Professional Learning Record

Name: Stephanie McKeen

Part of your development as a professional is to engage in learning beyond your coursework and your CSL/practicum experiences. One of the Standards of
Practice is the “Commitment to Ongoing Professional Learning”. After attending a professional learning community session at the faculty or in your schools and
the community, take a moment to reflect on the learning that took place.

Date Title Location/Presenter Description* Learning: Key points

Sept. 7/22 Welcome to Lindy Amato Introduction to Different groups affiliated with OTF, the resources available at
OTF OTF OTF (lesson plans, curriculum forums, webinar etc.)
Sept. 13/22 Introduction to Derrick Schellenberg Introduction to the Use TVO as a helpful resource for online learning for students,
the Curriculum and Heidi Fisher curriculum check what parents are told their child is learning for an idea
and Resources resources website about expectations, how to use the search (use quotation marks to
Website get more relevant result)
Sept.13/22 The Teacher as Shyam Patel Developing a Talk critically to your students about gender and race; teaching
Healer teaching empathy is very important; love and compassion are powerful
philosophy tools
Sept.21/22 Project of Heart Lisa Howell, Silvia A workshop about Explained what the project of heart was and the resources
Smith and Madeline learning about available. Enhanced our understanding of residential schools,
McCracken indigenous their impact on indigenous peoples and communities and a
peoples and their teacher’s responsibility of this in the classroom
community
Sept.27/22 Ontario College Ryan Alexander Virtual Explaining what the OCT is, what they do, tools and resources
of Teachers Reyes presentation about that they provide such as professional advisories, program
OCT accreditations etc. They also explained how to apply for teacher
registration, our ethical standards and what is required by this
profession
Sept.27/22 Associate Paul Gautreau, Associate teachers Maximize your practicum experience (immerse yourself in the
Teachers and Megan Egerton- and principals school community), helpful advice and tips
Principals Panel Graham, Michael give advice to
Curry, Jeremy teacher candidates
Nowiski) (ATs: Linda
 Hlaing-Bowen, Kelly
Ann Ross, Stephanie
Allardyce
Oct.4/22 The Science of Mary Dahlgren, The science of Online subscription membership for tools4reading; teaching
Reading Part 1: Antonio Fierro, reading. students to read directly is more effective than otherwise;
Myths, Truths, Stephanie Stollar everyone has to build a reading brain (reading isn’t natural); how
Tips and language works in social settings vs. an academic setting; second
Takeaways language learners can learn the same way, but with more support;
how phonemes connect to graphemes
Oct.11/22 Introduction to Chantel Smith Discuss the Ensuring that there are spaces for all students to feel comfortable
SATE (Student different strategies (different ethnic, religious etc. backgrounds); equity coaches
achievement for ensuring available to students to support them; human rights and safe
through equity) equity schools policy
Oct.11/22 Foundations of Laura Christmann Ministry of Ed – Descriptive feedback, importance of student involvement in their
Assessment Grant Minkhorst discussion about own learning and evaluation, some information about the
Deborah Keefe best practices of Growing Success documents that are used in evaluation and
student evaluation assessment
and feedback
Oct.12/22 Diversity and Fatemeh Anvari Experiences You can use books critically even if it’s controversial as long as
Voice in the working on it’s discussed in class; neurodiversity (different kinds of brains;
Elementary diversity in the book – All My Stripes – a book about autism); indigenous
Classroom elementary environmental awareness; it’s important to show kids different
classroom, the authentic voices and guests so that they are exposed to minority
authenticity of groups and taught about diverse people; teaching controversial
voice issues allows for content across the curriculum to be related in
authentic ways to children’s lives; have a part of the school’s
weekly schedule to discuss these (kids are capable of activism
and injustice); try to get material from different voices (make
sure that the material and the author are similar e.g., a book about
an Afghan girl written by an Afghan; resources: “epic!”
getepic.com, “Sora” soraapp.com, Octopus Books store,
YouTube read-a-louds; if you need materials, try those sources or
ask fellow teachers if they have a copy; come from a place of
 learning and not a place of expertise when teaching about a
diverse topic (e.g., if reading an indigenous story by an
indigenous person, you can tell the students that you are learning
with them); try to collaborate with parents and colleagues about
diversity if you can (do it as an invitation for parents)
fanva009@uottawa.ca
Nov.1/22 Boundary Issues Randy Banderob How to deal with The students are always more vulnerable because of a power
for Educators maintaining an imbalance
appropriate, The student must be supported at all times in a professional
friendly distance manner which is characterized as caring, respectful and
appropriately distant “I want to tell you a secret” = Warning sign
from a student, a
– depending on what info they share with you, you cannot
teacher’s promise to keep it secret
responsibilities If students have thoughts of self-harm, they NEED to be
towards student delivered to a medical professional (don’t let them out of your
care etc. sight – get them help immediately, you are responsible to follow
through on that situation, you cannot pass them off to a guidance
counselor or a principal to deal with if they won’t get them
medical attention – get them the right help)
Nov.15/22 Learning While Matthew Sinclair Talking about Be observant about what is happening in the school (are rules
Black – anti-black racism, being bent for white children as opposed to black children?);
Addressing Anti- and how to deal what are the policies and what is actually being followed. Trust
Black Racism in with it black students’ judgements, be mindful of who you are and more
patient/understanding/forgiving to who you are not; call
Education
students/staff out on anti-blackness; admit to mistakes (for
example, when calling peoples’ names); celebrate black joy; audit
your resources and curriculum
Nov.15/22 Bullying: David Smith Why student- Your teaching will be as effective as the quality of your
Teacher-Student teacher relationship with your students; attachment theory: your early
Relationships – relationships relationships with caregivers influence the relationships that we
Why they Matter matter (the develop later on (they become our models on what a good
and How to
theories) relationship looks like, what we expect, what’s my role etc.);
Make them
Work students who may have had insecure attachments may bring
challenges to you (they are the ones who need help the most);
challenging students- meet them and bring caring and
 compassion to the relationship; Try to foster good relations with
all students because your relationships with them will affect the
amount of bullying they might experience from their peers; if a
child makes you angry, acknowledge you are angry, take a
moment or two to think, make space for the anger, now I decide
to do next based on what is important to me as a teacher);
sometimes a pause can be more powerful than a reaction
Nov.17/22 Assessment and Cathryn Wake How to use play Do not only rely on “products” (what they are representing) –
Evaluation to gather also reply upon conversation (what they are saying) and
observational data observation (what they are doing) Screencastify = chromebook
tool that can record conversations; the culture of play should be
encouraged in all grades; students being allowed to engage in the
things they want; having the students play with blocks, for
example, can be used to assess students in cooperation,
communication, stability or the structure, symbolic
representation, trial and error, feelings, autonomy, respect for the
work of others; create a learning space where students feel happy
about making mistakes and expressing opinions, but don’t record
EVERY response unless students can use the info to see
advances in their own thinking
Student voice and student choice are very important – give
students choice on how they show their learning
Edpuzzle.com = an assessment tool like kahoot where you can
use already created videos or videos that you’ve created

Dec.14/22 Indigenous Math Bobby Henry Indigenous The National Centre fir Collaboration in Indigenous Education
Talk Approaches to (NCCIE) is a resource for indigenous education
Teaching -nccie.ca
Mathematics -edcan.ca/articles/teaching-by-the-medicine-wheel
People who have done research into indigenous education: Nicole
Bell, Mary Patrice, Archibald, Dr. Claire Mooney
Jan.17/23 Workplace Mary Catherine Managing Violent Make sure that your students are safe and you are safe. Review
Legislation Hogan, Situations in the safety plans of the students. There are many forms that
Heidi Brisson School MUST be filled out in case of a violent incident. Make sure to fill
 out the Safe Schools form and if you find road blocks (with
admin or principals); document everything (even if it's a small
incident i.e., a student swears at you)
Jan.17/23 Student Injury Chris Cully, Susan Legislation Always review policies if doing an activity or field trip that could
Prevention Brown, Rana regarding student expose students to hazards. Ensure that your class and school
Nasrazadani safety and injury have no hazards to your students; review policies and always plan
prevention your lessons and trips with safety as the first consideration
(mostly about
Rowan’s, Sabrina,
and Ryan’s laws)
Jan.18/23 2SLGBTQ+ Alexandra Rodriguez Discussed Be careful about microaggressions (utterances that imply
Inclusivity and and Wren Bond 2SLGBTQ+ negatives things about a person due to their ethnicity, sex or
Allyship terms, how to gender); pronouns are not up for debate (people are who they
Workshop support the are); resources - picture books “My Shadow is Purple”,
community and www.transstudent.org/gender, www.thegetrealmovement.com
students who are (has some resources/workshops); use gender neural language like
part of it “hey folks/everyone/friends”
Jan.31/23 The Impact of Mark Bailey It has adverse learning effects. It creates a constant
Smartphones distraction and rewires student brains so that they cannot
and Social concentrate or focus deeply on any given task
Media on More time in front of screens leads to higher rates of mental
Student illness, which makes it more difficult to learn
Learning:  Psychology of Behavioural Addiction
Teaching in the o 2 human vulnerabilities:
Age of Digital  Intermittent (random) positive
Distraction reinforcement
 You don’t know if there are
new notifications (the loading
circle – they can do it right
away, but they purposefully
delay); the reason why slot
machines work (at any time
 you “could” win)
 The drive for social approval
 The comments come from
online instead of in person
 Dogfooding: the practice of using your own
products; IT slang that originated from Microsoft
o People who develop these smartphone
technologies don’t let their kids use it
because they know it’s bad for them (Steve
Jobs didn’t let his kids use ipads)
 Book: Deep Work – Rules for focused success in a
distracted world by Cal Newport; Digital
Minimalism by Cal Newport
o If you spend large amounts of your time
fragmenting your attention, you can
permanently damage your ability to sustain
long concentration time; your ability to focus
deeply to retain key information is reduced
 Clifford Nass – Studied negative effects of media
“multi-tasking” on the brain
o Found that we cannot media multi-tasking –
our brain is bad at it and the more we try to
do it, the worse we get at focusing (less able
to manage memory, switch tasks)
o The optimal way to approach these streams
of data is to be discriminating about what
you want to do (for at least 15 minutes), then
take the next 15 minutes to choose the next
stream you want to focus on; turn
notifications off on your phone
Jan.31/23 Holocaust Tibor Egervari His story about surviving the holocaust. He asked not to
Education take notes out of respect.
Feb.14/23 Mental Health The Ministry of Some resources Listen, believe, and act – a resource to support marginalized
and Wellbeing Education – Sandy and teacher and racialized students
Yep, Lea Nsouli, supports about o Listen to understand the students
Carolyn Albanese student mental o Believe what the student shares
health and o Act for and with the students
wellbeing
Zones of regulation charts on the wall with emotions, frank
discussions about major issues or challenging world events,
checking in with students at the beginning and end of the
day, sharing circles to help students work through emotions
(just because you start one of these things doesn’t mean you
need to continue it if it stops working)

Resource: School Mental Health - Supportive

Conversations with Students During Challenging World
Events
https://smho-smso.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Info-
sheet-supportive-conversations-during-world-events.pdf

One-call Desk Resource: gives a step-by-step reproach

about helping and guiding students towards mental health
supports
https://smho-smso.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/One-
Call.pdf
**Might have an interview question be “what practice do
you use in class with regards to mental health and
wellbeing” or questions about equity and inclusion (bring
one or two scenarios to an interview panel
Feb.14/23 POD Model for Jill Bennett & Team A virtual wrap  Each pod has an education liaison, a school
Learning around system board/principal, qualified teacher, CAS staff, teacher
 Support – CAS of school candidates, community partners (foster, biological),
Ottawa (Child support for school staff, and protection workers; approx. 8
Aids Society) youth in care youths are in each pod
aged 14-18  Philosophy:
o Connect: a lot of work is done here;
developing the caring and trusting
relationship
o Engage: a lot of work is done here; working
on motivation for learning
o Learn: getting to know what the student
needs (this school work is provided with by
the partner school)
o Inspire: giving students the confidence to
engage with their education
 A tiered approach to intervention
o Tier 1: transportation,
accommodations/modifications, IEPs, safety
plans
o Tier 2: minimal support (maybe just some
homework or exam help)
o Tier 3: Some support required to be engaged
and successful (maybe help on assignments
or understanding classes (mostly math and
English)
o Tier 4: strategic intervention (e.g.,
graduation, someone who has been out of
school for an extended period etc.)
*Good experience that could help land a teaching job

Feb.22/23 Pathway to Jacob Rodenburg Climate PLC www.coeo.org Council of Outdoor Education; Camp
 Stewardship Kawartha is a well-known program (an outdoors program);
and Kinship & use nature as your teaching assistant
Nature Use the outdoors as a teaching guide. Useful for: building a
Connection relationship with nature, practicing sensory awareness,
understanding changes/being active participants in the
unfolding of nature, understanding the local flora and fauna
(e.g., listening to different bird calls)
Use for art activities in different seasons both by talking
fallen leaves and other debris inside and nature sculpting
outside
Feb 22/23 Coding for Yolantha Krawiecki Climate PLC Utilizing makecode.micorbit.org and a micro:bit starter kit
Climate Action and Jennifer to get kids interested in hands-on programing and pairing it
Gauthier with nature. For example, the micro:bit can be programmed
into a touch sensor. When placed in a garden, the micro:bit
can count how many times a bee visits a flower. The kits
are often bought by each school as well as ready-made
lesson plans on climate
Jen Gotier and Yolanta Scolentsky
 inksmith climate action kit
(www.inksmith.teachable.com) about $70 for the
energy and land kits (usually provided by the
school)
o they have a pedagogy piece and a coding
piece
o super fun!
Jennifer.gauthier@ocsb.ca
Yolanta.krawiecki@ocsb.ca

Feb 22/23 Puppeteering Glen Caradus Climate PLC Talked about and demonstrated the use of puppets, strings,
and playing for and songs to teach about climate action. Using simple
climate action puppets to act out an everyday story (e.g., a boy being told
to go outside instead of staying in online and what small

Feb 22/23 Gardening for Zakir,
Climate Action Genvironment
things he notices outside his house and how that makes him
feel). It is important to keep climate action personal and
relatable so that it is easier for students to understand
Climate PLC Talked about using seeds and starting a school garden to
help foster knowledge and care towards the environment.
Note that if a school garden is formed, figure out a way for
the garden to be taken care of during the summer (keep in
mind location of garden and length of garden hose…)
 Earth is like an apple activity: slice the apple to
show the representations of the earth

Feb 22/23 Let’s Talk Sue McKee Climate PLC Interesting ideas for making science interesting: learning
Science about insects – create “wanted” posters for each insect with
relevant information and scenarios where students must
determine which insect is the culprit; hands on projects –
creating a car utilizing a limited number of resources
(encouraging research and development)
Feb 22/23 STEM-Design Andrea Hemmerich Climate PLC Discussing best practices for teaching STEM
for Climate  Uses a human-centered approach to innovation (start
Action with looking at what people want before looking
into the tech)
 Design thinking: empathy with the end user, define
what the user needs, ideate to brainstorm ideas,
prototype (figure out how to build/make the thing),
call to action

Feb /28/23 Supporting Monika Bural, To provide an Students learn English at the same time as the Ontario
English Jennifer Glass, overview for Curriculum; must see that their culture and language are
Language Zheng Xu (from the teacher valued, involved in setting goals; student diversity is
Learners Ministry’s Student candidates of viewed as an asset; culturally responsive pedagogy (CRRP)
Achievement the policies and describes teaching practices that recognize all students lean
Division) initiatives that differently and that these differences are connected to
support ELLs background, language, family structure, and social/cultural
(English identity; ELL are students whose first language is a
Language language other than English, and who may require focused
Learners) educational supports; ELLs can be Canadian born (in
communities that maintained a distinct cultural and
linguistic tradition (maybe first nation, Inuit or Metis) or
born in another country; English Literacy Development
(ELD); ESL = for students born in Canada – ELD =
students who are newcomers who had not had opportunities
to develop language and literacy skills; these programs may
be held as a cluster program/class where they would spend
time in focused learning, then join the mainstream class for
their other courses (Elementary); students at secondary
level may use their 3ESL/ELD courses to count towards
their 4 compulsory English courses; teachers should
encourage parents to continue using their home language at
home to preserve their language and culture
*look at program planning and consideration in curriculum;
it generally takes 5-7 years for a learner to become
proficient in the academic language (conversational
language comes first)
1. Learn about the cultural and language through an
interactive survey
2. Have students reflect on their thinking and using of their
home language in comparison to the language at school
3. Ask if students are learning languages outside of the
classroom (which languages and where are they spoken)
4. Design the learning environment (allow opportunities for
classroom talk (including first languages), spaces for
inquiry, multiple opportunities to practice in a variety of
groupings (heterogeneous, homogeneous, pairings,
independent), fostering and modelling metacognition,
 authentic and multilingual texts
5. Differentiating instruction and assessment
*Steps to English Proficiency (STEP) is a framework that
outlines an assessment to address individual student
learning needs from K-12 (also used to monitor English
acquisition and literacy development); this is a resource, not
a policy, rubric, or curriculum – supports/aligns with the
curriculum for planning and instruction
*Looking at what students CAN do and not what they
CANNOT do, this is an asset
Feb 28/23 Guess what – Multi-lingual learners can use their language to help them
YOU are a learn other languages and should be encouraged;
language translingual should be utilized as a support for language
teacher learners; think about what language students NEED to
know in order show their teacher what they know (teach
that main vocab in context if possible); collaborate with
your FSL or other teacher resources when having language
challenges
March Race and Dwayne Morgan Talked about the racism that is around every day; to say
21/23 Education that “I don’t see colour” is a privileged statement (your skin
colour hasn’t changed/affected the environment); black
people are constantly aware that their simply being in a
space will affect that space; when in an unsafe environment,
people tend to stick together (groups of black students
sticking together at school); Dwayne explains his
experience as a black man in Canada; if you are in a safe
environment, then you can be yourself and that will lead to
the best outcome; microaggressions are real and those small
instances can have large impacts; the seeds of a society’s
views are implanted as early as 4 (which doll is the pretty
one = white, which doll is the ugly one = black); looking at
a toy doll aisle reveals who matters and who doesn’t; make
sure that the quotes and pictures on the wall reflect your
 students so that they feel seen and understood); white is set
as a standard and everything else is “other”; as a teacher, I
have to figure out how I can have a positive impact on my
students and how I can foster a safe environment (avoid
performative activism – there has to be a follow-up); there
are two world views (I and We); white people have created
environments to traumatize blacks, the black existence isn’t
traumatic; language matters (people of colour are often
positioned in a way to make white people comfortable i.e.,
black-on-black violence exists, but white-on-white violence
is not a thing in language); try to connect what you are
teaching the kids to them and their lives (how can they
relate to the teaching); restorative justice (discussing an
incident as a class and how they can deal with it as a class
(implementing something as a “we” community rather than
an ”I” community)
June 2/23 Getting Started Tim Fletcher Meaningful P.E is meaningful experiences; people are more
with likely to commit to a physical active lifestyle because of
Meaningful P.E personal meaning found in the activity.
Meaningful P.E. is democratic (inclusive, student
involvement, community-oriented) and reflective (goal
setting in the future and reflection on past practices to
stimulate goal setting
Get students to reflect on their own participation and
progress (using a poster divided into areas where they paste
stickers on how well they think they did or the difficulty
level); give students a P.E diary where they can write about
their experiences in P.E class
meaningfulpe.wordpress.com/presentations (this is the slide
deck)
June 2/23 Find your Inner Michelle Hillier Take time to stop and be present; use breathing and
Flame: Teacher movement techniques to help focus yourself on the now;
Self Care and establish healthy routines such as exercising, stretching,
 Wellness walking, listening to music at the beginning of your day;
you must take care of yourself before you can take care of
someone else
www.breathandfire.com; michelle@breathandfire.com
June 2/23 Identity Andrea Haefele and Every student has the right to quality Health and Physical
Affirming Deniece Bell Education where they feel they belong; historically, kids
Practices: expect competition in Phys-ed, but it is important to make
Building and sure there are multiple entry points; think of how you set up
Nurturing Safe a game and the rules to allow for inclusivity; play for love
Spaces vs. play for money (score)
Understand that you are not an expert on any other people’s
lived experiences, so communication is very important
June 2/23 Active Outdoor Mike Mhitmarsh The key is to start small, start local, and potentially connect
Learning with local community guides; definitely let to office admin
know if you are having class outside so that they know how
to contact you
App “Merlin” is an app that analyzes the sound it hears and
tells you what kind of bird makes those chirps; all subjects
can be incorporated into the outdoors in some way
@McLennan1977 is the twitter page of a kindergarten
teacher who incorporates a lot of the outdoors into her class
(some great ideas)
Sept. 13/23 Decolonization Geordie Walker Try to be okay with these uncomfortable conversations and
approach from a stance of humility; decolonization is about
decentering Eurocentric, colonial knowledge and practices,
and recentering knowledge and worldviews of those who
have been marginalized by colonialism; be okay with
making mistakes and admitting that you don’t know
everything; when trying to make safe spaces, ask your
students what makes a place safe to them
Sept. 20/23 Special Linda Yan
Education and
IEPS
Sept. 21/23 Planning for
Year 2 and
Beyond
Sept. 21/23 OTF Resources
(subject
association)
Sept. 27/23 CAS Roles and Alexander Graham Calling CAS can be done by yourself or with your VP/P.
Responsibilities and Karen Carkner The call goes to intake and will be coded as how soon it
must be dealt with (within 12 hours, a couple of days etc.).
CIC = child in care (0-16 yrs), VYSA = voluntary youth
agreement (16-18 yrs), RSG = ready set go program (18-21
yrs), CYC = child youth counselor, CPW = Child protection
worker
If consent needs to be obtained, can only be obtained by
CPW (field trip, milk money, grad money can go through
foster parent); can get consent about school from the youth
at 16 and up; group homes have one key worker (full timers
also have information you might need – contact them if you
can’t get a hold of the key worker); if there are court
proceedings, a lawyer will be assigned to the youth
Sometimes being the person who asks “what’s going on?”
can help the youth in your class with the “suitcase” that
they are carrying
The last thing that happens is bringing youth into care
Sept. 28/23 Mentoring Noa Daniel and Thementoree.com
Mindset Teri Rubinoff A supportive mentorship community for educators
A mentorship mindset means that you are responsible for
the growth of your learning, not the school, system, or
people around you
Self-direction:
- know yourself (be open to opportunities to learn
more about yourself) – we have unconscious values
and ideas that shape us. To know yourself is the
 beginning of all wisdom – Socrates
What is your mentorability?
- The ability to engage in mutually beneficial learning
(No One is Talking to the Mentees Victoria Black
TED Talk)
- You cannot learn if you are not mentorable
Know why you mentor
- Fulfillment comes from why we do it
- Mentorship should be mutual (two or more people
who share)
- Good mentoring comes from identity and integrity
of the mentor – Book: Start with why
Embody the 8C’s of mentorship
- Caring, consultant, collaborator, connection, coach,
choice, collective efficacy, and community
- Connection is at the heart of relationship building
- Mentors should be able to answer questions, raise
questions from the sidelines (consultant,
collaborator, coach)
- Caring, choice, community and collective efficacy
allows for autonomy, helps to sustain community,
and helps collective efficacy
- Teacher must collaborate with each other, build
cultures and networks of communication, learning
and trust
Understand your context
- You have accountability so you cannot direct
yourself until you have context
- Includes, culture, environment, mental-emotional,
 technology, social – where your mentorship happens
is important
Be open to learning from everybody
- Those who are wise learn from everyone, but you
have to take time to learn
- Set aside judgement and value diversity, disrupt
racism
- What we know matters, but who we are matters
more
Growth mindset: “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ll
figure it out soon”-
Voiced.ca = OnEdMentors podcast every Monday 8-9pm
10/4/23 Signs of Safety
10/5/23 Going Deeper – Laura Christmann Involving students in the evaluation and reporting process
Assessment, and Deborah Keefe, - Exit Cards: what are three things you learned, three
Evaluation and Education Officers stars and a wish
Reporting - Student - Look at students’ portfolios with the students in a
Achievement conference and make goals together
Division, Ministry - Take the expectations from the curriculum, adjust
of Education the language, show students the expectations and
present them as learning goals, then ask students to
help co-create their own success criteria (what does
success look like, sound like, feel like)
- Do not ask students to evaluate their peers; they can
provide feedback, not a mark
Use report cards to inform instructional decisions
- Code report card comments to group strengths and
next steps for instructional learning
- Collect informal observations and conversations
with students as evidence of learning (you could
 have conferences with students about their learning
- Report cards should not be a surprise
Descriptive Feedback
- Identifies what the student is doing well, what needs
improvement, provides next steps to guide students
on how to improve; prioritized to focus on what the
student needs most
- Feedback done at regular intervals just in time
- Must be implemented by students and monitored by
the teacher
- Students must be provided time and opportunity to
respond to feedback and act on it
- Keep records of the descriptive feedback
- Task criteria (what they produce) is different than
success criteria (what does a good paragraph look
like)
- Do not assign a mark when students are still learning
something because it undoes the given feedback;
give them the opportunity to use the feedback; create
a descriptive feedback loop instead of marks until
the last thing (then the last product will be all the
better – they may need several opportunities to use
this feedback
10/12/23 Trauma Jess Whitley ACE – adverse childhood events (about 50% of pop have
Informed experienced this)
Practice - Most common ACE is divorce
- Trauma affects behaviour and learning
- Can have long-term effects (babies can also be
affected and impacted throughout their lives)
- Role of educators & school (not to find all info
 about it nor treat the trauma – just support and know
enough to support)
- UDL (universal design for learning) – in other
words, work using a trauma informed lense
What is Trauma? Three E’s
- An event/series of events that is experienced by an
individual that is physically or emotionally harmful
or life threatening that has lasting adverse effect.
This can be intergenerational
- E.g., car accidents can affect people differently
- Most people navigate post-trauma, heal, and develop
resilience
- Trauma can be experienced in the household
(divorce, bullying, domestic violence, homelessness,
parental mental illness, in care (CAS)), community
(lack of jobs, discrimination, historical trauma, food
scarcity, poverty, substandard schools), and
environment (natural disasters, pandemic, wildfires)
- Responses to trauma: fight (yelling, swearing,
defiant/aggressive behaviour, crying), flight
(anxiety, difficulty separating from caregivers,
running away, avoidance, substance use, withdrawal
from friends/family), freeze response (spacing out,
appearing numb, disconnected, confused,
unresponsive, regressed behaviours (bed wetting,
losing speech))
Attention-seeking:
- Don’t react – think first and respond appropriately
- redirect it with a task such as taking attendance,
 helping to clean the board
- talking with the student at the beginning or end of
class asking about their weekend/sport/thing you
know they’ve done
OCDSB Multicultural Liaison can be called to the school to
help with MLL students if there is no language support in
the school
- use basic sign language to communicate needs,
picture books etc.
Be predictable in terms of schedules, expectation,
reactions/responses to help create a safe space. Having an
adult that is consistently predictable is great
Regulate the nervous system (such as a fidget toy, sitting
with a view of the door).
Build connected relationships
Practice “power-with” strategies (give leadership or other
opportunities to use skills in a way that is positive – if it’s a
disaster, then you still tried)
Build social emotional connections
Opportunities for play
11/2/23 Bearing Tibor Egervari – Holocaust teaching is mandatory in schools now. Can order
Witness/ The Professor of a class set of books from the Centre for Holocaust
Shoah/ Theatre at UofO Education and Scholarship (CHES) (local charity and
Testimonies and Holocaust resource for education to teach about the holocaust and
Against Hatred Survivor promote antisemitism)
It is suspected that the beginning of the holocaust happened
Nov. 9, 1938 with Kristallnacht when there was an attack
on everything Jewish in Germany
August 1939 – Non-agression treaty signed between the
Soviet Union and Germany
Sept. 1, 1939 – Germany invades Poland
Sept. 3, 1939 England and France declare war on Germany
Sept. 17, 1939 Soviet invades the other half of Poland
Germany places all “inferior” races such as Jews and
Romani people into ghettos and concentration camps. These
camps continued for the duration of the war
June 1941 – Germany invades the Soviet Union (they were
taken by surprise)
Sept. 29-30, 1941 Babi Yar – a ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine,
where the massacre of 33,771 Jews took place
January 1942 – The Final Solution – everyone who
belonged to an “inferior” race were a danger to the Aryan
race and
Jan. 27, 1945 – Liberation of Auschwitz
Gypsies were originally from northern India and were also
part of the holocaust
Auschwitz was very well organized; people didn’t know
what would be happening to them, they were led to the
shower room which was actually a gas chamber and they
could kill 1500 people a day
He was a child about 5-6 years old and was saved by Gabor
Sztehlo (1909-1974), a person who was “Righteous Among
the Nations/Just Among the Nations” (he wasn’t Jewish, a
Bavarian Priest, who risked his life to save 2000 children in
Budapest from the red army). He rented or bought 32
mansions and hid the children there because it was the last
place the Germans would think to look
The Jewish people are the Ashkenazi ethnic people as well
as the religion; during the holocaust, the Jews were
persecuted not because of their faith, but because of their
race (no conversion could save you)
Dreyfus Affair in Europe was a political scandal in France
that is a notable example of the miscarriage of justice and
antisemitism
There was a thought in Germany that they didn’t lose the
first war because Germany was never invaded. This
resentment grew and it was thought that their surrender in
the first war was treason (they had to pay huge amounts of
money, lots of unemployment, inflation – the perfect
breeding ground for extremism); the people were looking
for the traitor within and Jews were an easy target; by the
time Hitler came to power, it was quite normal to blame the
Jews for the German’s defeat in the first war
Hilter promised the German people economic recovery and
a place on the international stage and he succeeded; then he
built an army; gave Germany back it’s pride; in 1938
Germany hosted the Olymics; all of this put Hitler and his
Germany in a good light
Nazi’s won the election in 1933
Nurnberg Laws (1935) – laws that deprived Jews of their
rights which took away their citizenship and made them
subjects of the state, forbade interracial marriages or sexual
relations
Martin Niemoller, German Pastor (1892-1864) had an
important saying about how to ensure an event like the
holocaust doesn’t happen (essentially, always speak up for
everyone because if they come for everyone different then
you and they finally come for you, then there will be no one
left to defend you
You cannot legislate feelings (no you cannot hate Jews),
only actions; only a free and democratic society can prevent
a Hitler from coming to power; if you vote for censure,
tomorrow you will be the person who is censured
The presenters opinion on free speech: he would rather
have people speak their hatred so that it can be fought
against; he also believes that if the word is an act, then it’s
not acceptable (for example: yelling fire in a cinema is an
act, calling for someone’s death is an act); he is a firm
 belief that as long as we have democracy, those people with
hate speech will not win because as long as the legislation
is free of “isms” then there is still freedom
11/8/23 Podcast: The Dr. David Tranter, Longitudinal studies about what sets up students for
Third Path Lori Carson, Tom success: Daniden Study- academic success doesn’t correlate
Boland with adult success (life satisfaction and fulfillment); social-
emotional success is connected to academic success;
humans have made progress in every way except for well-
being (subjective well-being)
Relationship-based teaching is the optimal path because in
their experience, having a strong relationship with the
community partners, the students, and the parents is key.
Teachers’ roles are more the tier 1, tier 2 support
8 Conditions for student success (they are hierarchical like
Maslov’s Hierarchy of needs)
1. safety – emotional safety
2. regulation – emotional regulation
3. belonging – hard to feel belonging if you are
deregulated
4. positivity – focus on student’s strengths, a strongly
positive environment
5. engagement
6. identity – students explore themselves and others
7. mastery – they have moments of mastery
experiences
8. meaning – school needs to feel meaningful (a lot of
teenagers feel school is not meaningful), students
need to feel that they are meaningful and that they
matter at school
Great teachers teach with CARE (consistency, attunement,
responsivity, and empathy)
Introducing a new concept and the language that you choose
 to introduce it can impact students. If you say a concept is
easy, then it makes students anxious if they can’t get it. If
you say it’s difficult, they will not feel so anxious if they
cannot understand (‘cause it’s hard)
 Apps: headspace, impact timer, Twitter
 Books: Audible (go for a walk and read), The
Wizard of Oz (they were all so convinced that they
were missing something, but they found out that
they had it all along through their relationships with
each other),

11/9/23 Report Cards Grant Minkhorst, Planning Instruction to Writing Report Cards: Learning
Laura Christmann, goals  Success criteria  descriptive feedback 
Deborah Keefe evaluation  reporting

Effective Comments: personalized, clear, precise,

meaningful, describes significant strengths, knowledge and
criteria demonstrated from the curriculum without repeating
the curriculum verbatim, includes next steps
Growing Success says that comment banks are not to be
used when writing report cards because it’s too vague and
impersonal.
11/16/23 Strategies and Awad Ibrahim, We cannot teach what we do not know. By acknowledging
Approaches to Richard Maclure, the limits of what we know, then it is your pedagogical
Address Geordie Walker, obligation to learn and fill in those gaps; you can also bring
Challengin Brian Comme, Bill in people who are experts to talk; we need to acknowledge
Issues in the (OCDSB equity that not all differences are the same (some areas we are
Classroom team) uncomfortable talking about is race); we need to choose a
point of entrance (race cannot be talked about by itself
without talking about gender, sexuality etc.). You cannot
talk about everything at once (there’s an intersectionality);
we need to create an economy of hospitality and allow
students to feel at home so that they can start to address
these issues (courageous spaces where we talk about
difficult topics – very emotional topics)

Create those spaces where students feel like they have a

voice and that their voice is validated; if it doesn’t work the
first time, show humility (messed up – how can we fix it)
and try again

There will always be some kind of event that polarizes our

communities so being able to provide space to talk about it
is necessary because students do want to talk about it

When setting up this space, set a framework for the topic,

rules for engagement (no hate speech), have empathy (both
teacher and students), and allow room for learning,
feedback is important (ask how the conversation should go
so that the students are no harmed); do not make a
comment on a lived experience at the time that it is
made; do not compare and contrast the lived
experiences (it might make them feel like their
experience is not important)

Many students are getting their info from social media so

critical literacy is very important

Constant bad news can fragment communities; regardless,

schools are public (they belong to everyone) and must allow
for difference and calm discourse; they can enable students
to appreciate and understand different opinions; teachers
must acknowledge how kids feel (they feel charged) and
that this is normal; then they can analyse and discuss why
they feel this way; then they can go deeper where they listen
 to both sides; allow one group to speak (what’s the reason
why you feel this way), then listen to the other side (what
reason do you feel this way, present the evidence); as a
teacher, try to encourage them to speak; if they ask your
opinion, you can admit that you don’t know and you can co-
learn about the topic; both groups likely cannot come to an
agreement, but there may be ways to reconcile; focus on
facts and ideas, not the person (don’t attack the person,
attack the idea); there will always be strong viewpoints, but
a democratic society needs to be able to express those
viewpoints; ask the students how they think the situation
can be resolved

There is no censorship in a school (from the board or the

school); students should be allowed to express themselves
and there are supports in the schools available to students;
sometimes words need to be chosen carefully because they
can be quite triggering (about the middle east, words like
“terrorist” and “genocide” are charged and loaded with
meaning); we can talk about why these words are triggering
(a lot of it can be historical); sometimes not using the word
and just calling it “the situation” may in a way anger people
because they feel that it is downplaying the situation or not
calling it what it is; explain why you call it “the situation”
(you are trying to be mindful of triggers)
Nov. 23/23 Careers Fair Cynthia from Virtual; important to learn about organizations and hiring
Career Corner processes, discuss job search strategies, interviews, resume
(UOttawa) tips, expand your network, collect referrals to other
departments or divisions; private schools, Montessori
schools may be present; find potential career
fairs/networking event on Eventbrite (events of the city are
posted); February 14 is virtual fair (make sure to register
for the fair at career fair 2024 (search online)
 Prepare youself: know your short term and longterm goals
(settle in Ottawa), what is your skills set, update your
resume (might be able to send it to the employer – can get it
done at the career corner), apply for positions that interest
you before the event so you can ask more in depth
questions, craft an elevator pitch (sell yourself in 30-90
seconds – PAWS – personal, academic, work, skills that are
relevant to the school board/career you are wanting to/are
applying for (practice it so it’s not wooden)), research the
organizations, prepare questions for employers that you
can’t figure out from a google search, plan your day (which
employers you really want to talk to); in virtual, everything
is communicated through the chat, might not have to be in
dress clothing (there might be some video chat instances so
wear a nicer shirt), be ready to put yourself out there be in
the chat first, take notes on things that are being said, ask
for next steps and contact information, if there are company
presentations/workshops attend; after the event, follow-up
with employers and connect with representatives on
LinkedIn, send thank you notes to the representatives (if it’s
a generic email refer to the person by name), follow up on
promised information (if you promised to send info, do so
in 24 hours) stay informed, be patient and persistent, always
answer back to a rejection letter professionally (no burning
bridges); callan@uottawa.ca
Nov. 23/23 The Pat McKelvie There is an international job fair hiring in January (maybe
Professional go to the UK?)
Portfolio – pmckelvi@uottawa.ca
Creating and Hiring process may have been changed in the new contract
Using your (used to be 4 months of LTO work to qualify for
portfolio either permanent)
digitally from Portfolio:
your Digital Digital Hub – synthesize all learning and experience into a
Hub or Hard cohesive artifact, tells your story as a teacher, shows your
Copy philosophy of education, demonstrate the 5 standards of
competency of practice, demonstrate that you’re an
adaptive expert; digital portfolios can demonstrate
proficiency with technology; practice looking through your
portfolio so that you don’t have trouble looking for
anything
Hard Copy – doesn’t need power to work, some boards
don’t allow internet (ask beforehand), be care
You can use one artifact to talk about all of your
philosophies of teaching
I believe statements can be very powerful: example – I
believe planning should be a backwards design so the big
idea and knowledge drive the lesson sequence and
assessment, choice is important because it helps students to
commit to their learning, differentiated learning is
important to give all students an entry point into every
lesson
People get a first impression of you within the first 3
seconds
Artifacts under each of the Standards of Practice
- Demonstrate planning and instructional strategies
including use of technology, creativity and
innovation
- Assessment (differentiated assessment)
- Differentiation
- Inclusive practice and building classroom
communities
- Collaboration to enhance learning
- Classroom management
- Personal strengths and additional qualifications,
talents and abilities (are you an athlete, a musician)
 - Communication: how, when with whom and why –
especially with home (example: can talk about CAS
experience with talking with foster parents to check
on student and talk about engagement strategies)
- Cohort: optional
- Supply teaching: optional (maybe create a section on
what you would do if you were supply teaching and
there was nothing there for you)
- Technology – find something you’ve done with tech
(cubes, 3D printing, Lego robots)
*Can put in things that you haven’t done yet, but your
future practice (example, how you plan to communicate
with home)
Make sure that you have a rationale statement for why you
chose an artifact so that you remember why you chose it
(this is the activity, I selected this to show you my
philosophy); must be grounded in pedagogical theory; use
your I believe statements to guide you
Pictures are great! Student work is great if you remove
names
Your interview will typically have 5 questions – jot notes
for each response; be selective of your artifacts (maybe 2 or
3); you have 20 minutes and it’s very strict – be aware of
the time; be authentic (do your background research about
the school, mission statements, backgrounds of students)
Thank them after the interview, might have to explain why
you are the best match for the school
Look Fors in teaching interviews:
- Mention students as the main focus
- Professional
- Communicates clearly
 - Body language is open and friendly
- Lists past and future professional development
(interested in an AQ in Math)
- Knowledgeable about initiatives of the board
- Enthusiastic, knowledgeable, positive and
demonstrates a passion for students’ learning and
working in a school community
- Your own skill sets and how that connects to the
position
Feb.15, 22, National Andrea McArthur, Gave and talked about different resources on international
29, and Online Sophie Rondeau, humanitarian education and how to use them in class
March 7/24 Humanitarian Yasaman Ahanin,  Day 1: What is International Humanitarian Law?
Education Christina Mckay, Ewan o Resources on having challenging
Training Geddes, Amanda conversations in the classroom
Hartley, Leftenant Eric  Day 2: Sex and Gender Based Violence and children
Weaver (talked about
affected by armed conflict
Canadian Armed Forces
o Likely teach this to Grade 12 only
codes of conduct),
Katherine Rossy,
o Code of Conduct for Soldiers (derived from
Vanessa Caddel, Leigh IHL taught to all CAF members): all soldiers
Muething are given ongoing training for 11 basic rules
of conflict; e.g., it is illegal to kill a wounded
enemy (they are no longer to be treated as an
enemy)
o In the law of war, if a combatant is attacking
you, whether injured or a child soldier, it is
not illegal to shoot them
o Things that are “legal” are not necessarily
“justice” – “Lawful, but awful”
 Day 3: Responding to the Consequences of War -
 Building a Camp for People Displaced by War
o The by-stander effect
o Open ended questions such as “what is
dignity”
o If you had 10 minutes to pack, what would
you bring
o Move the class by asking questions where
they have to move to show agree, disagree,
maybe yes, maybe no
o What is a humanitarian act?
o See, Think, Feel, Questions chart for
students to fill out
o Where would refugees or displaced peoples
go?
o Constructing a refugee camp activity (from
Humanitarian guidebook) for grade 10-12;
students construct their camp on Bristol
board and do a gallery walk to see what each
group did
o Give students the option of giving
anonymous answers for some activities
(Peardeck is a good tool)
o Humanitarian principles: humanity,
impartiality (action is based on need),
neutrality, independence (operational
independence, may work alongside other
organizations)
 Day 4: The Environment and International
Humanitarian Law – Engaging Youth in
International Humanitarian Law