Announcements

Event Dates: January 25 to May 18, 2023

Transforming Instruction: Planning for Diversity, Inclusion & Equity

The First Nations Education Steering Committee and First Nations Schools Association are pleased to announce an exciting six-session professional development opportunity for teachers, education assistants and school principals featuring Jo Chrona and Shelley Moore.
This Network Opportunity will be offered virtually to two cohort groups, K-Grade 4 and Grades 5-12, with each session building upon the previous sessions. Please use the link below to register for the cohort that best fits your needs and Zoom invitations will be sent out closer to the date.

Session 1 – Situating ourselves and an overview of the big ideas of the Network

• January 25th K-Grade 4 3:30 – 5:00pm
• January 26th Grades 5-12 3:30 – 5:00pm

Session 2 – Getting to know learners from a strength-based perspective

• February 1st K-Grade 4 3:30 – 5:00pm
• February 2nd Grades 5-12 3:30 – 5:00pm

Session 3 – Curriculum design strategies that support planning for all students: Part I – Backwards Design

• February 15th K-Grade 4 3:30 – 5:00pm
• February 16th Grades 5-12 3:30 – 5:00pm

Session 4 – Curriculum design strategies that support planning for all students: Part II – Curricular Mapping

• April 4th K-Grade 4 3:30 – 5:00pm
• April 5th Grades 5-12 3:30 – 5:00pm

Session 5 – Inclusive lesson design strategies to develop student evidence of learning

• May 2nd K-Grade 4 3:30 – 5:00pm
• May 4th Grades 5-12 3:30 – 5:00pm

Session 6 – Inclusive assessment for and of learning

• May 17th K-Grade 4 3:30 – 5:00pm
• May 18th Grades 5-12 3:30 – 5:00pm

Jo Chrona is Ganhada of Waap K’oom of the Kitsumkalum First Nation. She is a speaker, education consultant, and an author of Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education. Her professional experience includes over 25 years teaching in both the K-12 and post-secondary systems in BC, working as a Policy Analyst and Curriculum Manager for a First Nations education policy and advocacy organization and as an Advisor to the BC Ministry of Education.

Shelley Moore is a highly sought after teacher, researcher, consultant and storyteller who has worked with school districts and community organizations throughout both Canada and the United States. Her research and work has been featured at national and international conferences and is constructed based on theory and effective practices of inclusion, special education, curriculum and teacher professional development.

REGISTRATION

Register to attend this event virtually via Zoom. Once your registration has been approved, you will receive a calendar invitation for all six sessions which will include the recurring Zoom link for your cohort. For detailed information on each session, please see the following.

SESSIONS DETAIL

How could an equal emphasis on the heart and mind affect how learning experiences are designed for all learners? What might be the implications for classrooms and schools if we focus on planning for learners in ways that honour and respect diversity and local contexts?

Why are high-expectations relationships important for equity and diversity? How do we plan to support all learners in those relationships?
In these sessions we weave aspects of Indigenous knowledges and perspectives about effective teaching and learning (using the First Peoples Principles of Learning) with Inclusive Education to designing for diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Session 1 – Situating ourselves and an overview of the big ideas of the Network

Situating yourselves. This session begins with the opportunity to reflect on:

• How your personal values impact who you are as an educator and how you support learners, and
• What personal qualities you bring to your work.

These reflections aid in the understanding that, rather than trying to include a few students who are different, we are striving to teach TO the diversity. In these sessions, we will look at an overall framework that puts students in the center of our planning, and aims to adjust the contexts to respond to their needs and local contexts.

Session 2 – Getting to know learners from a strength-based perspective

How do we create learning environments that “support the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors”? (FNESC, 2008)

How can we communicate learner needs through a strength-based perspective, connecting to identity and context, rather than with a deficit lens? This session will look at an individual’s dimensions, that can be used for planning and advocacy from a positive and responsive perspective.

Sessions 3 & 4 – Curriculum design strategies that support planning for all students: Part I – Backwards design & Part II – Curriculum Mapping

In these two sessions, we will look at some curricular planning approaches that allows us to design for a range of diversity using grade level curriculum that honours the whole learner and responds to local contexts. We will examine examples of how we can use curriculum in flexible ways to support success and growth for all students, while supporting self-determination and agency.

Session 5 – Inclusive lesson design strategies to develop student evidence of learning

What are the stories of students’ learning? How do we create learning environments that support learners to show evidence of learning that also honours who and where they are? In this session we will look at a guiding lesson frame that is based in Universal Design for Learning principals and allows for a variety of exit points.

Session 6 – Inclusive assessment for and of learning

High-expectations relationships include supporting students’ sense of agency and ability to self-assess.
This session will dig into how we can use curricular mapping to support students to self-assess, as well as provide feedback on, and evaluate, student evidence of learning.

*Each session will include a suggested action or activity for participants to engage with between sessions in order to support their learning.

EVENT CONTACT

Michael Bleaney, Administrative Assistant, Instructional Services, FNESC
michaelb@fnesc.ca