Network Leaders Meeting - October 2nd

It was an amazing day of learning and collaboration yesterday at the Fall Network Leaders Meeting. What a treat to have the meeting hosted at ArtStarts in downtown Vancouver – a beautiful location and space to boost curiosity and creative thinking! It was a packed house with over 40 educators volunteering their time to come together, share resources and strategies, and work together on our shared vision of:

EVERY learner walking the stage with dignity, purpose and options.

ALL learners leaving more curious than when they arrived.

Aboriginal education is for everyone.

We talked about some exciting upcoming projects for this year (more to come there…) and reviewed some of the case studies that were submitted through the summer (soon to be posted on the website). JoAnne Chrona also shared the new FNESC resources, including the Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation Resources just launched in August. The resources are free to download and provide age-appropriate educational materials about Indian Residential Schools (see video below) The secondary level resource guide also serves as a good refresher/introduction for educators who may be teaching this material for the first time. JoAnne noted that FNESC also offers workshops but that these fill up really quickly – check their website regularly for newly scheduled events.   

A few other events/resources shared at the meeting:

• Forms for submitting your school’s inquiry focus for 2015 – 2016 will be available very soon. We’re streamlining the forms this year to make submitting easier.  
• The Lead the Change Series articles from the American Educational Research Association Education Change Special Interest Group (see the column on right side of page). Watch for Helen Timperley’s article in October. These are great resources for staff/Network meetings.
• Neat info about Learning Maps out of New Zealand
• The Ministry of Education’s new Resource Guide on Aboriginal Worldviews and Perspectives in the Classroom
• A formative assessment learning event happening in Nanaimo on October 26^th (more info here)
• DASH BC will be launching Healthy Schools Week starting October 5^th, with school grant opportunities being announced on October 6^th. 

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday (we missed the mid-Island group who were fogged in!). Looking forward to another great school year of learning, inquiry and collaboration!