Special+Courses

 I have chosen to include the items on this page as they indicate the diversity within my educational background and show skills I can utilize within any school setting. Practicing the need to be a life long learner, these special courses are only a stepping stone towards my continual development. I fully believe it is pertinent to continually educate oneself in order to produce the best possible learning for all students. **Certificates for courses**: Technology, Professional Learning Communities Workshop, School Law 

**2012-2013 PD** : **- Subject Council, May 3, 2013- "Universal Design for Learning" by Jennifer Katz** - Group of 12 teachers gathered from grades kindergarten to five at Southern Carleton Elementary School, to discuss and reflect the principals of the above book. It was shared how we are currently using some of these practices within our daily, monthly and yearly planning and how we can incorporate more in our future plans. - **April, 2013- Math Marking - Karen Pierce, Math Lead ASW, Deidra Rioux, 3/4 Gr. Teacher** - Teachers from grades 3-5 gathered to discuss examples and practice marking for provinical assessments. Discussed differences of effective and efficient strategies and how to increase preparation for our students. Expecations for the rubric were discussed and used to mark a sample question gathered previously from students.

**- Jan, 2013- Guided Math- Half Day session in Hartland, with 3 District Math Leads** - Discussed the use of Guided Math and how it is structure to work within any classroom. Learned how this is an effective and important part of Balance Math and should be incoporated to benefit students and teachers. Engaged in activities to show how tasks can guide planning and flexible groups for reteaching and enrichment. Practiced running a guided math day and using anchor charts as independent/group activities.

¨ ** Beginner and Intermediate Maliseet Language ** - two-semester course that enabled me to orally learn the Maliseet language. Ensured that I was capable of speaking, and translating sentences and commands fluently between Maliseet and English.

¨ ** Native Studies ** : Native Environment, Ethics and Ecology, Native People and Racism, Suicide and Indigenous Peoples, Roles of Native Women.

¨ ** Shared Leadership: ** Small-group based course which focused on the data and research concerning leadership, discovery based learning, opportunities for intervention and enrichment based on students needs, professional learning communities and methods for bringing all schools into the 21 st century model. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">¨ ** PD 2011-2012 : ** **Best Practices in Assessment in Elementary Schools:** Half-day session that focused on evaluating assessment theories and data and determining in a team setting how best practices in assessment can be achieved.


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"> __**Subject Council Day**__- __**May 6, 2011-**__
 * **Parks Canada-** Cross-curricular ideas, lesson plans and community projects that make incredible use of the National Parks and bodies of water located in our country! This was a very imformative workshop that allowed fellow colleagues and myself to learn new and engaging ways to get students interacting with nature and learning about the impacts of daily life on our environment.
 * **Sustainability Within The Classroom:** A pair of ladies representing natural resources Canada organized an interesting presentation concerning the need for sustainability efforts within the classroom and community at large.
 * **How to Get More out of your Smartboard:** Excellent workshop that gave information about how to make the smartboard a more accessible tool for students and how to get students more engaged and responsbile for directing their learning. There was a huge benefit from this workshop as I learned several new resources for making Smartboard activities animated, more interactive and tools students can use to represent their knowledge.
 * **Web 2.0 Tools-** This was a great presentation about how to make use of these free online tools. Students can greatly benefit from these activities and tools which offer new and exciting ways to explore concepts and also represent what information they have learned and find informative.