Tuesday, August 22, 2017

TDSB BT Summer Institute 2017


With the new school year just around the corner, let's not forget that it is still summer vacation, yet several educators from all levels of the board came together and hosted another successful Beginning Teachers Summer Institute to a full house!
I would like to thank and congratulate Jennifer Watt, Heba Noureldin and David Hawker-Budlovsky from Teachers Learning and Leading, who provide ongoing support to TDSB Beginning Teachers and their mentors. The question to keep in our minds that was posed by Jennifer truly reflects the importance of our role as educators and that yes, our actions, bias and perspective is political and that we need to not only be aware of this but how it affects our teaching pedagogy: "How can you influence others to positively impact your school community?"

Resources are available through TDSB AW bit.ly/2wgtnpY. Sessions offered today offered opportunities to listen, discuss, reflect, get hands-on and build PLN; ranging from Culturally Relevant Pedadogy with Farah Rahemtula and Sharla Falodi to Engaging Students as Assessment Partners with Wendy Terro and Rupali Rodgers to Mathematics through Spatial Sense K-8: Inclusive Math for All Learners with Usha Shanmugathsan and much, much more!

Being invited to share along with Melissa Seco and Annika Pint just made the day a whole lot more fun as we shared various entry points to focus on pedagogy and a culture of of #makerspace from a K-12 regardless of your space. The conversations were inquisitive but filled with ways to bring ideas and new learning back into their own classrooms. Educators brought with them the most valuable tool: a positive attitude and an open mindset whereby they considered how today's exploration could be modified to meet not only curriculum but the needs of their students to promote perseverance, design thinking and problem solving.

Continued ongoing Professional Development such as the one shared today is invaluable! The take-a-away: building experiences, engaging in relevant discussions and items like our drawbots or minibook paper circuit provide tangible entry points for teachers to further build upon in their own learning and teaching.



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