Today's educators face the difficult task of meeting the needs of diverse classrooms that include children who have been affected by war, violent conflict and trauma. The psychosocial needs of war-affected children who resettle in Canada can be intense, complicated, and can require a sensitive and individualized approach. Trauma can have multiple consequences on children that are not easily understood. Children who have experienced trauma are often labelled as disruptive, defiant, and at high risk of dropping out. When appropriate supports are in place, it is possible for children to recover from trauma. Working from a trauma informed perspective is a valuable approach to teaching that helps to ease the transition of these students into our classrooms, increasing the possibility of a successful Canadian transition. This webinar draws from qualitative research conducted in Canada and oversees that examines best practices in supporting the psychosocial needs of refugee students as a means of supporting successful integration into our schools and communities.
Key takeaways from this webinar will include:
1. Working from a trauma-informed perspective
2. Building capacity in newcomer students - Effects of trauma and interrupted learning and helping newcomer students that have suffered trauma and violence in their lives
3. Building a culturally responsive space and classroom
4. Lesson plans to assist and build capacity in classroom teachers
Bridging two worlds : building teacher capacity in working with refugee children
Play and formal curriculum areas are not mutually exclusive, but work together to enhance student learning. Play is present in all curriculum areas and makes a significant contribution to learning. The combination of hands-on experiences, rich materials, thoughtful planning, and artful teaching supports and engages learners across the range of curriculum areas. In this two-part segment, we see how teachers offer engaging learning opportunities in the specific areas of English language arts, mathematics, and science with links to social activities and the arts. In addition, we see crosscurricular teaching and students choosing their own learning opportunities.
Play and formal curriculum areas are not mutually exclusive, but work together to enhance student learning. Play is present in all curriculum areas and makes a significant contribution to learning. The combination of hands-on experiences, rich materials, thoughtful planning, and artful teaching supports and engages learners across the range of curriculum areas. In this two-part segment, we see how teachers offer engaging learning opportunities in the specific areas of English language arts, mathematics, and science with links to social activities and the arts. In addition, we see crosscurricular teaching and students choosing their own learning opportunities.
We know that in effective classrooms, assessment happens every day in a variety of ways. A play-based classroom offers unique and varied opportunities for teachers to understand and support their students as learners through a variety of assessment approaches. In this segment, we see the teachers using forms of assessment ranging from more formal tools to prompts, observations, self-assessment, and a variety of other ways that help students demonstrate learning. The teachers also share their strategies for organizing and documenting their assessment data.
In this two-part segment, our teachers discuss and demonstrate how they establish routines, integrate outcomes into a play-based curriculum, set up and manage flexible and varied learning zones, and ensure a balance between choice and more formal learning opportunities. This combination of routines, careful planning, use of engaging materials, and effective teaching helps students become highly engaged in their own learning. Through this engagement, they develop stamina and the ability to self-regulate. As they move toward developmentally appropriate independence, we see students taking responsibility for their own learning and for the environment in which this learning occurs.
In this two-part segment, our teachers discuss and demonstrate how they establish routines, integrate outcomes into a play-based curriculum, set up and manage flexible and varied learning zones, and ensure a balance between choice and more formal learning opportunities. This combination of routines, careful planning, use of engaging materials, and effective teaching helps students become highly engaged in their own learning. Through this engagement, they develop stamina and the ability to self-regulate. As they move toward developmentally appropriate independence, we see students taking responsibility for their own learning and for the environment in which this learning occurs.
Talk is critical to learning and play-based learning offers many diverse ways for students to use talk as a vehicle for learning. In this segment, teachers share and demonstrate tips, tools, and techniques for embedding and encouraging talk opportunities within every learning experience. We will see students problem solving, planning, playing games, and sharing their learning. Our teachers discuss both the incidental and deliberately structured opportunities they provide for their students.
In this first segment, we introduce the major topics for our series - Oral Language, Planning, Assessment, and Cross Curricular Work - all through the lens of a play-based curriculum. Our featured teachers also discuss ways in which they establish routines, select materials, and infuse playfulness into everything they do. The teachers discuss the importance of play-based learning and their decision to make play an integral part of the learning experience for their students.
LRTS Webinar, originally aired Wednesday, October 23rd / 2013
Presenter: Vera Grayson, Consultant, DOEECD
This webinar was created in October 2013 and is in the process of being revised to reflect the following changes that were implemented during the 2014-2015 administration. The revised webinar will include the following updates:
updated rubrics that have been revised for clarity in Ideas, Language Use, and Conventions, including a second Ideas criterion for the Reading Response
updated scores for Ideas2 for Reading Response writing samples
updated number of points for the Reading Response task to 20 due to the addition of the Ideas 2 criterion
updated total number of points for the examination to 84 due to the addition of the Ideas 2 criterion
This webinar was created to provide Grade 10 English teachers with information about the Nova Scotia Examination: English 10. Examples of reading passages, selected response questions, and constructed response questions will be provided. Scoring rubrics will be discussed and illustrated with samples of student writing.
Supporting documents for the English 10 webinar are available on the secure Educators area website (choose “GNSPES/SEPNE” from the dropdown list and click “select”, teachers can enter their logon credentials, and click on the assessment folder).
Nova Scotia Examination - English 10 Information Webinar
