Nova Scotia Teachers Association for Literacy and Learning
Living Literacies: Beyond Reading
Provincial Conference - Friday, October 27, 2023
Registration CLOSED!
No refunds after October 13th
Registration Information
| Conference Fee (NSTU Members) | $85.00 |
| Substitutes | $45.00 |
| Pre-Service Teachers | $45.00 |
| Retired Members | $45.00 |
| Other Affiliates | $45.00 |
As per NSTU Operational Procedure 14 E. IV.: receipts of payment and attendance will not be distributed until the conference has concluded.
Location:
Cobequid Educational Centre (CEC), Truro
Click on the map to access directions
Contacts
Tami Cox-Jardine or nstall@nstu.ca
Conference Schedule
Friday, October 27 |
|
8:15am - 9:00am |
Registration |
FULL DAY Workshops9am-2:45pm |
A1 (Full Day: Redcliff Middle School, Bible Hill) Decolonizing Cultural Conversations Outside Redcliff Middle School we’ll begin with a circle on what brought us all together. We’ll workshop the wins and wants that October has left us with, in our pursuit of Treaty Education for the rest of the year. Then we’ll head outdoors to enjoy some outdoor learning opportunities for further consideration of decolonization of education. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Matt Arsenault, Grade 7 Science and Math teacher committed to Two-Eyed Seeing in environmental education grounded in hope and action, with Mi’kma’ki as the source of our life and learning.
A2 (Full Day: Cape Split, Blomidon) Experience Mi'kma'ki: A Guided Tour of Cape Split at Blomidon Participants will endeavor on a guided tour of the Cape Split hiking trail at Blomidon. Hikers will make stops along the way to hear stories of Mi’kmaq folklore, legends and mythology from guests to learn about the culture and rich storytelling tradition Mi'kma'ki. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Jonathan Grant and guests Jonathan is an outdoors enthusiast and social studies teacher at Northumberland Regional High School.
A3 (Full Day: on site) Connecting with Nature in Early Elementary Curriculum An interactive workshop on engaging environmental learning in early elementary classrooms, focusing on connections to provincial literacy outcomes. Discover strategies to help your learners develop meaningful relationships with the natural world, both inside and outside the classroom. Grow your tools to instill stewardship and care for the environment in your learners. Participants will leave with ready-to-go learning experiences and a FREE 'Environmental Teaching Kit' full of goodies, books, and resources! Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Wil Brunner Wil Brunner offers a wealth of environmental education experience from 15 years in the environmental conservation and mental health professions. Between leading community cleanups and guiding nature therapy experiences, Wil has a strong passion for reconnecting youth to the natural world. He currently lives in Aylesford and provides Professional Learning workshops to teachers across Nova Scotia at Clean Foundation.
A4 (FULL DAY, Truro) Re-Connecting with Nature Description: Looking for ways to take your class outside, and share your passion for outdoor learning and play? The Re-Connecting with Nature workshop, full day outdoor workshop, is a hands-on day of outdoor adventure to improve your ability to lead and share an appreciation and understanding of nature with children. You will improve your leadership skills, gain practical activity ideas, network with like-minded folks and have fun in nature. This workshop is supported by Hike Nova Scotia. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: TBA BIO: TBA |
9am - 12 Noon(FULL MORNING) |
Session ABAB12 (Half Day): Circle Activities 101! Presenter: Mikel Légère
AB13 (Half Day) Workshop Title: Using a child’s French Oral Language as a Foundation for Reading and Writing in P-2 classrooms Presenter: Lisa Harvey
AB14 (Half Day): The Amazing Math Race
AB15 (Half Day)Workshop Title: Who Am I in This Crazy World: Using UDL to Integrate Social Emotional Learning Into the Grade 7 (or any grade) CurriculumSocial Emotional Learning is at the forefront of education across the globe as rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide skyrocket. SEL explicitly teaches students what's needed to live happier lives. This workshop will reflect on an informal “pilot project” that integrates SEL into the classroom using a completely modifiable series of UDL infused lessons, researched, created, and implemented successfully by the presenter during the last three years. Lessons and materials will be shared. Participants should BYOD, a phone could work in a pinch! Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Tammy Chitty Tammy Chitty has been a Learning Support Teacher for 18 years, and for the last 12 years, at Redcliff Middle School in Valley, NS. In the 10 years before that, her experience was very diverse, teaching students from Grade 2 to high school to adult learners, and teaching reading, English, Social Studies, Drama, and Math to students of all ability levels. A Masters concentrating on Diverse Learners made sense for Tammy, and her passion for Educational Technology led her to finish her second Masters in 2021. Her knowledge of the Science of Happiness keeps Tammy often in a happy place near the water, with loved ones, capturing as many sunset skies as possible while dreaming up how to change the world.
AB16: Fighting Antisemitism with a Critical-Thinking Lens With white supremacy on the rise, discrimination against Jews surely follows. We explore such questions as:
Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Larry Haiven and Rima Berns-McGown Larry Haiven is Professor Emeritus at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, and a founding member of Independent Jewish Voices, Equity Watch, and Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education. Rima Berns-McGown is a Canadian politician, professor and author. A member of Independent Jewish Voices, she was a New Democrat member of the Ontario legislature from 2018 to 2022. She now resides in Nova Scotia.
AB17: Literacy as a Human Right: Implications for Policy and Practice ● An overview of Literacy as a Human Right for all children, including implications for teaching and learning Workshop Capacity: 20 AB19: Active Smarter Kids Project and Literacy Learning The NS ASK Project is a unique, partnership-based project working with schools to support the implementation of physically active learning (PAL) in schools across Nova Scotia/Mi'kma'ki. This workshop experience will provide you with background information about the project and engaging literacy outcome-based activities to bring back to your learners. Please wear comfortable clothing and dress for the weather! Check out www.nsaskproject.ca for more info! Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Britt Vegsund and Allison Potter Britt is the Nova Scotia ASK Project Lead. Allison is a Literacy Coach for CCRCE. |
9:00am - 10:15am |
Session A
A5: Candlelight Yoga Description: This session will be a mingling of yoga, candlelight, and mindfulness. Let the stress melt away as you unwind and reconnect with your body and mind in a meaningful way. This practice is for all skill levels; support and guidance will be offered for any modifications you may need. Beginners are welcome and encouraged. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Kelli Cruikshank Kelli is a local yoga instructor, fitness enthusiast, wife, and a mother of three. Loving all things powerful and strong, she is drawn to guiding others to unleash their warrior within.
A6: Simply Spellbound - Grades 3-6 This workshop is designed to help teachers focus explicitly on specific spelling skills that many students are missing. Simply Spellbound! offers practical lessons for these spelling concepts:
Further, teachers will learn how these concepts can be spread over these 4 grades. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Erna Fraser Erna is a strong advocate for literacy and believes in explicit instruction. She enjoyed teaching grades 2-5 and was a Literacy Consultant in the Annapolis Valley for 12 years before retiring.
A7: Loving Literacy: Images Inspire Imagination Experience how a visual hands-on approach teaches writing and reading skills, and easily integrates into the science and social studies curriculum. Use various forms of art: pictures, drawings, and paintings to reveal words from students’ listening and speaking vocabulary. Inspire creativity, imagination and participation with this interactive, discovery-based approach to literacy learning. View classroom settings as students actively discover language concepts by writing to images, and manipulating words, sentences and paragraphs to develop language and build cognitive skills. For elementary Students. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Phyllis Engram Phyllis Engram is a dynamic, engaging educator with many years of experience in the classroom and as Literacy Specialist. She has spent the majority of her career teaching in Nova Scotia and various communities throughout Nunavut. She discovered many exciting, hands-on approaches to teaching literacy skills through her interest in children’s literacy and working with various grade levels. Phyllis is currently a literacy consultant, and has presented workshops at conferences and at various schools across the province.
A8: Slip, Sliding away Description of Workshop: Get more out of Google slides. This workshop will allow participants to explore some of the features of google slides and allow them to delve deeper into how they can create slides with that work harder for them. Participants will be able to see how to use slides to create choice boards, digital books, stop motion and much much more. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop or chrome book. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Louise Haycocks Louise has worked as an integration technology consultant for 15 years.
A9: More Time With Them: How to Transform your Teaching using AI Presenter: Adam Hinton
A10: DIY Interactive Digital Activities Presenter: Gale Doyle
A20 Integrating Technology into your Literacy Block, with a Focus on Phonics and Phonemic Awareness. This presentation is directed towards elementary teachers and will examine ways that you can integrate technology into your classroom to support instruction and reinforce activities around phonics and phonological awareness, using digital resources and technology that is already available in your schools. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Katie Creelman and Andrea Beaton Katie and Andrea are both employed by CCRCE and have a love of integrating technology in meaningful ways to support classroom learning. Katie is currently a Technology Integration Learning Specialist and Andrea is a Wilson Reading System Lead Learning Support Teacher.
A21 Time’s Up! Taming the 30-Minute Reading Recovery Lesson Presenter: Lisa Hoover
A22: Literacy Stations: Focusing on Reading Assessments, Writing Stamina and Technology All members will rotate through three literacy stations focusing on reading assessments (DIBELS - University of Oregon), writing stamina (Quick Writes), and Flipgrid (for alternative speaking assessments). Each station will give you time to dive into each resource and become familiar with the basics. There will be resources for you to take away from each station.
A23: Sound Walls: Following the Science to Support Success in Literacy and Beyond A workshop that will explore the science of sound development and how it can support students reading and writing development. Participants will be introduced to basic linguistic theory behind phoneme introduction, how to build a sound wall and how to integrate sound walls into daily literacy lesson, through the use of a variety of resources/programs. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Lacey Phinney Lacey is currently a Literacy Hybrid and Reading Recovery teacher in the SRCE. She completed her BA(Linguistics), BEd (Elementary) at MUN and MEd (Curriculum and Instruction) in Inclusive Education from St. FX. Lacey is passionate about the field of Linguistics and how it can support students learning in all subject areas. |
10:15am - 10:45am |
Nutrition Break (provided) |
10:45-Noon |
Session B
B5: Candlelight Yoga This session will be a mingling of yoga, candlelight, and mindfulness. Let the stress melt away as you unwind and reconnect with your body and mind in a meaningful way. This practice is for all skill levels; support and guidance will be offered for any modifications you may need. Beginners are welcome and encouraged. Workshop Capacity: 20, Presenter: Kelli Cruikshank Kelli is a local yoga instructor, fitness enthusiast, wife, and a mother of three. Loving all things powerful and strong, she is drawn to guiding others to unleash their warrior within
B6: Simply Spellbound - Grades 3-6 This workshop is designed to help teachers focus explicitly on specific spelling skills that many students are missing. Simply Spellbound! offers practical lessons for these spelling concepts:
Further, teachers will learn how these concepts can be spread over these 4 grades. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Erna Fraser Erna is a strong advocate for literacy and believes in explicit instruction. She enjoyed teaching grades 2-5 and was a Literacy Consultant in the Annapolis Valley for 12 years before retiring. Workshop Capacity: 20
B7: Loving Literacy: Images Inspire Imagination Experience how a visual hands-on approach teaches writing and reading skills, and easily integrates into the science and social studies curriculum. Use various forms of art: pictures, drawings, and paintings to reveal words from students’ listening and speaking vocabulary. Inspire creativity, imagination and participation with this interactive, discovery-based approach to literacy learning. View classroom settings as students actively discover language concepts by writing to images, and manipulating words, sentences and paragraphs to develop language and build cognitive skills. For elementary Students. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Phyllis Engram Phyllis Engram is a dynamic, engaging educator with many years of experience in the classroom and as Literacy Specialist. She has spent the majority of her career teaching in Nova Scotia and various communities throughout Nunavut. She discovered many exciting, hands-on approaches to teaching literacy skills through her interest in children’s literacy and working with various grade levels. Phyllis is currently a literacy consultant, and has presented workshops at conferences and at various schools across the province.
B8: Slip, Sliding away Description of Workshop: Get more out of Google slides. This workshop will allow participants to explore some of the features of google slides and allow them to delve deeper into how they can create slides with that work harder for them. Participants will be able to see how to use slides to create choice boards, digital books, stop motion and much much more. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop or chrome book. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Louise Haycocks Louise has worked as an integration technology consultant for 15 years.
B9: More Time With Them: How to Transform your Teaching using AI This session is designed to inform teachers on ways emergent AI technology can radically alter your planning, teaching and assessment, taking away the element of time developing and marking. You will learn how to create comprehensive units and lessons, rubrics, content and more using digital AI tools. Your plate will be emptier forever after this session. Presenter: Adam Hinton
B10: DIY Interactive Digital Activities Presenter: Gale Doyle
B11: ArcGIS StoryMaps
B20 Integrating Technology into your Literacy Block, with a Focus on Phonics and Phonemic Awareness. This presentation is directed towards elementary teachers and will examine ways that you can integrate technology into your classroom to support instruction and reinforce activities around phonics and phonological awareness, using digital resources and technology that is already available in your schools. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Katie Creelman and Andrea Beaton Katie and Andrea are both employed by CCRCE and have a love of integrating technology in meaningful ways to support classroom learning. Katie is currently a Technology Integration Learning Specialist and Andrea is a Wilson Reading System Lead Learning Support Teacher.
B21: Sound Walls: Following the Science to Support Success in Literacy and Beyond A workshop that will explore the science of sound development and how it can support students reading and writing development. Participants will be introduced to basic linguistic theory behind phoneme introduction, how to build a sound wall and how to integrate sound walls into daily literacy lesson, through the use of a variety of resources/programs. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Lacey Phinney Lacey is currently a Literacy Hybrid and Reading Recovery teacher in the SRCE. She completed her BA(Linguistics), BEd (Elementary) at MUN and MEd (Curriculum and Instruction) in Inclusive Education from St. FX. Lacey is passionate about the field of Linguistics and how it can support students learning in all subject areas.
B21 Time’s Up! Taming the 30-Minute Reading Recovery Lesson Presenter: Lisa Hoover
B22: Literacy Stations: Focusing on Reading Assessments, Writing Stamina and Technology All members will rotate through three literacy stations focusing on reading assessments (DIBELS - University of Oregon), writing stamina (Quick Writes), and Flipgrid (for alternative speaking assessments). Each station will give you time to dive into each resource and become familiar with the basics. There will be resources for you to take away from each station.
B23: Sound Walls: Following the Science to Support Success in Literacy and Beyond A workshop that will explore the science of sound development and how it can support students reading and writing development. Participants will be introduced to basic linguistic theory behind phoneme introduction, how to build a sound wall and how to integrate sound walls into daily literacy lesson, through the use of a variety of resources/programs. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Lacey Phinney Lacey is currently a Literacy Hybrid and Reading Recovery teacher in the SRCE. She completed her BA(Linguistics), BEd (Elementary) at MUN and MEd (Curriculum and Instruction) in Inclusive Education from St. FX. Lacey is passionate about the field of Linguistics and how it can support students learning in all subject areas. |
12pm - 1:30pm |
Lunch (on your own) |
1:30pm - 2:45pm |
Session C
C5: Candlelight Yoga This session will be a mingling of yoga, candlelight, and mindfulness. Let the stress melt away as you unwind and reconnect with your body and mind in a meaningful way. This practice is for all skill levels; support and guidance will be offered for any modifications you may need. Beginners are welcome and encouraged. Workshop Capacity: 40 Presenter: Kelli Cruikshank Kelli is a local yoga instructor, fitness enthusiast, wife, and a mother of three. Loving all things powerful and strong, she is drawn to guiding others to unleash their warrior within
C6: Simply Spellbound - Grades 3-6 This workshop is designed to help teachers focus explicitly on specific spelling skills that many students are missing. Simply Spellbound! offers practical lessons for these spelling concepts:
Further, teachers will learn how these concepts can be spread over these 4 grades. Workshop Capacity: 33 Presenter: Erna Fraser Erna is a strong advocate for literacy and believes in explicit instruction. She enjoyed teaching grades 2-5 and was a Literacy Consultant in the Annapolis Valley for 12 years before retiring.
C7: Loving Literacy: Images Inspire Imagination Experience how a visual hands-on approach teaches writing and reading skills, and easily integrates into the science and social studies curriculum. Use various forms of art: pictures, drawings, and paintings to reveal words from students’ listening and speaking vocabulary. Inspire creativity, imagination and participation with this interactive, discovery-based approach to literacy learning. View classroom settings as students actively discover language concepts by writing to images, and manipulating words, sentences and paragraphs to develop language and build cognitive skills. For elementary Students. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Phyllis Engram Phyllis Engram is a dynamic, engaging educator with many years of experience in the classroom and as Literacy Specialist. She has spent the majority of her career teaching in Nova Scotia and various communities throughout Nunavut. She discovered many exciting, hands-on approaches to teaching literacy skills through her interest in children’s literacy and working with various grade levels. Phyllis is currently a literacy consultant, and has presented workshops at conferences and at various schools across the province.
C8: Light up my life….. Workshop Capacity: 33 Presenter: Louise Haycocks
C9: More Time With Them: How to Transform your Teaching using AI This session is designed to inform teachers on ways emergent AI technology can radically alter your planning, teaching and assessment, taking away the element of time developing and marking. You will learn how to create comprehensive units and lessons, rubrics, content and more using digital AI tools. Your plate will be emptier forever after this session. Presenter: Adam Hinton
C10: DIY Interactive Digital Activities Presenter: Gale Doyle
C11: ArcGIS StoryMaps
C14: Game Architect - Student Created Math Games Description: Playing math games on a regular basis increases student engagement & math talk through peer-to-peer interactions, and provides an opportunity for students to practice, reinforce, and show their understanding of mathematical concepts in a low demand environment. As well, teachers can observe, ask intentional questions, and assess through conversation and observation. Take your students’ understanding to the next level by having them create their own game based on concepts learned, while giving them an authentic reason to read and write about math. Will your students create a game based on the classics like Monopoly, Cranium, Twister, Sorry, Jeopardy, etc. or will they create the next TikTok worthy math game? This session will provide you with a framework for doing this project with your students, including sample game templates, student planning pages etc. Grades: 3-5 Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Kerry Pemberton & Shelley Muttart Kerry and Shelley are P-5 Student Centered Mathematics Coaches in AVRCE
C18: Guys Group Robert MacDonald has been a teacher and boys hockey and softball coach in the Strait Regional Centre for Education for the last eighteen years. In 2016, he completed his Masters in Administration with a concentration in Mental Health from St. Francis Xavier University. Between the classroom and the rink/ball field, spending so much time with the young men in his school, showed him that something more was needed to support the boys at school and give them an avenue to talk in a safe environment about issues that they face in their everyday lives. In the fall of 2018, Robert began the “guys group” at Richmond Education Centre/Academy with support from Morris Green who is retired from the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness where he worked as the Coordinator of Youth Health. Workshop Capacity: 20 Presenter: Robert MacDonald and guests
C21 Time’s Up! Taming the 30-Minute Reading Recovery Lesson Presenter: Lisa Hoover
C22: Literacy Stations: Focusing on Reading Assessments, Writing Stamina and Technology All members will rotate through three literacy stations focusing on reading assessments (DIBELS - University of Oregon), writing stamina (Quick Writes), and Flipgrid (for alternative speaking assessments). Each station will give you time to dive into each resource and become familiar with the basics. There will be resources for you to take away from each station.
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2:45pm - 3:15pm |
AGM |