In this thought-provoking session, Principal EL shares how we can positively change our school cultures by empowering our educators and school leaders to focus on the protective processes that build resilience in every child. Principal EL unpacks this vision for change with the “4Cs of School Success:” being Crazy about students, Curious about their lives outside of school, Consistent as adults in their lives, and driven to foster a Culture that is grounded in joy, learning and resilience. Join this keynote session to better understand the power of adult-child relationships in schools and celebrate the impact we can make when we leverage our roles as learners and leaders, and Choose to Stay.

​Geoff Edwards Shared how AI is currently impacting classrooms—from curriculum design to daily teaching practices. AI tools or platforms that are game-changers for educators and students. Geoff shares about the OCSB approach to AI ad tools. Myths and misconceptions are frequently encountered when it comes to AI in schools. Many resources on OCSB are available for educators' tools and resources. Geoff focuses on the pedagogical process and deep learning being implemented with AI.

Dr. Vriend shares that stress is healthy and has fewer negative outcomes. We are rethinking stress. The balancing beam overestimates the bad and underestimates our ability to cope. Balancing is being realistic with expectations. Better coping opportunities. Aggressive state can be an overreaction. The nervous system is on overdrive: flight-responsive avoidance or withdrawal, anxiety, anger aggression, irritability, and body hyperactivity. Ideas to empower students include being involved in the plan. Listen to learn about managing emotions to differentiate between normal stress responses and trauma.

David McFall is a principal of Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School in Gatineau, Quebec. How do we rethink schools? David sees the school through the students' eyes. He is an instructional leader focusing on project-based learning, play-based learning and community connections for educators and students' learning. Edutopia Links highlight the school's learning approaches. https://www.edutopia.org/school/pierre-elliott-trudeau-elementary-school

Jennifer Nieradka, a behaviourist Analyst with #OCSB @ocsbABA, shares Functions of Behaviour, reducing challenging behaviour through behaviour strategies and a skill-based approach. Listen to learn more about the 7 dimensions of #ABA to address behaviour that is observable, based on research. Goals have to be practical and meaningful for the students. The importance of the De-escalation plan to prioritize safety, relationships, Happy, Relaxed and Engaged in preventability as a starting point. Focus on the environmental variables for the learning context and identify the skills. #compasion #dignity #respect

Dr. Lyn Sharrat is a widely published researcher and author. She focuses her time and efforts on increasing each student’s growth and achievement by working alongside leaders and teachers to put FACES on their data, taking intentional action to make equity and excellence a reality for all students. Dr. Lyn Sharratt shares the importance of providing learning to everyone by ensuring where students are in our care in order for them to grow and lead.

Tom D'Amico, the Ottawa Catholic School Board director of education, shares that Iterative improvements are important to set yearly goals and improve yearly to continue learning. Transformative learning is important to challenge the status quo that is not serving everyone; the goal and the outcome are equality and social justice. Ethical leadership is important to have trust, support the dignity of every human being and create conditions to have a platform for all voices.

Livia has so much passion for leading with joy. Self-awareness is the foundation, and it is important to understand who you are, bringing strengths to anchor your values and beliefs. Believe in ourselves and meaningful connections, be compassionate leaders, and discover challenges as opportunities. Atomic interactions, small interactions of kindness, recognizing everyone, insightful reflections and emotional contagiousness for making a difference in people's lives.

Kim Lockhart shares the importance of the Science of Reading in a second language. The phonemic awareness of reading through all subjects in French and seeing learning through the Science of reading. Explicit instructions and explicit systematic instructions. Beefing up tier 1 instructions to the whole class is important. As educators, we need to give students more opportunities to practice.

The deep learning movement fosters all learners contributing to the common good. The progressions contribute to deep discussions used for peer assessment and self-assessment. The progressions are a way to anchor reflective conversation—a pedagogical transformation of a classroom culture where each student's voice is heard. The educators are adapting to the learning environment for stimulating learning through the 4 elements. Educators are learners who embed the experience to adapt when lessons are not working. They listen to the pros and cons, constantly observing and assessing themselves and their students. It is a continuous state of reflection. The educators admit that they don't know it all and that it is fine to be a co-learner, co-constructor, and co-designer to build authentic students' voices and agency. It is a messy shift for professional accelerations.

Sean Kelly is a superintendent of Intermediate and Secondary Student Success at the Ottawa Catholic School Board. Sean shares the importance of building relationships through listening for deep learning. He emphasizes the importance of giving opportunities to educators to be creative and passionate by highlighting the process and the next steps. Leaders need to recognize what needs to be prioritized for the benefit of the schools and the system. When leaders are creative, they bring everyone else with their creativity.

With the learners, give them a chance to ask questions & listen to understand than to respond! The curriculum goes hand in hand with building relationships & connections with the students. "Your story is the Soul in each lesson," centering students' voices & stories. Building with them learning based on their voices by tailoring & tweaking activities & tasks, is a vulnerable part of education, not just how, but the WHY.
Getting to the why of learning tasks, what are the connections between the task to move students forward?

To reach Tu https://twitter.com/tu_vuong. https://www.cominghometuvuong.com/

The adults need to feel comfortable speaking their minds by creating shared agreements. Employers are happier when they express their needs, when everyone comes together and co-creating with the leaders.
Article to steps for the shared agreement. Empathy for perspective taking.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/shared-agreements-working-together-benefit-teachers-and-administrators

SEL skills will be uplifted through PBL.
Explore the topic, contact experts to seek advice, create solutions, and call to action by inviting others. https://bit.ly/3fx8Ky6

Environmental Science for Grades 6-12 PBL for sustainability. The learners creating #calltoAction
https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-ways-activate-student-engagement

Action to research for professional learning. A 5 Step Coaching Model for Instructional Innovation https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-step-coaching-model-instructional-innovation

Community building is the essence of empowering the teachers, the students and the parents. Having the vision to have the confidence of empowering innovative progress through personalized comprehensive support of unlearning and relearning. A School wide initiative of Gratitude Attitude by thinking globally and acting locally. " Good leaders create great leadership with others. "

Liz Dozier shares about being aware of our biases and decolonizing our minds in terms of our own biases. We have to take care of ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually, because you can’t begin to unpack those biases if you’re worn down. It is really about remaining curious about the world around us and others’ experiences. How are schools focusing on from problem fixing to possibility creating?

Melanie shares that we need to stop doing school and focus on deep learning. We need to create knowledge and focus on students' assets. It is a continuous process of shifting and dancing to access learning in the best possible way.

Hedreich Nichols shares the importance of teaching human kindness citizenship explicitly through the development of interpersonal relationships, examining feelings, and building empathy.
Social actions already walk in with the students. We need to create a culture of kindness that models explicitly what kindness is and makes someone feel bad without attacking their character or behaviour. In the classroom, students are more empathetic than adults. We all have our own biases and perspectives. Allow students to take the lead, let their brilliance shine.
More on Hedreich Nichols: https://hedreich.com/bio/

https://anchor.fm/hedreich/episodes/SmallBites-Lagniappe-Teaching-from-a-Neutral-Space-e1bv1bo

https://us.amazon.com/Books-Hedreich-Nichols/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AHedreich+Nichols

Making a difference in the lives of the students by maximizing their potential. By creating a culture in which students can take risks to take ownership of their learning. Creating clearer targets on why they are learning. Students should not be punished when they learn incorrectly. Educators should be transparent in their assessment practices. Students should understand self-assessment & feedback, as well as how grades are assigned at the end of the process. Students should explain their why and reflect on the process.
Growing a growth mindset across a culture of understanding rather than competing to learn. The book, The Magic of Growth Mindset will be released soon. It is important for teachers to model growth mindsets as well, and for leaders to be aware of how they respond, it is more about the effort than how well they do. Get everyone to take some risks. A safe space for making mistakes, lots of modelling by leaders to teachers, and for the students to take it home.

Stephenie creates learning communities that support students' voices, agencies, and gamifications.  Stephanie approaches coaching for teachers' through design thinking for pedagogical powerful ways. Following up with teachers about the process involves inspiring them through a coaching cycle. To learn more about Stephanie's initiatives, please visit her website : https://sites.google.com/mrshowell24.com/mrshowell24/home and https://www.goldedu.org/

Episode #112 Stephanie Howell by Rola Tibshirani