Web Conferences

The focus of SIM is system implementation and monitoring in service of RMS, Renewed Math Strategy.

The goals for the session are:

1.     Making Connections:

We will review the Coherence Framework as an approach to making connections in our respective contexts. System and School Leaders will share their improvement planning and monitoring journeys. Participants will hear practical examples of how evidence-based structures, processes, and strategies can support success for all students.

 2.     Monitoring Our Progress:

Using your own improvement plans and data, teams will be given time to reflect on their current improvement plans. Participants will have the opportunity to hear about the monitoring moves of participating school boards from across the province.  The impact of internal versus external accountability will be considered. Consideration of how leaders can cultivate conditions to make connections to implement and monitor progress will be explored. 

The SIM K-12 sessions are best suited for Superintendents, System Leaders, Principals, Vice- Principals, and their associated planning team(s).

This session is designed to support the implementation of The Kindergarten Program (2016) and Growing Success: The Kindergarten Addendum (2016) and foster connections across pedagogical approaches K-3.

This virtual learning session will engage participants in a reflective, co-learning stance and interactive dialogue focused on:

•         considering the self-regulation needs of individual children using an inquiry stance,
•         self-regulation as an individual process vs the activities we use to promote/teach self-regulation,
•         the impact on children of adult constructs of self-regulation,
•         shifts in our practice as our understanding of self-regulation evolves, and
•         communicating  about learning  related to self-regulation.

The focus of SIM is system implementation and monitoring in service of RMS, Renewed Math Strategy.

Featured in this session is a message from Cathy Montreal that pertains to leadership in the area of learning and teaching mathematics in Ontario.

We also focus on cultivating mathematics communities, creating conditions for improvement planning, review monitoring tips and deepen math knowledge for leaders.

The Student Achievement Division is pleased to offer a recorded virtual session to support K-3 educators in thinking through pedagogical documentation practices, with some focus on moving from pedagogical documentation to writing comments for the Kindergarten Communication of Learning.

If you are wondering how to integrate inquiry in your mathematics program, this series is for you!

During the five weeks of this online learning segment, participants will begin to explore teaching math through the lens of inquiry. The beginning and ending segments will be live, with participants able to submit questions digitally as well as share their voice through their computer. During the middle three weeks, prompts and questions will be posted (weekly) to elicit conversation amongst participants, with the hopes of participants trying something between weeks, posting about their experiences, and then asking questions and supporting each other through the learning. Facilitation will happen throughout the week to keep the conversations rich and powerful. Supporting this learning will be recently released videos showing classroom experiences where students are empowered to drive their learning, including the use of technology, to enhance and build their mathematical knowledge.

To address the key objectives of the Renewed Mathematics Strategy, the Transition Session has been designed to identify and implement collaborative transition processes for students in grade 6-9.

This session touches on narrowing the Achievement Gap and the Confidence Gap as well as Planning the Transitions from Grade 8 to Grade 9 by:

Identifying the gaps in supporting student learning and their transitions
Strategizing to target gaps in order to narrow them
Mapping the curriculum continuum of expectations grades 6 to 9, to provide depth of knowledge and understanding which leads to more effective mathematics instruction and assessment
Focusing on instructional continuity and continuity of supports supports for student needs.

The intention of this session is to mobilize the learning from the Fall Symposium to a larger group based on the needs of your district which may include additional school administrators, central staff and superintendents.

This session will focus on mathematics learning and monitoring for leaders.

Through the lens of the leader’s role in monitoring, participants will explore a worthwhile math task and make direct connections to the pedagogical system and the vision of the mathematics learner. We will explore monitoring as a learning conversation and its’ connection to leadership practices for school and system improvement processes.

This webinar provides support for the consideration of ways that teams engaged in Indigenous Education Focus Collaborative Inquiry can build and nurture relationships as they determine the types of evidence they identify and utilize to inform their inquiry and next steps.

This session touches on:

How to strengthen phases in the cycle of inquiry so that teams can ensure the work is impactful.
Culturally appropriate mechanisms to assess changes to student well-being and achievement.
How to use types of evidence to inform next steps

Building upon the learning at the fall sessions, we have designed a professional learning session.

This session will further explore these themes:

Narrowing the confidence gap and narrowing the achievement gap;
Focus on student needs, learning and engagement; and
Curriculum continuity from grade-to-grade, class-to-class, school-to-school.

In addition to these themes, selected examples of district school boards’ progress in putting into action the learning from face-to-face sessions will be shared.

This recorded virtual session invites participants to engage in a reflective, co-learning stance about:
· how the Communication of Learning (Kindergarten) is different from report cards (Grade 1 forward)
· key changes in the program and policy documents
· processes of gathering evidence to know learning is happening, leading to communicating about learning
· what I can expect to read as an administrator on the Communication of Learning Template
· strategies to support educators in making the shift in focus from evaluating achievement to assessing growth

This recorded virtual session invites participants to engage in a reflective, co-learning stance about:
· considerations for documentation
· learning focus in a Kindergarten classroom
· understanding the learning revealed in the documentation
· strategies to support the shift in focus from achievement to growth in learning
· considerations for the creation of learning-focused comments for the Communication of Learning Template
· communicating about learning, in reciprocal relationships between children, families, and educators
· engaging families and others in the process

The focus of this session is on effective teaching of mathematics for all students by emphasizing visualization, spatial reasoning and evidence of learning. Examples will be drawn from Dr. Small’s book “Eyes on Math”.

Author and International Consultant on New Literacies, Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs will focus on literacy, including digital, media and global literacy.

Dr. Hayes Jacobs will also discuss ways of integrating the new literacies into the curriculum, instruction and assessment tailored to specific learners in specific settings.

The focus will be on effective teaching of mathematics for all students by emphasizing visualization, spatial reasoning and evidence of learning. Examples will be drawn from his book “Eyes on Math”.
This web conference was originally recorded in French by the OPC.

Why do we teach patterns and how do they support the development of algebraic thinking? How can we help students in elementary and secondary grades develop algebraic understanding through working with growing patterns? In this session we will examine what it means to teach math conceptually by exploring connections among multiple representations. We’ll learn how to identify evidence of algebraic reasoning in student thinking at different grade levels. We’ll also focus on the importance of mathematical conversations, particularly the ability to formulate conjectures and offer justifications.

This is part two of a two-part series.

Educators from the field will share their experience using blogs with students for collaboration and communication in literacy for the purpose of developing literacy skills and optimizing student engagement.

Empowered by Design, the acclaimed resource produced by the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat that documents Queen Alexandra Middle School’s move from a culture of compliance to a culture of engagement through risk taking and student empowerment, is the basis for a series of webinars that will go deeper into what it takes to implement a full school inquiry approach.

Webinar Three: Experiment and Reflect

In the third of the series, the teachers and Principal of Queen Alexandra will describe some of their biggest challenges and how have they have responded to them. They will speak about their passion for student led inquiry, the unexpected benefits they have encountered, and where they are now in their journey of professional learning.

Originally occurring on March 10, 2016, enjoy this recording of a webinar presented by Dr. Chris Suurtamm on the topic of Supporting Teachers in Enhancing Math Teaching and Learning. Chris leads an audience through current research and a variety of activities.
A PDF of the presentation is made available at the end of the recording.

Learn how to create a culture of inquiry through knowledge building with the support of the The Learning Exchange resource, Empowered by Design. Web conference posted on behalf of LSA.

This is part one of a two part series. In this web conference participants explored and discussed the Literacy for a Connected World monograph. Participants were engaged in online chats around digital citizenship, pedagogical content when using technology, assessment practices and were provided with starting tips and considerations when initiating blogging with students. A list of resources and helpful websites were also included.

6 one-sevenths, 7 one-sevenths, 8 one-sevenths… Counting by unit fractions is one strategy that helps us to focus on what we are counting. This webinar will look more closely at the importance of unit fractions in understanding fractions overall.

Presenters Dr. Cathy Bruce and Shelley Yearley will take participants through some of the key research and classroom-based activities that focus on unit fractions in order to help students gain the foundations they need not only for working with fractional amounts but also for understanding and performing operations with fractions.fractions.

The Ontario Focused Intervention Partnership is both an intervention strategy and a study of “what works” in collaborative improvement practices in elementary schools. This initiative has evolved to become a rich and valuable source of information about effective strategies for improving student and professional learning.

Empowered by Design, the acclaimed resource produced by the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat that documents Queen Alexandra Middle School’s move from a culture of compliance to a culture of engagement through risk taking and student empowerment, is the basis for a series of webinars that will go deeper into what it takes to implement a full school inquiry approach.

Webinar Two: Getting Started

During this webinar, the teachers of Queen Alexandra will explore the learning conditions that need to be in place before a teacher launches student led inquiry in their classroom. They will speak to the specific habits of mind that they address through their teaching, and how they prepare students for knowledge building.

Author and International Consultant on New Literacies, Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs will focus on literacy, including digital, media and global literacy.

Dr. Hayes Jacobs will also discuss ways of integrating the new literacies into the curriculum, instruction and assessment tailored to specific learners in specific settings.

In this webinar, participants will explore and discuss the Literacy for a Connected World monograph. Resources will be offered to support educators who are interested in exploring the power of blogging as a means of communication in literacy with the purpose of optimizing student engagement and learning. This is part one of a two-part series.

Great question…but is it measurable? This webinar provides an opportunity for teams to narrow the scope of an inquiry and to dig a little deeper into matching appropriate data types with different data collection tools.

This session is intended to support boards that are new to the initiative

Originally occurring on February 5 2016, enjoy this recording of a webinar presented by Dr. Chris Suurtamm on the topic of Enhancing Secondary Mathematics. Chris leads an audience through current research and a variety of activities. A PDF of the presentation is made available at the end of the recording.

Empowered by Design, the acclaimed resource produced by the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat that documents Queen Alexandra Middle School’s move from a culture of compliance to a culture of engagement through risk taking and student empowerment, is the basis for a series of webinars that will go deeper into what it takes to implement a full school inquiry approach.

Webinar One: Leadership: Setting the Conditions

During this webinar you will hear from the Principal of Queen Alexandra, Emma Nichols and her School Superintendent, Mike Gallagher, about how to develop a culture of professional learning that is rooted in authentic inquiry. They will look at the importance of building relationships, and also how leaders begin to build a vision for school improvement.

This web conference is for those leaders who are new to Full Day Kindergarten and focuses on the shifts in philosophy and practice that have happened in the five years of implementation in Ontario.

Topics include:

the vision of the child, learning environment, play- and inquiry-based learning, pedagogical documentation, changes in planning, and literacy and mathematics across the day.

Learn how to create a culture of inquiry through knowledge building with the support of the The Learning Exchange resource, Empowered by Design. Web conference posted on behalf of LSA.

Originally occurring on September 25 2015, enjoy this recording of a webinar presented by Dr. Chris Suurtamm on the topic of Sound Assessment Practices in Mathematics. Chris leads an audience of school leaders through current research and a variety of activities. A PDF of the presentation is made available at the end of the recording.

This webinar discusses both classroom and large-scale assessment in mathematics education. In terms of classroom assessment, it discusses the importance of assessment to support the complex ways that mathematics is understood by students and to promote student learning.

This webinar explores how pedagogical documentation is connected to collaborative inquiry (CI) processes and how it can provide rich qualitative evidence to monitor the effectiveness of CI.

In this web conference we will explore the following questions:
How does knowing about English language acquisition for our English language learners inform our learning through pedagogical documentation?

The Student Achievement Division presents a recording of Dr. Marian Small in an interactive session that helps clarify what proportional thinking can look like in Grades 4 – 8. She shares her experience and provides strategies and examples of how to create rich PR problems.

In this web conference we will explore the question: “Why this learning, for this child, at this time?” We will use pedagogical documentation to revisit: How do we know learning is happening? How are we documenting evidence of learning and analyzing that documentation? How do we communicate learning?

Join Dr. Chris Suurtamm in a recording of an interactive web conference that draws on current research and thinking in mathematics education to describe and demonstrate what good teaching and learning looks like, sounds like, and feels like.

Pedagogical Leadership, K-3 Studying Children’s Learning through Pedagogical Documentation
How do we know learning is happening? What is the evidence of learning? How do we communicate learning?

What are we learning & how do we know we are making a difference? Are you engaged in a Collaborative Inquiry (CI) with a school team? Are you interested in learning how to monitor whether or not your CI is making a difference that matters to both educators and students? Administrators, professional learning facilitators and teachers participate in a web conference to explore the potential of their CI journeys.

Join Dr. Chris Suurtamm for an interactive web conference that will confront some of the messages about mathematics curriculum, teaching, and learning that have been presented recently in the media.

Join Dr. Cathy Bruce for a web conference that focuses on the foundations of fraction understanding. Cathy will share current research on what makes fractions challenging for students and key strategies for supporting educators who are teaching fractions.