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Written by Rebecca Forchuk, Director of Staff Development            As we begin our journey as a division towards Truth & Reconciliation , I am anticipating it to be emotional yet reflective; not only will it enlighten us as a community, but will be one of those never-forget-life-changing-so-thankful-we-went-there-voyages that will change us not only as educators, but as people.      I saw evidence of that today at FAA (Foothills Administrator’s Association) when Dar, the FNMI Success Coach, took us back through time from colonization, to the Red River Rebellion, to residential schools and then back to 2016 where the stories of students unfold in front of us everyday.                While listening to the stories of residential school survivors in the documentary Stolen Children , we learned the dark secrets never told in history books about the impacts on those children wh...

Submitted by Denise Litke, Instructional Coach from PLC Institute Conference              Early in October, I had the unexpected opportunity to attend the PLC   Institute in Edmonton.   Along with many of the administrators from Foothills, I heard   some amazing speakers from Solution Tree deliver some invigorating and transforming messages around professional learning communities.   Focused around the three big ideas of PLCs:    focus on learning work collaboratively be results oriented the audience was presented a variety of topics on how to develop and maintain  collaborative teams so that we (as educators), can have a positive impact on student  learning and close the achievement gaps in our schools.   I took the many thoughts I had from the institute and created a modified concept map around some key messages.   I have included the map with my understandings on the following page.   How do th...

Submitted by  Denise Litke, Instructional Coach  Conference :  Summit 15:  When Struggling Readers Thrive Dreams Come True Where and When:   Calgary, October 27 th and 28 th, 2016 “How do I teach voice in writing?”   is a common question I have had from teachers.   In fact, it was a question that arose at a recent PLC I was a part of a few weeks ago.   Fortunately, the timing of the Summit 15 Conference was perfect, as 6 + 1 Writing Traits guru Ruth Culham was there and addressed it in one of her writing sessions.   The thing to remember about voice is that it is not only the “personality” of the writer coming through, but also the tone or tenor of the piece, the audience you are writing for, and the mode/purpose of the writing (eg. narrative, expository, or persuasive).   Here’s an example of how Ruth would do it: To students -  “You are writing a letter to someone who gave you a gift that you  love! ...