Engaging students is at the heart of our work. When students are engaged, they learn. So, how do we engage each and every student?
Some would argue that a caring environment will engage students. This environment encourages students to share their voice, to advocate for their own learning, to collaborate with others, to explore, to think, to create…..
Some would argue that unique programs engage students — programs in the arts, technology, sports, and social justice, to name a few.
Some would argue that effective instruction and innovative learning environments engage students.
I would argue that we need all of the above!
In our public education system in Ontario, we are expected to ensure that all students achieve, to close any achievement gaps and to build confidence in public education.
At the end of the day, our responsibility is to provide equity of access, opportunity, and outcome for our students. Students achieve because each and every student attends a school (access) that has the environment and programs (opportunity) that allows them to excel (outcome). If we take this responsibility seriously and we hold the ideal for each student that they will achieve, then I believe this responsibility and ideal has... Read More
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At HWDSB, we are committed to creating the most effective, innovative learning environments so that every one of our students will reach their full potential in schools and beyond as they prepare for the 21st century.
We undertook accommodation reviews to help make this a reality. The accommodation review is one way HWDSB could maximize limited resources, by reducing the space we don’t need and upgrading the facilities that remain. Ultimately, this will result in better learning environments for students. We want our students to have quality spaces that support student achievement.
Concentrating our finite resources to create the best learning environments is an effort that goes hand-in-hand with our efforts to provide the best, most engaging programs that prepare them for success.
These reviews have been about much more than space, however. We know today’s learners require new approaches, and that we must respond with engaging programs and safe, nurturing and innovative learning environments.
This is why the public dialogue also highlighted the HWDSB Program Strategy we envision for our schools. It is through this Program Strategy that we hope to provide programming that reflects our Board’s strategic priorities of achievement, engagement, and equity.
We are restructuring what we... Read More
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At our initial Board meeting on December 5, 2011, I had the opportunity to reflect upon some of the challenging decisions that need to be made in Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board this year. We are engaged in an accommodation review process in 15 of our secondary schools. Though this process tends to focus on closing schools, I would assert that this process is also about engaging students through effective programs and learning environments.
I wish to focus on the voices of our students who provide the back drop for the challenging work that lies ahead of us this year.
Our students want their schools to be engaging places, where they build strong relationships and where they feel safe and accepted. They look to the staff in our schools as the people they can turn to for assistance both in their classes and beyond. They want choice in terms of what they learn, when they learn and how they learn. Access to technology and collaborative learning spaces are key for our students. Our students want to succeed and they want to be sure they are truly understood by their educators at each and every school. They would like access... Read More
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I learned a lot last week! I had the opportunity to attend three student voice forums in HWDSB. I met with 500 students in our Board. My opening message to them had three components. My message was: 1) Every student is a leader 2) Each student needs to experience a sense of belonging and support in our schools and 3) We need our students’ voices to help us understand the learning spaces, experiences and processes they need.
I asked our students to help us, the educators, listen so that we can respond more effectively. I pledged our commitment to do whatever we can to respond to their insights and perspectives. This commitment does not mean we can fulfill every wish our students spoke about, but we can certainly strengthen our communication so that our decisions as a school system are directly informed by our students.
After this brief introduction our students were invited to offer their insights through small group discussion, individual reflection, podcasts, blogs, and “graffiti” walls. Our students offered insights about safety and bullying, learning environments and experiences, our accommodation and review process, our board and school policies, our assessment and evaluation procedures and other insights... Read More
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Learning is not something that is “done to us”; rather, learning happens when we are engaged, when we bring our experience to the table, when we admit what we don’t know and we take collective responsibility with our peers to create new knowledge. Educators do not simply impart information. We create environments that facilitate the type of collaborative inquiry that allows us to serve our students better, providing them with the opportunities to create, to think, to wonder, to invent and to serve.
In order to create effective learning environments in HWDSB, I have been paying a lot of attention to the importance of voice. When I use the word “voice” , I am referring to our collective ability to listen to each other, our students, staff and parents in a way that makes a difference to what we do and how we do it. Our annual operating plan is clear: We “know our students, know our staff, and we know our parents and communities” so that our students learn better. In today’s blog I will focus on student voice.
Recently, I attended our student leadership forum. Students from our elementary and secondary schools gathered to think about how... Read More
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Hello all,
I have had the opportunity to experience an amazing learning opportunity in HWDSB this week!
On Wednesday, we had our System Leader’s Day. Over 400 educators and service department leaders gathered to discuss how we are implementing our Strategic Directions: Achievement Matters, Engagement Matters, Equity Matters and our Annual Operating Plan: Knowing our Students, Knowing our Staff, Knowing our Parents and Communities.
The purpose of this session was to explore how we will strengthen our learning community through collaborative inquiry. Everyone in HWDSB is asked to engage in the process where we determine our students’ learning needs and we then determine what capacity our staff needs in order to effectively respond to our students. Once we determine our focus, educators can then engage in a process of planning based upon the information they know about their students, acting which is about instruction, assessing which means we understand how our students have responded to the instruction, and reflecting which means we learn from our experience and we collaboratively plan next steps with our colleagues. This collaborative cycle happens continuously in every school in HWDSB.
Our service departments are considering how their work is directly impacting student achievement. Their... Read More
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Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope that this amazing weekend provided an opportunity for each of us to experience gratitude for our family and friends who support us.
Today is also my first blog. I have been exploring the world of social media these last few months realizing that this medium provides an important opportunity to connect, to learn and to communicate.
As the Director of Education in the Hamilton-Wentworth District Board, I have the privilege of serving 49,000 students in 115 schools. I also have the privilege of working with talented staff and dedicated trustees who continuously focus on our students’ strengths and needs so that they are achieving and they experience a sense of well-being in our schools. We are making our schools engaging places for our students so that they achieve their full potential.
Our Strategic Directions remind us that “Achievement Matters, Engagement Matters and Equity Matters”. In the context of these Strategic Directions we are committed to “Knowing our students, Knowing our staff, and Knowing our parents and communities. We do not use the word “knowing” lightly……When we say we know our students, we understand their interests, their strengths, their learning style and their needs AND we respond. ... Read More
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