SWATCA2018

Ours is a species of builders. Since our evolutionary ancestors tamed fire and fashioned the first stone tools, humanity has been driven to construct increasingly elaborate and ingenious solutions to meet its needs and address its problems. Simply put, ‘we were made to make’. But we shouldn’t forget that we are also a species of storytellers. If we were to trace any one of our collective accomplishments back to its point of inception, almost immediately we would find a group of individuals gathered around a campfire, a meal, or a drawing on the wall talking. In this presentation, the ATA’s expert on innovative learning spaces will explain how you can tap into your inner builder and storyteller to bring curricula to life in your classrooms. In this time of significant change, meaningful teaching may not require the latest technogadgetry, but may draw instead on our ancestral urges to build stuff out of sticks and talk about it.

How Much, How Many, How Often, How Long?.... Linking Literature to Math Join me as I sample through a variety of excellent children’s literature, both fiction and non fiction choices. Each year I use a new batch of books and sample a new set of tips, tasks and techniques for infusing foundational reading, writing and arithmetic skills into the explorations and problems that can be teased from the books. My theme this year: how the questions How Much, How Many, How Often, How Long sit at the heart of what truly are the BASIC SKILLS in math. Engage your students with new ideas on Monday.

Let the ORC help take away your concerns about young students using internet resources while enriching your curriculum. Never heard of the ORC? The ORC is a $1.3 million collection of digital resources licensed on behalf of all K-12 students, parents, school staff and pre-service teachers in Alberta. Join this session to learn about the wonderful resources available for young learners through the ORC, and get tips on the logistics of using them with your division I students.

As we explore the EMPLO website, you will be amazed at the wealth of resources available to support K-6 teachers (and parents). You will have time to explore the resources on your own device, so that you can personalize the learning and have something new to try on Monday morning.

A panel of teachers from Holy Spirit School Division will be presenting their learning and ideas about integrating puzzles and problem solving into their practice. Panel members engaged in a four-month learning experience where they explored mathematical puzzles and problems and tried them out in their teaching. Panel members are from various grade levels and will share their experiences.

Build literacy, numeracy and math skills as you teach students how to comprehend and solve word problems. This is a school wide approach. Throughout this interactive session, participants will engage with an approach to teaching problem solving built not from giving problems, but from using student responses to build comprehension, communication and content knowledge with your students. Across all the grades, students benefit from learning how to analyze and evaluate the work of others. YES, at every grade! It’s not just “doing” math, it’s learning how to search for sense, how to communicate effectively both orally and in writing. This is truly balancing literacy.... learning how to apply basic reading & writing skills into the thinking, reasoning and doing of mathematics. Designed around samples of student work, participants will leave with problems and criteria that can be used to develop literacy and numeracy skills across a range of grades. You will want to try this on Monday!

Tasks, problems and practice cards differentiated to match K to 3 outcomes. In this highly engaging, hands on session we will explore a sets of tasks, problems and practice cards and directions for how to adapt, differentiate and deliver them across the range of ages and abilities of learners from Kindergarten to Grade 3. In primary, we all share a role in teaching subtraction, each grade plays a part until by Grade 3 students experience mastery. From the earliest work with number, we can focus on building thinking and problem solving skills as students come to know and remember facts. When we do, the learning lasts. Join me as I share ways to truly make a difference to how students come to know and master subtraction.

There are too many quality teaching resources and not enough time to explore them all! Enjoy some time to interact with print and digital sources relevant to your teaching context. The session will start with our new search tool for easily locating books, videos and kits. Featured items: professional support in all subjects and Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literature Intervention kits. Next, we will explore our new guides at www.uleth.ca/education/curr, which identify resources most useful for each subject/grade. Sources include cross-curricular literature lists, LearnAlberta Resources, Specific databases in LearnAlberta’s Online Reference Centre, new platform on Ninjaplans lesson sharing site, Education for Reconciliation supports, streaming video and more. Participants can then choose to either seek specific instruction in one or more sources, or to explore sources independently. Participants can bring a device (such as a laptop) or can borrow one of the Curriculum Lab Laptops. At the conclusion of the session, participants will identify how at least one source can add to their current teaching practice. Note: U of L Almuni are eligible for a free Library membership. Non-Alumni can purchase a Community card to borrow Curriculum Lab items ($30). To activate any membership bring a U of L ID card (former student card or get a new card at Campus IT, TH 218).

This workshop is designed to be an introduction to some basic First Nations, Métis and Inuit worldviews, cultural beliefs and values. It is neither a comprehensive nor exhaustive exploration of Indigenous ways of knowing, but rather a series of focused conversation starters for groups of educators engaged in reconciliation. The foundational knowledge activities are to support educators through the concepts of reconciliation as part of ongoing professional learning. The intent is to build awareness and curiosity in teachers to explore more on their own. Worldviews and Ways of Knowing are like stones thrown into the water from which other circles grow. Learning about the traditional and contemporary experiences unique to First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples helps to gain understanding and appreciation.

A collaborative community for the sharing of math games for Elementary teachers. For many students math can be frustrated and boring. However when given a fun and practical way to practice their math skill students can often excel. For every mathematical process there is a possibility for a game to help with practicing those skills. It is impossible to come up with all the games on your own this sessions is devoted to sharing games to help create better student engagement and learning.

Numeracy comprehension is built upon a foundation of mathematical thinking and reasoning, but how do we build this with our students? Supporting math conversations is most effective when built upon teaching models that are research driven and classroom tested. But what does that look like? How do you build a classroom culture of sharing and engagement using math discussion? How do you frame questions that promote flexible thinking over answer getting? This session will explore these concepts of mathematical conversation by focusing on the development of students ability to justify thinking, engage with the reasoning of others through core questions, noticing and articulating, developing contexts and representations for number concepts, and making meaning of operations. Content and resources shared in this session will be primarily K-5 based, but the skill set is applicable across grade levels.

When the question of talking or teaching about citizenship comes up in curriculum, there is never any doubt that the concept and perception can be explored in Social Studies and English/Language Arts classes in schools, but what about Math class? This interactive session provides a place for teachers to explore the connections between math and citizenship through activities designed to unravel what citizenship means and how math connects to these understandings. The importance of this topic is derived from the Algebra Project’s founder, Bob Moses (2001) who said that “in today’s world, economic access and full citizenship depend crucially on math and science literacy” (p. 5, emphasis added). Yet we as teachers often assume a natural progression of topics and a have a normal expectation that not all students can or will succeed in math in schools. In this workshop, we will explore the ways in which stereotypes around who is seen to do and achieve in math impact the teaching and learning of math and how we can move beyond these stereotypes in our classrooms.