Ottawa Catholic SB 2013-14

This year, we hope to continue to build capacity across OCSB and support 70 elementary teachers in their mindful implementation of technology to support and monitor student thinking, assessment and learning.  We have invited teacher representation within each family of school and within each panel (Primary, Junior, French, English and Resource) and plan to dig deeper with a smaller group of  30 host teachers across our board.  Our Vision and implementation model (represented in a visual chart below) will foster differentiated support and professional learning opportunities by offering a variety of venues for professional development including: Google + Community, Face-to-face Networking Sessions, Professional Learning Networks through Twitter, Google Hangouts, Student Lead Genius Centers, Edcamp, Edmodo groups for both students and teachers and Learning Fairs. We also hope to invite  the 30 Host teachers to facilitate job- embedded classroom observations for teachers who self identify themselves as wanting support or opportunities to collaborate with other teachers with like interests or needs. We also plan to infuse a layer of pedagogical documentation into other networks next year where teachers will have an opportunity to explore “triangulation of evidence” using technology as a supporting role. The core group of Learning Connections Group will also be called upon within their own family of schools to support school -based PLCs and other Professional Development opportunities through CODE, MISA or OECTA grants, when appropriate and available.

Our Inquiry Question/Intention: IF teachers use instructional strategies & tools that facilitate student collaborative inquiry and rich learning opportunities across all curriculum areas, THEN, students will be able to construct, clarify, and extend meaning about the big ideas and communicate their thinking in a variety of ways through their use of digital tools and resources.

Teachers in the Learning Connections Initiative will be offered opportunities to co-plan, co-teach and co-debrief throughout the  year using a variety of platforms and tools to facilitate that process.  We will also be capturing  and sharing the learning journey through our use of a Professional Learning Cycle Template we adapted to highlight the process.

 Ottawa Catholic SB - LC Project 2013-2014 Video

Professional Learning Program:

We really enjoy and appreciate the opportunities for our Learning Connections Team to collaborate with other districts. The face to face sessions in the fall and Spring are great sources of inspiration and support to our team. We hope that we are provided with the opportunity to participate in those sessions again next year! We also appreciate the monthly “Check ins” via WebX and appreciate the sharing sessions that are facilitated by each district on-line with Anita’s guidance. We hope to access the Video library resources housed on the LC site next year. We will also keep our eye on upcoming webinars and send the information to our LC teachers should they be interested in participating.