calkins . Trevor has a website http://poweroften.ca/index.php?option=com_jomtube&view=video&id=124 which is a great resource for all math teachers. Please be sure to share this with all your teachers. There is a parent resource on this website as well.

In working with math teachers from grade 4-9 the concern of students not having a good sense of number keeps coming up.  Some thoughts to have conversations with staff about:

• Should students be exploring numbers everyday in our classes?
• Is it memorization or knowing the pattern?
• Should students going into grade 4  know all their facts with some automaticity? "Automaticity is the ability to effortlessly complete a task without thinking about it. When the brain recognizes a familiar task, such as computing a math fact, it automatically processes the information and applies what it has previously learned. This reduces the demand on memory and allows for higher order thinking. Automaticity of basic math facts is critical for success in mathematics."  Diana Dell
  

ASSESSMENT
Involving students in the assessment process
Calgary Board of Education webpage
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/eela-assessment.asp



English as a Second Language (ESL)Alberta K–12 ESL Proficiency Benchmarks Speaking Videos
Videos illustrating the language used by English language learners in the classroom for grades 4–6, 7–9 and 10–12 are now available through the Alberta K–12 ESL Proficiency Benchmarks by selecting the Videos tab. These videos demonstrate how English language learners at different proficiency levels can successfully participate in language-rich, common learning activities in the classroom and then express their understanding of curricular topics by using language at their own proficiency level. The videos provide models for how teachers can pay attention to aspects of language used by students and then assess students' speaking proficiency using the Alberta K–12 ESL Proficiency Benchmarks.

A total of 20 videos have been developed. Two videos provide general information on the Alberta K–12 ESL Proficiency Benchmarks and how they can be used to assess language proficiency. As well, each grade level division (grades 4–6, 7–9 and 10–12) has a series of six videos, including:

• an overview video that sets the context for the other five videos in the series 
• five videos, each of which includes an interview with a student at one of the five proficiency levels in which the student speaks about what he or she has learned. The interview portion of each video is followed by a teacher analysis of the student's proficiency level.   

Videos for Kindergarten and grades 1–3 are in development.For more information, contact Mike Ettrich at 780–644–8195. To be connected toll-free inside Alberta, dial 310–0000.

Search for authorized ESL resources.

Math information for parents

Why is my child using a calculator in elementary
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/docs/math-calculatormyths.pdf
Why is my child talking so much during math?
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/docs/math-communication.pdf
How can literature support mathematics?
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/docs/math-literature.pdf

Teacher Created Lessons for Math - Inquiry focus  K-7 - click on teacher created lessons
http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-21century/math-resources.asp