It's Mrs. Lowe writing today. Last weekend I was fortunate to attend a conference in Burlington Ontario. The conference was titled, Transforming Pedagogical Practices: Making Connections Across Ontario. The conference was hosted by The Canadian Association for Young Children and the Ontario Reggio Association.
The day started with a key note address by Jim Grieve. He was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of the Early Learning Division for the Ontario Ministry of Education in 2009. He was responsible for the implementation of full day learning for 4 and 5 year old children in all Ontario Schools.
His address was titled "How Toddlers Will Save the World." He talked about the value of our investment as a society when we invest in children.
He told us that...
Education needs to be modernized ...which is about "putting away your October box of pumpkins" and instead focus on...
INTERACTION
talking and listening to the children's interest and questions
getting down, eye to eye
provoking children to challenge thinking
talking and listening to the children's interest and questions
getting down, eye to eye
provoking children to challenge thinking
He told us about some researchers in China who were working with Panda cubs who had been born into captivity. In order to prepare them for the world, the researchers dressed up as Pandas whenever they were working with the cubs. Jim encouraged us to "suit up" when we are working with our students. As teachers, we should get down on the floor with students, get our hands dirty and become participants in their play.
Following the keynote address I attended 3 amazing workshops.
The first one was hosted by Joanne Babalis. I was really excited to meet her after following her blog since early this summer. It was her classroom transformation that inspired the changes in my own classroom. You can check out her blog here:
She showed us some beautiful examples of inquiry-based learning and how to
document the learning that is taking place.
In the afternoon I went to a session titled "Magic Happens." We got to hear the experiences of a team of teachers who are beginning to move from traditional teaching to a more inquiry-based approach. During their presentation they showed slides with direct quotes from the Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum.
"The Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program reflects the belief that 4 and 5 year olds are capable and active learners, full of potential and ready to take ownership of their learning..."
"The FDELKP consists of a balance of exploration or investigation, guided instruction and explicit instruction...learning experiences will be thoughtfully planned and guided by team members..."
These quotes really capture what it's all about.
I had a great weekend and can't wait to start sharing my learning with my students and their families!
2 comments:
Sounds a lot like the Primary Years Program (PYP) training I did when I was overseas. Looking forward to hearing more about it!
Ms. Rempel, thanks so much for following our blog! It's nice to see and read about what other students and teachers in our school are working on.
p.s. we like your blog too!
Post a Comment