Links for Professional Learning

With the BC wide professional development day this past Friday, many of you have likely spent the last few days fully engaged in conferences, workshops or other learning opportunities around the province. In the spirit of continued learning, I’m including some links below to interesting articles, resources or tidbits of information we’ve explored recently:

·         In her article “Pre-Reading Strategies for Picture Books” from Canadian Teacher Magazine, Brenda Boreham highlights the beautiful new book Mouse Celebrates the Winter Solstice, by Kwakwaka’wakw author Terri Mack and Tsimshian artist Bill Helin. As Boreham points out, this story can support a variety of units of study, such as the seasons, solar system, friendship and courage, while building on aboriginal ways of knowing in the classroom.

·         The Whole Education Network, based in England, is “a partnership of like-minded schools, organisations and individuals that believe that all young people should have a fully rounded education, developing the knowledge, skills and qualities needed to help them thrive in life and work.” This school year a pilot group of 20 lead schools in England will be using the Spiral of Inquiry as the framework for their efforts to advance outcomes for all their learners.

·         At the last NOII Symposium, Richelle Ouimet and Ashley Barker shared their learning in Growing Digital and Global Citizens through Online Literature. This was a multi school inquiry project using digital technology. See their presentation here (starting from the 2^nd video on the page), as well as other inquiry projects here.

·         Particularly for those that teach in a rural setting, visit ruralteachers.com and explore this “Rural Commons.” There are a wealth of resources, videos and links to innovative projects happening around the province.

·         Check out the recent Conference Board of Canada’s report How Canada Performs – A Report Card on Canada. This is a comparative study examining Economy, Education and Skills, Innovation, Environment, Health, and Society in sixteen peer countries. British Columbia ranks third overall, after Japan and Finland, in the latest Education and Skills report card. 

Please contact us with other ideas for resources, links, articles that you think should be shared with network members.