CAREER AND TECHNOLOGY CENTRE
- Libraries are called Learning Commons (change in the structure of a library)
Rene Martin
- Librarian or learning commons must have a masters degree.
- Library assistants - no official training
- The Learning Common is now a space that you come in to create. It's no longer a quiet space for individual study. It is a place for cross-curricular study.
- It is a more flexible space. There are less books in high school, rather there is more focus on online resources. More of a relaxed feel - couches, round tables etc.
- Rene said it would be interesting to look at the literacy rates of people as a result of fewer books
- They have more of a virtual element and are ensuring they have more of a social presence where they can have 24/7 access, online data base and tweeting.
It was such a coincidence that one of our Librarians had commented on a post we had written and asked about the School Library system in Calgary and the first Learning Specialist we met at the CTC was a Librarian! This ended up being a theme for the day.
- There are some 'Learning Commons' ( new North American term for Libraries) where students can self checkout books. They also promote having people in there for students to come and ask questions, help with homework tasks and peer tutoring.
- Experimenting with promoting the importance of servicing creativity.
- Librarians are trained researchers. Rene believes this has been forgotten. They are now working on their skill set so they are more in tune with the needs of students today.
- A number of schools no longer have a traditional librarian presence.
- Librarians help to find guest speakers, experts in certain fields to help teachers teach a unit of work.
- Digital Depository - resources that teachers can modify and contribute to in order to share.
TECHNOLOGY.
- Due to the demands of wireless networks, the main technology approach is BYOD ( Bring Your Own Device)
- We did see the use of iPad ships/pods, which were linked with the mother ship (similar to laptop trolleys). They can then effectively be synced with the mother iPad and iTunes.
- The reasoning for iPads were their effectiveness and the availability of 380 apps that are currently available
- Investigation into other devices have occurred but are not considered as user friendly or serve the purpose with their app system. Chrome books require constant internet and this was not feasible with the current infrastructure and ongoing demands.
WELLNESS PROGRAM ( Nadeen Halls)
- Due to the increase in mental health and wellness issues, the Calgary Board of Education are working on two Wellness projects. Currently, there are 5 schools that are trialling the projects.
- The CBE are Looking at the Australian/ New Zealand - Health and PE program. They are wanting to change their PE course to incorporate more Health topics in the new curriculum. They are wanting to call this program - Wellbeing.
- PE in the CBE is currently taught separately to Health (which is of concern, hence the
trial). Wellness in the curriculum is said to have a more holistic approach.
- The focus of PE is to a more movement based approach, including TGFU (Total Games For Understanding) This is instead of a sports based approach (to occur at all year levels).
- Due to an increase in technology use during breaks, research has shown there is too much screen time and too little activity time. This then affects social wellbeing, as face to face conversation is reduced as well as the emotional wellbeing of students showing a lack of resilience to deal with cyber issues.
Rene Martin
- Librarian or learning commons must have a masters degree.
- Library assistants - no official training
- The Learning Common is now a space that you come in to create. It's no longer a quiet space for individual study. It is a place for cross-curricular study.
- It is a more flexible space. There are less books in high school, rather there is more focus on online resources. More of a relaxed feel - couches, round tables etc.
- Rene said it would be interesting to look at the literacy rates of people as a result of fewer books
- They have more of a virtual element and are ensuring they have more of a social presence where they can have 24/7 access, online data base and tweeting.
It was such a coincidence that one of our Librarians had commented on a post we had written and asked about the School Library system in Calgary and the first Learning Specialist we met at the CTC was a Librarian! This ended up being a theme for the day.
- There are some 'Learning Commons' ( new North American term for Libraries) where students can self checkout books. They also promote having people in there for students to come and ask questions, help with homework tasks and peer tutoring.
- Experimenting with promoting the importance of servicing creativity.
- Librarians are trained researchers. Rene believes this has been forgotten. They are now working on their skill set so they are more in tune with the needs of students today.
- A number of schools no longer have a traditional librarian presence.
- Librarians help to find guest speakers, experts in certain fields to help teachers teach a unit of work.
- Digital Depository - resources that teachers can modify and contribute to in order to share.
TECHNOLOGY.
- Due to the demands of wireless networks, the main technology approach is BYOD ( Bring Your Own Device)
- We did see the use of iPad ships/pods, which were linked with the mother ship (similar to laptop trolleys). They can then effectively be synced with the mother iPad and iTunes.
- The reasoning for iPads were their effectiveness and the availability of 380 apps that are currently available
- Investigation into other devices have occurred but are not considered as user friendly or serve the purpose with their app system. Chrome books require constant internet and this was not feasible with the current infrastructure and ongoing demands.
WELLNESS PROGRAM ( Nadeen Halls)
- Due to the increase in mental health and wellness issues, the Calgary Board of Education are working on two Wellness projects. Currently, there are 5 schools that are trialling the projects.
- The CBE are Looking at the Australian/ New Zealand - Health and PE program. They are wanting to change their PE course to incorporate more Health topics in the new curriculum. They are wanting to call this program - Wellbeing.
- PE in the CBE is currently taught separately to Health (which is of concern, hence the
trial). Wellness in the curriculum is said to have a more holistic approach.
- The focus of PE is to a more movement based approach, including TGFU (Total Games For Understanding) This is instead of a sports based approach (to occur at all year levels).
- Due to an increase in technology use during breaks, research has shown there is too much screen time and too little activity time. This then affects social wellbeing, as face to face conversation is reduced as well as the emotional wellbeing of students showing a lack of resilience to deal with cyber issues.
- The Wellness concept looks at the whole person and their emotional, physical, intellectual, spiritual and social skills.
- Elementary schools are expected to promote 10 minutes x 3 of DPA (Daily physical activity) as well as their HPE lesson (50-80mins per day).
- The CBE website under Health Support uses a lot of Nadeen's work and includes; guiding documents, resilience, coping strategies and handling emotional strategies.
- A big focus is to promote Wellbeing throughout the whole curriculum (along the lines of whole school Literacy and Numeracy) not just in PE. For example - English topics are encouraged to focus on areas of wellbeing - addressing emotional, spiritual, physical, intellectual and social skills. e.g - focussing on texts with bi- sexuals or an author who is gay. Look at 'surfacing' the topic to generate discussion.
- English and Arts teachers are asked to focus on the question - What does it mean to be 'well'? When looking at set texts, they can being to formalise questions that look at
expression etc.
- Teachers are encouraged to consider how they can address social and emotional issues through the study of literature. By choosing texts, which address themes / issues will help promote conversations with students around the importance of well-being and how this impacts people's lives.
- A phrase often used - "What does it mean to thrive and not just survive?"
- Two books were used to guide the research on wellness:
- 'Spark' - John Ratey - Based on research showing how exercise can positively impact brain function and mental health.
'Physical Literacy' - Margaret Whitehead - What is physical Literacy? What are the benefits of being physically literate?
- Geography books used are the book 'Happy' , the Happiness Ted talk and the
documentary Happiness.
- Elementary schools are expected to promote 10 minutes x 3 of DPA (Daily physical activity) as well as their HPE lesson (50-80mins per day).
- The CBE website under Health Support uses a lot of Nadeen's work and includes; guiding documents, resilience, coping strategies and handling emotional strategies.
- A big focus is to promote Wellbeing throughout the whole curriculum (along the lines of whole school Literacy and Numeracy) not just in PE. For example - English topics are encouraged to focus on areas of wellbeing - addressing emotional, spiritual, physical, intellectual and social skills. e.g - focussing on texts with bi- sexuals or an author who is gay. Look at 'surfacing' the topic to generate discussion.
- English and Arts teachers are asked to focus on the question - What does it mean to be 'well'? When looking at set texts, they can being to formalise questions that look at
expression etc.
- Teachers are encouraged to consider how they can address social and emotional issues through the study of literature. By choosing texts, which address themes / issues will help promote conversations with students around the importance of well-being and how this impacts people's lives.
- A phrase often used - "What does it mean to thrive and not just survive?"
- Two books were used to guide the research on wellness:
- 'Spark' - John Ratey - Based on research showing how exercise can positively impact brain function and mental health.
'Physical Literacy' - Margaret Whitehead - What is physical Literacy? What are the benefits of being physically literate?
- Geography books used are the book 'Happy' , the Happiness Ted talk and the
documentary Happiness.
Our Career and Technology specialists with three Loxtonites.
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