Reporting to Loxton High School Staff

Our priority, on returning to school, was to report back to staff as soon as possible, before our ideas and impressions became 'diluted' through incidental conversations or 'waned' through the immediate demands of starting a new term! This being our first day back for Term 2, it was heartening to hear that a significant number of our colleagues had followed our blog over the holiday period.

The plan was to condense our expansive series of blogs, to a 30minute 'snapshot' presentation, at the scheduled Monday afternoon Staff Meeting. Staff were given an individual sheet with the key focus areas listed; they were asked to highlight which areas they liked / or could see being applicable to our setting / or would like to discuss at greater length.

In order to gain an overall picture of which focus areas generated most interest amongst staff , dot charts were used to provide feedback for the entire group.

While we could have spoken for a lot longer, I think we achieved our goal of 'surfacing' the ideas we

discovered in Calgary and certainly gained valuable feedback on which ideas appealed most to our colleagues. The next step is to meet with our principal, John Tiver, to coordinate a 'plan of attack' to move forward on some of these targeted areas. Hopefully, conversations will continue in a more informal way and questions that have been raised on the individual feedback sheets can be addressed.

Working at Gate 27

Still maximising our time together, trying to coordinate our thoughts, what do we like? - big ticket items that need serious consideration and the little gems we don't want to forget!

Leaving Calgary

So here we are at  Calgary airport, all 'tagged up' and ready to move on to the next adventure. We have a couple hours to kill so there will be an opportunity to gather our thoughts in regard to how we will present our findings once arriving home. While we have certainly gained ideas that we think would work well in our system, we would like to present more of an overview to staff so that they can then make up their own minds. There is nothing worse than someone telling someone else what is good for them! A guaranteed way to put them off!

The hardest part will be narrowing / refining our rambling blog into a coherent and succinct report. Anyone out there who has been following and would like to indicate their 'nugget' / 'pearl'.......could help share in this process!! We are more than happy to make this an inclusive activity.

Easter will be a holiday for all three of us and believe me will not be feeling guilty! Tara and Skye are excited to be meeting up with 'English Jo' and I am keen to spend time with my sister, Lisa, in Cambria.

The blog will be in recess until we present our findings and then share the, hopefully positive and enthusiastic, response from staff within our school. It will be interesting to see what evolves as a result of this amazing opportunity. We three know it will be something we will never forget, our approach to education (mindset) has been impacted as a direct result of being immersed in the Calgary system. Loxton High School is a special place, we just hope we can  enhance our fine culture by adapting and learning from these experiences.

Special thanks to Colleen from The Calgary Board of Education who coordinated our visit and to all of the principals and staff who so willingly gave their time to ensure we gained a thorough insight into their system. We could not have asked for anything more and would love to return the favour if the opportunity arose. Canadian Educators are certainly a warm, generous and professional bunch who are very willing to share, for that we are most grateful.

Career and Technology Centre

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.

- 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. 

                          

Our Career and Technology specialists with three Loxtonites.

Robert Thirsk High School

The Robert Thirsk High School is named after the famous Canadian Astronaut. It is Calgary's newest school, having been recently opened in September 2013. The school started with 850 Yr 10 & 11 students, 850 in total but with a capacity of 1500. Their logo is 'The Comets'.

INTRODUCTION
- The school has been established to run a piloted flexibility program and look at high school re-design.
- The schools three focus areas are 'Personalising, Connecting and Thriving'.
- Selection processes - staff had to present what they could bring to the school, which was unique and how they would connect student learning to 'personalising, connecting and thriving.'
- Staff have a combination of skill sets.
- The school doesn't feel like they are doing anything radical, rather they are just able to pull ideas from a range of schooling environments and trial them in this new setting.
- They've had lots of successes, but their biggest challenge is to communication with the public - students 'get it' but parents are harder to convince!

      The Living Wall - this school also has a passion for plants / worm farms and other Ag Science.

SETTING OBSERVATIONS
- Community Learning Leaders - multi disciplinary. Work together in these groups on different ideas/ projects. This happens in Year 10. They meet with their learning faculties one a month, but in Community groups they meet once a week, focussing on student intervention or cross-curricular planning.
- Students are structured into community groups. They are named by colours. This is different from other schools.
- They only have 2 APs due to the size of the school and budget.
- Teachers are assigned a community and follow that community through until the end of Year 12. 
Once the kids go, they start back at the year level they started with.
- The teachers in a community come from all different subject areas. There are around 4-6 teachers in each community. These teachers are then divided into Connect Groups (Home Group), which meet on a Friday. This block rotates through e.g Friday lesson 1, then Friday lesson 2 etc.
- Students are of mixed ability in each class- no 10-1, 10- 2etc
- 2 programs for students with cognitive delay. Sometimes these students are incorporated into life style courses. at the community level staff are encouraged to modify etc. credit rescue approach - students work is accommodated or modified so they get a basic understanding of the course so they can get the credits.
- Learning Commons (Library) - physical and digital/ virtual hub. 8 entrances. Have a tech area where students can do activities such as tech conferencing.
- No streaming In English and Social Studies in Year 11 & 12. This does occur in Maths and Science from Year 11.
- Focus groups occur for an hour before lunch on Monday to Thursdays.  Students are able to access any teacher during Focus Group time. All students must be in a class with a teacher (in theory?!)
- Lessons are 70 minutes a day, except for Friday when lessons are 60 minutes.

ASSESSMENT
- Assessment in each subject is competencies based.
- Teachers write reports 4 times a year. They use common descriptors based on the competencies across the subjects rather than grades. They also have 2 parent/ teacher nights, mid semester after the reports have gone out. Parents go to the Connect teacher for the interview. Teachers provided the connect teacher with enough information from their subject to speak on their behalf.
- In a Maths test they promote the importance of self-reflection. Will indicate that there is an error in a certain area on the test, rather than point out the error. The process is then about error analysis.

Tom Baines Junior High

As a late addition to our schedule we decided we really should see a Junior High setting. Colleen was fantastic in arranging this visit to Tom Baines Junior High at short notice. We were very grateful to principal Rick Petrowitsch for fitting us in to his busy schedule.

SETTING OBSERVATIONS
- School has years 7-9
- 750 students, 35 teaching staff.
- Junior High timetable - 7 x 50 min lesson. Mid morning break - 9 mins. 2 more periods, then a 50 min lunch - this includes 25minutes inside and 25minutes outside. The cut off temperature for students going outside is -20C! We shared the opposite end of the spectrum of 40C as an outside cut off!
- No separate English or Social Studies lessons, this is combined and called Humanities.
- SMATH taught in year 7. This is a mixture of Science and Maths
- Used to have a policy of no mobile phones, however, considering the majority of students have a mobile phone they have experienced a shift in thinking. Now students are allowed to use them under the direction of the teacher.  They can also be used outside of the school building. If used inappropriately they are taken away. 1st time they would lose it for 24 hrs, 2nd time - 48hrs, after the 5th time the parent has to come in and get it. A personal item incident sheet is filled out if the phone is confiscated (also to ensure a student doesn't make false claims of damage).This form has to be signed by a parent.
- Average class sizes this year - 36. Next year they are making changes so the principal and AP will teach a line, so that the classes will start at 30 - most schools are talking about having to deal with budget cuts.
- During work period students can listen to music.
- There's one Assistant Principal and eight Learning Leaders responsible for individual faculties.

TECHNOLOGY
- Students bring own devices to school. They log in to the wireless network, however, the school struggles with the capacity.
- All desktops are Apple Macs. They are seen as easier to use and more user friendly. They also have a number of iPad pods.  They do not like Google Chrome.

ASSESSMENT & REPORTING
- Descriptors are used for reports. No grades. The principal doesn't like the connotations of grading.
- 2 reports per year - end of Jan and June.
- They use an online program called 'Home Logic' where teachers are constantly putting up student comments/ marks received for assessment tasks. Through this program teachers provide formative feedback to parents throughout each term.
- Parent/teacher interviews are student led conferences for core subjects. This is where students show 
their parents their learning on the day through completing a number of activities and showing them 
the work they have completed. This occurs 3 times a year. There are 3 families in the room at once. This ensures no personal interviews occur - choice subjects have drop in interviews. Parents are asked to check 'Home Logic' for information on how their student is going and if they want to book an interview with the teacher they can do so at another time.

THE LEARNING CENTRE
- Sheltered program for students with special needs.
- Used similarly to those in Calgary High Schools.
- Students on IPPs ( our NEPs) can study a course called the Learning Option Program, which has been designed by the school.
- Students can also bring their work from other lessons to get specific help identified in their individualised learning plans.
- It's timetabled in the option program / choice subjects. Core subjects are still taken in mainstream 
classes.
- Students who are 'falling through the cracks' can also access this class.
- Those with anxiety issues can drop in to the Learning Centre throughout the day, as long as it's part of their individualised program - try to identify a separate space in the room.
- The school is able to provide such a resource by increasing class numbers. 


LEARNING COMMONS (LIBRARY)
- Students scan own books out. Staff member scans in.
- 33 computers, plus 30 iPads available.
- Room for 2 classes.
- QR readers
- No food allowed.
- Removed the carpet and bought new furniture. Tables have wheels so students can reorganise them for group or individual study. Book shelves are also on wheels. Chair legs have 'tennis ball' covers to stop noise.
- Students don't have to be quiet. Student collaboration is encouraged.
- A flexible space.
- Reading corner with comfortable chairs.
- There's a 'thinking wall' for brainstorming ideas - a wall whiteboard. Wobble stools are located near the wall and plugs for recharging personal devices.
- Living wall, with plants.

CONCLUSION
-This experience was very reassuring in that some of the 'controls' we have in place for our students, still exist in a Junior a High situation.

Centennial High School

All three of us were back on deck this morning. We woke to a snowy landscape and the 'flurries' continued for most of the day. Colleen had told us to allow an hour for travel, but due to the weather / driving conditions....two hours later (having driven past several accidents) we arrived safely at Centennial High School. For those of you who know him, meeting principal Matt Christison was like meeting Kent Spangenberg; an enthusiastic leader who backs his staff and personal judgment. We spent the majority of the day with Matt but also met many other staff on our school tour. Over an extended lunch (prepared by the cooking class) we were fortunate to spend time with not only Matt, but also the 3 APs  and the Admin Secretary. They were so generous with their time and sharing of ideas.

INTRODUCTION
- There is a group called Student Voice, very important for them to function - not elected, students choose to be part of it. Some will come and go. Meetings at lunch.
- Student Leadership course is a subject at Year 10, 11 &12. Sell popcorn once a week. Go to conferences.
- Outdoor Pursuits course - mix of Science &Outdoor Ed. The school is 10 minutes from the forest. It's in the South, just out of the city. They have a lot more access to natural environment (Kannanaskis)
- 50 international students, fees are paid to the Board of Education. There are a lot of students from South China, Korea. Families are willing to host international students (home stays).
- 290 English Language Learners (ELL)
- Lots of students from Central America
- Small First Nations population - 30 students
- Strong gay alliance in the school
- Very large LDS population - Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints or Mormon. If students have a spare they can use it for a Seminary if it works. They can't dictate when they will go, it has to be educationally sound.
- Staff can get frustrated with students' extra curricular activities that impact on how much time they
are in their classes. They need to understand It's about teaching students and there WILL be
restrictions and consequences for missing work, the question asked is how are the students AND staff going to deal with meeting educational requirements and their extra curricula activities.  Just because they may be out for 4 days doesn't mean their work from school goes away. There are lots of complexities around this issue. Principal asks the questions - What can be done differently? Why not?? Need to think outside the square.

TIMETABLE
- Tutorials 8.30-8.55
- School starts at 9am
- Teachers used to have 125 hours of instruction time per subject. Now there is no stipulation but an end number of instructional hours, which is 1000 hours a year.
- YOTES - occurs once a week on a Friday. This is similar to Home Group. YOTES stands for - Your
 Opportunities To Enhance Success (ties in nicely with shortened nickname Coyotes).
- YOTES - grade 10 is about learning skills around how to deal with transitioning to high school. May use this time for course registrations (subject selection). YOTES classes are decided by alphabet, 20-30 students. This same group stays together through to year 12. YOTES in year 11 - focuses on success in high school and year 12 focuses on successful transition to the life beyond high school.
- Importance of listening to student voice - they wanted a break on a Friday so they are now given 15 minutes before session 3. Also longer lunch break of 45min.
- Have built contact time in the timetable  for teachers at the end of the day. The rule is that staff can't work alone during this time - could work with a teacher to plan, work with students, discuss issues with other teachers about a student etc. This time has been built in because it needs to be valued and this is achieved by being formalised. Staff can't do the same thing in this time every day. Students know this time is available to see teachers.

SITE IMPROVEMENT PLAN
- Matt sees himself as a 'resister'. What do I HAVE to do and what can I NOT do?! Wants to be unique! Happy to be seen as 'contrary' - his staff loved him for this!
- Don't focus on the Diploma (ATAR, for us) rather focus on the big picture and what is happening in other classes eg Maths 10 - sounds like they focus more on the backward planning model - results are a reflection of the teaching practices in the early years as well as the final year, equal importance.

This was the day the Canadian Women's Ice Hockey Team defeated The US at The Winter Olympics in Sochi - Centennial students were transfixed on rooting for their team!

SETTING OBSERVATIONS
- There is an educational alliance between Finland and Alberta - 'FINAL'. Teachers and students exchange both ways.
- The school challenges students with ideas that may not always be great, so that students 'push back' (resist / oppose) which will eventually result in something better. Important for developing independent learners. Eg Yr 12s Graduation assembly - principal says, "This is what you need to understand that if you've got an idea on a grad prank if you can't tell me what it is then you can't do it? You have to be clever, not disruptive. The question is what do they want to be remembered for?      
- Visitors wear visitor tags on lanyards - user friendly.
- Less reliance on school busses, lots of students use public transport or drive.
- Learning Leaders schedule times to meet once a week.
- Non instructional days set by the board. This time is often flexible - used for own prep, marking etc.
- Support staff work together in YOTES time on T&D - they don't just stay in the office. They also work with students.
- Important for the principal that everyone is seen as equal 'teachers' - no hierarchy. Rather people just have different responsibilities.
- Parents have access to attendance and marks through Home Logic online database. This helps students stay more accountable.
- 1800 students.
- The principal doesn't track the extra curricular hours that teaches do, but involvement is heavily
encouraged, as is working with other staff on an activity. If there are staff members who don't do anything, then there will be discussions with the principal. Often this attitude changes when they are paired with someone on an activity.
- 90 staff only 3 are part time staff
- Assemblies in the gym. Can stream these to other rooms through TV system. Can hold up to 1000 students. These are held through YOTES time, to avoid interrupting instruction time.
- AP duties - one is responsible for timetabling with principal, no teaching lines, work with students who are designated to them alphabetically.
- The alphabetical groupings for YOTES and AP supervision are flexible depending on personalities / clashes.
- The four leaders use a radio system to stay in contact throughout the day, also used by yard duty staff, especially when out in the community. This system is linked to the Resource Officer (constable).
- Cell phones welcomed. Up to teacher whether they are used in class. If phones are used inappropriately the phone is confiscated for the rest of the day. After the 9th time harsher consequences!
- Rooms are built for 32 students but commonly classes are often around 35-37. There are some at 40.
- Assemblies are held for each Grade level (10, 11 & 12) of one hour duration to present different awards eg subject awards, artisans (trade courses eg people who work with their hands). Parents invited, held during the day - winners invited, everyone welcome but not a requirement).  Athletics awards are held held separately as a banquet, community coaches are invited. APs take in turns running each of the assemblies. Principal present for all.
- School banners highlight focus activities (see picture) Visible recognition of successful students
AND criteria. Other posters made by Student Leadership class to publicise all special events occurring throughout the year.

BUSINESS & ENTERPRISE
- A student run food cart is set up in the main building outside of the cafeteria - selling food produced by the cooking class - open all day, honour system?
-  A merchandise store is open at lunch selling sporting attire (windcheaters / socks) complete with logos. Four classes of 35 students(Yr 10x2, Yr11 & Yr 12), currently designing hats.
- The Food class caters for special lunches like our own.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
- Teachers write a professional growth plan at the beginning of the year, which is submitted to the principal. Staff have meetings throughout the year with the principal. Their goals need to be focused on their own personal needs, but should consider Alberta Education and site priorities
- $1500 over 3 years from Alberta Teachers Association union, $200 from the school each year, plus each faculty can provide funding for PD.

THE LEARNING STRATEGIES ROOM / THE CLASS / PLP4
-There is a Learning Strategies Room which caters for 15 students.
-The Class caters for 18 students who suffer from anxiety and depression - they are based there with a trained teacher but may go to regular classes with an aid.
- Pace Learning Plan - PLP4 students (15) - reading level between year 3 and 6. Some of these students will enter a Knowledge and Employability course. Congregated but not Segregated, come together for some things but can 'mainstream' for others. This will also be their YOTES class.
- there is always on teacher and one aid in the room.
- Teacher changes in the room. They are rostered on according to certain subject areas. It is seen as important for teachers to avoid isolation and to work with different people.
- No one-on-one aids - rather they will work with groups, unless absolutely necessary . Don't want students to become isolated if they are always with the same aid.
- If a student is studying Maths which is an area of weakness, they will take Learning Strategies in the learning centre as well. The idea is that they will take the strategies learned into their Maths class.
- Courses - Reading 15. Can take 3 Learning Strategies courses over the 3 years. Some students may take Learning Strategies all year and it is paired up with another subject.
- Coded students (students that have an Individual Learning Plan) can come in here to complete a test or exam.
- This room also has 2 small testing rooms attached.
- No drop in students. Mainstream students should be going to tutorials for extra help.
- PLP4 (Pace Learning Plan) - real special needs. Educationally cognitively challenged students and
they may have a physical challenge. Students could stay in this class all the way through. Some students may come out of PLP4  into a Knowledge and Employability course. 1 teacher, 2EAs - due to the special needs of who is in there. There's always one teacher and one EA. The teachers are encouraged to teach at least one other class, rather than being with the PLP4 class all the time.
- Education Assistants support in classrooms where there are the most coded students.

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
- PD days- teachers put in cross curricular groups - 8-9 people (one per subject). Provided with questions and problems - asked how they would address such questions. Conversations lead to common answers around the importance of formative assessment. They then shared formative assessment examples, leading to discussions around how much and how often. This then led to wanting to work with faculty areas to create consistency in their faculty.

TECHNOLOGY
-Pop up windows are used for the bulletin e.g as students get on a computer the pop up message will appear.
-Wireless struggles to keep up with students bringing in their own computer systems
-One full time technician who does the work of two! Also 2 work experience students help at times.
-Windows based machines, some Apple machines.

SCHOOL WEBSITE
- Publicises all staff contact email addresses
- Department information, resources

GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS
- One per AP
- Do a lot of work with students on course selection.
- Students who are not coded work with these counsellors. They help access outside school agencies
and advocacy groups.
- Responsible for the graduation lists, checking subject completion - similar to a SACE Coordinator.

Thanks Centennial High, we felt very  comfortable in your environment, an influx of teacher exchange applications could be on the way!