SWATCA2018

Explore various choices for the busy bodies in your classroom! Discussion topics will include fidgets, lighting, and sensory tools to help students succeed in inclusive classrooms. We will discuss various tools and strategies for meeting the needs of all students, focusing on flexible seating and various sensory needs. Specific strategies will include wiggle pads, stools, rocking chairs, standing desks, lap desks, pillows, etc. We will have several items on hand to allow attendees to have a “hands on” experience. Research says that students can retain, recall, and apply knowledge better when they are active. We have applied these ideas in our classrooms to prevent a sedentary lifestyle, and we are excited to share our personal experiences, struggles, and successes in our own classrooms. The presentation will give attendees ideas and tools to implement in their own schools, starting with a list of simple and attainable items to put to work in the classroom. We will address concerns and possible roadblocks, while providing strategies and solutions. We have seen these tools at work in our classrooms, and we are excited to share our findings and help other teachers find success. We are passionate about making inclusive classrooms work for everybody!

Discover the first steps towards healthy integration, school settlement, and explore resources for supporting newcomer students in your classroom. As student diversity in our classrooms continues to grow, students are coming into classrooms with a variety of education experiences, strengths and difficulties. Lets take a look at the immigration profiles and populations coming into our schools, consider how we begin to meet their needs in the first days and weeks, and explore resources for truly meeting students where they are. In this session we will explore how to begin to address the education of these students by discussing our own teacher thought process, modifying and adapting student materials for each student, accessing community supports, engaging in meaningful assessment and reporting, considering the needs of students through a trauma-informed-practice lens, and how we begin to engage parents in school.

Does gender impact culture or is it the other way around? This interactive session allows participants to consider media influences on constructions of gender and think about ways to challenge gender role stereotyping and heteronormative society. By exploring the connections between gender and culture in these ways, students and teachers can move from perpetuating current forms of culture towards cultural transformation.

A Tool Kit For Success resource offers a process to support schools in working with youth at risk of not completing high school. At every point along the continuum of risk from prevention, to identification, to intervention and specialised supports, this resource guides schools and school teams in the collaborative process of supporting students as they work towards high school completion. For many students, the path to High School Completion is not a linear one. The Supporting High School Completion: A Tool Kit For Success resource offers a process to support schools in working with youth at risk of not completing high school. At every point along the continuum of risk from prevention, to identification, to intervention and specialised supports, this resource guides schools and school teams in the collaborative process of supporting students as they work towards high school completion. With tools and processes to support your work, the Tool Kit centers on 4 guiding questions: 1. Empowerment: Can the student’s choice to stay be empowered? How? 2. Supported Exit: How can the student be continually supported if an exit from high school is necessary? 3. Reconnection: What steps will help reconnect to the student if they have exited? 4. Reentry and/or Continued Engagement: What is the best way to support successful reentry and continued engagement? Shift the lens in your school from ‘What supports are available?’ to ‘How can we leverage the resources we have to remove the barriers preventing successful high school completion for this student?’

Attending school on a regular basis is fundamental to the positive development of children. In Alberta, over 150,000 students are impacted by school absenteeism and are at significant risk of negative future outcomes, such as economic disadvantage and incarceration. Recognizing the prevalence of absenteeism, Rocky View Schools launched the Attendance Innovation Campaign which aimed to educate communities as to the importance of attendance, empower schools to utilize data to monitor and improve practice, and eliminate barriers to student attendance through a system of tiered interventions. The techniques, resources, and preliminary results will be shared during this presentation.

The Balanced Classroom concept from CDI Spaces features a classroom environment suited for all learning styles as well as the desired teaching style of the educator. We aim to create a dynamic, collaborative and focused area within the classroom – Studies have determined the best design for a balanced learning space is to incorporate flow where the more dynamic students don’t interfere with the learning experience of the focused learner who requires their own space and fewer distractions. Whether you are replacing a few chairs and desks or outfitting an entire school, how can you be sure to choose the right furniture? When answering this question, we at CDI Spaces recognize that furniture needs and preferences can vary significantly depending on the environment within the classroom. That's why we encourage you to begin your selection process by allowing us to help you in identifying the needs in the classroom.

Teachers are concerned about the well-being of children and youth. The Alberta Teachers’ Association and the Canadian Mental Health Association are partnering to promote the mental health of children and youth and to provide support material for teachers dealing with mental health issues. This session will discuss common mental health concerns for children, recommend resources and references, and inform teachers about how they can promote awareness and discourage stigma.

Classrooms in Alberta are ethnically more diverse every year, giving us new challenges and opportunities. This workshop will provide participants the opportunity to strengthen their cultural awareness and competence, deepen their understanding of the challenges immigrant families face, and learn classroom and schoolwide strategies for working with immigrant students and their parents.

Identify the 5 main types of anxiety and help your students work to overcome it! One in five children have a diagnosable anxiety disorder and the effects of anxiety in kids in early grades can be profound. The negative consequences of anxiety impacts school work, social skills and most drastically self-confidence. In this session you will learn the main types of anxiety and how to identify them, and then learn hands-on practical ways to help your anxious students feel happier, be more self-confident and learn to reduce their constant worrying. Strategies taught can easily be incorporated into your days, and can be used immediately on Monday morning.

The classroom environment should facilitate learning for all students. The workshop is based on three key assumptions: (1) that every student needs to succeed, (2) that students must learn to take responsibility for their actions, and (3) that dignity and respect characterize all successful classroom management approaches. Participants will learn how to teach students positive social skills and responses, and create structures and procedures that help students to understand what is expected, and to accept responsibility for their actions. The workshop will also demonstrate specific strategies that teachers can use to deal with difficult students and to respond to their parents.

Unfortunately the Coaching to Support Inclusion speaker is unable to make it due to family illness. Sorry for the inconvenience. The participant guide for this session is available at http://l.ead.me/CoachingToSupport.


This workshop introduces school leaders to Coaching to Support Inclusion: A Principal’s Guide, a new Association publication designed as a self-paced program to explore the use of coaching to support inclusive practices. Coaching is defined as a professional development strategy in which coaches work with teachers to meet the diverse learning needs of students within an inclusive school environment. Coaching to Support Inclusion reflects the collegial and collaborative culture of Alberta schools and encourages principals to work with their teachers to consider the academic and social needs of students with exceptionalities in an inclusive learning environment. This session will prepare school leaders to facilitate the activities included in this resource intended to engage the school staff in the dialogue, design and implementation of coaching to support inclusion.

B.A.C.A. (Bikers Against Child Abuse) is a non for profit organization made up of Bikers with big hearts! Our goal is to empower children to not be afraid of the world in which they live! Our Mission is very narrow, we empower children of abuse! We don't take care of the elderly, we don't take care of the sick, we don't raise money for causes, we empower children (Of abuse) so they are not afraid of the world in which they live! We do however raise money for our B.A.C.A. hero's so they can go to therapy, take riding lessons, dance classes, take Karate lessons, anything that will empower that child to not be afraid of the world in which they live. There are many ways we will empower that child, but one of the first and most gratifying ways is by escorting them to court. A child is 4 times more likely to testify in court if they are part of our B.A.C.A. family. Children should and need to be children! What a great world we would have if we allowed them to grow up in a normal, or non-abusive world? We are now in 22 Countries worldwide and growing. We will be speaking to the teachers about the Canadian statistics of abuse and how we help our wounded friends.