Innovation & Empowerment
A Journey at Great Lakes Public School
Our School
Rich in diversity, Great Lakes Public School is a K-8 school with almost 800 students. It is a community comprised of first generation immigrants who have arrived in Canada with hopes, dreams and aspirations for themselves and their children. With 27 languages spoken at home, we consider ourselves representatives of a global community. The majority of our parent community does not speak English at home, but they place a high value in their child's education. In 2014, Great Lakes was rated ‘Somewhat High’ on the Social Risk Index, with 60% of the school population being English Language Learners (data from Research, Accountability and School Success Planning Document). The community perspective of educational practices comes from previous experiences from their countries of origin, which emphasized rote teaching, worksheets, spelling tests, and hours of homework.
At Great Lakes, a cohesive staff of 50 teachers has embraced the challenges of teaching a diverse community of learners. Administration, teachers, and parents have formed a partnership to create a safe and caring environment where students feel welcome. According to a recent survey, over 90% of our parents believe that their children feel safe, are treated fairly, and that the school respects each others' differences (data collected from the 2013-2014 “Your Voice Counts” Peel Survey).
Teacher Learning
Digital Portfolios
The use of digital portfolios promotes positive student involvement, and encourages them to reflect on their own learning. The portfolio consists of a collection of student work representing a selection of accomplishments selected by the student. This is an authentic assessment that measures student progress over a period of time.
Blogs
Blogs allows a global communication centre between teachers, students, and parents. Blogs are used to keep communication active with students at school and at home. If a student or parent has a question about the homework they can post it. Students are therefore motivated, engaged, and comfortable in their learning environment.
Google Classroom
Keeping up with 21st century, the teachers at Great Lakes are well updated in their use of technology within the classroom. Numerous teachers use Google Classroom to create that paperless classroom environment. This allows teachers to view student work instantly, as well as, manage all aspects of multiple classrooms digitally.
Teacher Implementation
Administration encourages risk-taking by teachers. Staff in return, feel comfortable in trying new teaching and learning practices, and encourage students to do the same. Great Lakes strives to ensure that all students feel empowered in their learning process. With collaboration between administrators, teachers, and students, Teachers provide students with the opportunities to gain confidence, take risks, and be in charge of their own education.
Leveled Literacy Intervention
Direct Reading Instruction
Assistive Technology
Primary/Junior Writing Program
Leveled Literacy Instruction
ISSP/ESL Blog
Teacher Sharing
Edu-Conference
Technology changes at an unbelievable rate and it’s hard to keep up. There are many teachers at our school who have become experts at certain programs, apps, or hardware and are willing and excited to teach others about their new learning. Because of this we started to use an “Edu-conference” format in our PD sessions. This way we can utilize the knowledge of our teachers to build capacity within our school.
Lunch and Learn
These short sessions during our nutrition breaks give teachers an opportunity to learn new things between more formal PD session.
Regional Professional Development Sessions
Our teachers are so innovative they are called upon to lead professional development sessions. One of the most recent ones highlighted how to embed technology into language programs. The teacher highlighted Infographics and Blogs.
Teacher to Teacher Blogs
Of course teachers use blogs to communicate to students and parents but our teachers have started to use a blog format to communicate with other teachers. Our Special Education and ESL department have created a blog in order to store resources, highlight updates, and teach new concepts. This gives teachers a chance to have learning at their finger tips whenever they need it.
Number Talks
In keeping with our focus on increasing math capacity and the idea of a Growth Mindset, one of the newest innovations our teachers have adopted is that of a Number Talk. This strategy facilitates positive attitudes towards math, differentiated learning strategies, and reinforcement of key concepts.
Collaborative Inquiry Learning – Language and Math (CIL-L and CIL-M)
Teachers participated in Collaborative Inquiry projects in order to dissect, create, and evaluate lessons to improve our teaching. Collaborating with other educators strengthens our teaching and learning practice and encourages us to think outside the box.
Flipped Classroom
Our school has shifted instruction to a learner-centred model. In a flipped classroom, teacher focus on skills including problem solving and collaboration. This form of model enables students to become higher-order thinkers. The content delivery always varies and takes form in a variety of ways which allows for highly differentiated instruction.
Professional Development
At Great Lakes, teachers encourage all students to become great leaders and strive for excellence. Each student is given many opportunities to showcase their leadership. At our school, one of the most popular activities on our PD days is student-led sessions. Students led a PD to teachers sharing their knowledge of Office 365 and shared how they enjoyed incorporating technology in their school day.
The Grizz Report
The Grizz Report is a visual news report that highlights exciting happenings at Great Lakes! Teachers submit pictures of student work or videos showcasing the great learning that is occurring at the school. Students feel proud seeing their accomplishments virtually and look forward to upcoming events that occur at our school.
Teacher Leading
Great lakes staff are frequently asked to share their knowledge and experiences with other schools, school board representatives, the Ministry of Education, and the community
Teachers are continuously learning and adding to to our school by enriching their teaching with the most up to date and innovative practices that they find from sources within our school, within the board, and within the world. Our administration has created a safe and collaborative environment for sharing our new learning which has increased the teacher capacity at our school exponentially.
At Great Lakes, we recognize the important role that our parents and community play in student success. Parents are seen as valuable partners in their child's learning. Over the last few years, Great Lakes has held several special nights where students, parents, teachers, and administrators connect and have meaningful conversations about learning. Through various teacher initiatives in our community, we are able to strengthen relationships with parents, empower students, and make a difference in our community.
Some of the highlights of teachers sharing at our school are included below.
Student-Led Interviews
Exemplars
As a 21st century school, twitter is an important platform for students, teachers, and administrators. Teachers and administrators use twitter to further develop their professional learning and connect with other educators around the world. It is also a tool that we use in our K to 8 classes to share our learning and success to our parents and community.
Family Math Night
Family Math Night was an opportunity for parents to explore our approach to teaching and learning mathematics. We wanted to provide first hand experiences for various grade levels. Parents and students were able to sit in classrooms and participate in engaging, interactive lessons led by teachers. This was also a great way for parents to learn about how they can support learning at home.
Empathy and Digital Learning at a Nursing Home
Students took on leadership roles at a Senior Centre by organizing special events and conducting interviews. They created a digital portfolio for each senior to highlight their learning journeys. Every visit was an opportunity to share stories, and learn through ipads, games, and arts and crafts. The time spent with the Seniors enabled students develop greater empathy, care, and understanding.
IXL & RAZ-Kids
To support student learning at home, our school offers online interactive reading and math programs. IXL and Raz-Kids individualizes learning and reinforces concepts practiced in class. This is a great way for students and parents to work together at home and strengthen literacy and numeracy skills. Both programs help students take ownership of their learning and provide remedial or enrichment activities.
Coding Club
Teachers knew that coding was becoming an upcoming trend and wanted to harness the excitement of students. Teachers soon realized that the knowledge base of the students far exceeded the knowledge of the teachers so the format of the club changed. Students became the experts and shared their knowledge to smaller groups of students and the teachers became the facilitators (and learned quite a bit on the way. This year new branches are going to be added to the coding club in order to keep up with this ever changing and growing field.
Pathways
In our school we are lucky to have Pathways (Family Studies and Woodshop) offered as a course to our intermediate students. Through these courses students have been able to have hands on experiences to apply their learning of technology. For example, using AutoCad to design structures, and making videos to teach younger students about healthy eating.
World Read Aloud Day
Every year our school celebrates World Read Aloud Day on the first Wednesday of March. Classes come together at an assembly and celebrate books through read alouds, special guest presentations, a feature by the Brampton Library, and much more. It has become a legacy that our students and staff look forward to. This event brings members of our school and community together and creates a positive school climate.