saskatchewan

Stuff we talk about but don’t do

Posted by Dean Shareski on in assessment, rants 10 Comments

Nuns with classToday at our Saskatchewan Curriculum Renewal workshops we were introduced to many of the new concepts and philosophies of the new curriculum. The intent of the curriculum is to reduce outcomes, provide common language for all curricula, focus more on learning than on teaching and focus on depth of understanding instead of only breadth.

There was a lot of talk of big picture thinking and encouraging teachers to reflect on why they teach what they teach. Early on someone mentioned the goals of education. With some recent discussions on the purpose of education, I thought it pertinent to look up the 9 goals of education for students in Saskatchewan.

Basic Skills

• Read, write and compute

• Acquire information and meaning through observing, listening, reading and experiencing

• Process information through intellectual and technological means

• Solve problems by applying basic principles and processes of the sciences, arts and humanities

• Communicate ideas through written and spoken language, mathematical symbols and aesthetic expression

Life-Long Learning

• Seek and value learning experiences

• Act as self-reliant learners

• Base actions on the knowledge that it is necessary to learn throughout life

Understanding and Relating to Others

• Act on the

… Read the rest

A Fresh set of Eyes

Posted by Dean Shareski on in assessment, Blogs, change, Classrooms, professional learning, workshops 1 Comment

Ewan McintoshWhat a privilege to spend time with a good and smart friend.  Since we began planning for this day back in January, I’ve been looking forward to it.  It was remarkable to see how many traveled a fair distance to attend this one day event.

The day was well crafted by Ewan that included a series of short presentation type deliveries followed by opportunity to discuss and play.

As a group, we decided these were the most important ideas from the morning:

  1. R & D is for everyone
  2. Building Shared Awareness
  3. Remix the curricula
  4. Balance between structure and flexibility, saturation and overload
  5. Importance of rules in play

The afternoon was spent exploring gaming and the concept of gaming as a learning tool.

One participant summarized his learning this way, “One mistake I’ve made is I’ve never played with a computer”. This was a telling statement about how we view ourselves as learners.

Lots of ideas were explored and my goal was that folks left willing to continue to innovate, explore, learn and share. Not entirely new but a fresh set of eyes always helps.Gamers

Working out a New Game photo: by Ewan Mcintosh… Read the rest

Scotland Meets Saskatchewan

Posted by Dean Shareski on in Classrooms, professional learning 12 Comments

I’m please to announce a great upcoming event being held in Moose Jaw, SK on Monday, August 25, 2008.

Our school division will be hosting a day long event with Ewan Mcintosh. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Ewan’s work, he is outstanding advocate of social media and has been involved with Scotland’s very progressive curriculum innovations.

Here’s a some more information about the day:

Scotland meets Saskatchewan Outline

9:00-10:30
Presentation: Scotland’s story: how curriculum meets innovation
The new curriculum, developed with the profession and parents over several years, has ‘allowed’ more teachers to break with tradition and take up new technologies to facilitate children’s learning. The curricular moves share much in common with Canada’s states’ and provinces’, so what are the similarities and differences in technology, professional development and the way students learn?

11:00-12:30
Roundtable:Assessment is for learning and making the links through new technologies – share experiences from both sides of the pond.

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-3:00
Practical workshop:Thinking Out Of The (X)box
Scotland is leading the way in some respects of games-based learning. Experience some of the methodology and ideas in this practical workshop.

6:00-7:30
Focus on Leadership Dinner: Ewan will focus on leadership … Read the rest