by Dwayne Zarichny Many of our staff went to the PBL- Project Based workshop in the fall and they all loved it – so much so that their raving infected our staff and we ended up sending EVERYONE to the following sessions. They all agreed it was well worth the time away from…
by Paul Tobin, B.Sc., B.Ed. The ERLC session I attended on April 20, 2015 was Moving Forward with High School Redesign – A Learning Walkthrough. This was an excellent day that was hosted by Mother Mary Margaret Catholic School in Edmonton. The intention of this day was to inform all participants (there were teachers, principals,…
By Tania Lawrence, Kindergarten VP, Ermineskin Elementary School, Miyo Wahkohtowin Education I am currently one of the Vice Principals at Ermineskin Elementary School. For the past 2 years, I have overseen the Kindergarten department, which is comprised of approximately 200 kindergarten children and a teaching staff of 10. The MWE administration team, instructional coaches, teacher leaders, and…
By Tiffany Hourie, JR/HS Social Studies Teacher and Social Studies Department Head I am a high school teacher at Ermineskin Junior Senior High. I, along with the leadership team from my school, have been participating in the curriculum redesign professional learning sessions (5 sessions in total) facilitated by ERLC. These sessions have been specifically designed for our…
By Debbie Michael, Principal, Ermineskin Elementary School We are fortunate to be learning and growing as a learning community at Miyo Wahkohtowin as we all embark on a journey to embrace the Inspiring Education initiative and discover what the 10 competencies mean for our students. ERLC has been such a great support for us in this journey and…
By Eleni Decker, Edmonton Public Schools The idea of changing embedded teaching practices can feel daunting and overwhelming to many people in the teaching profession. Will it be manageable? Will it be beneficial to our students? How will the changes be implemented? The questions are endless and can make any teacher hesitant about moving…
By Patricia Nameth, Director of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment, Fort McMurray Catholic Schools The integration of project-based learning is thriving in Fort McMurray Catholic Schools. Following an engaging session with Warren Woytuck (Tools Not Lightbulbs: Nurturing Creativity), teachers at various schools began to identify areas of practice that could be transformed from traditional methods to project-based learning. This…
By Evan Mellsen, Living Waters I just got back from a PBL (project based learning) in one of my most beneficial PD’s I have ever encountered. There were several things that made this PD inspirational, including a good balance of work time, instructional time, and reflectional time. Through this PD, I learned 5 really important things that will help…
By Sian Haack I’ve always been interested in doing projects in my classroom. However, there were a few nagging issues that I needed to address: How do I get the students to do their best work? How can I be sure that I am assessing accurately and fairly? How do I design a project to ensure…
By Terri Peterson, ST. Vincent, Edmonton Catholic Schools Typically within my teaching practice, I have saved the exciting and engaging project work for the end of a unit of study, as the culminating event. Developing 21st century competencies within our students through PBL should be what drives us as educators to provide rich learning experiences that …