In Rick Wormeli’s article Redos and Retakes Done Right, he states “allowing students to redo assignments and assessments is the best way to prepare them for adult life.”
According to Wormeli, many teachers feel that denying students opportunities to show their full potential after providing substantial results builds ‘moral fibre’. These teachers have the mindset that there should be rigid deadlines for assignments and that marks should be taken off for late submissions, and even give zeroes in some situations. Wormeli counters by claiming that “these practices have the opposite effect: They retard student achievement and maturation.”
In Kenaston School, specifically in math and the senior sciences, students have the opportunity to redo assessments in 2011-2012. Teachers have taken Wormeli’s guidelines into consideration, applying some of his recommendations. Kenaston teachers advise that by incorporating Wormeli’s ideas into practice, teachers can make redos fair for both the student and teacher.

The 20% Project is your chance to learn about something that you are personally interested in, intrigued by, and/or are passionate about. For the rest of the year, you will be given 20% of class time to work on your project, which will be worth 20% of your final grade.

Powerpoint presentation:

Welcome and Introductions​, Housekeeping items​, Four Corners activity​, Curriculum Information​, Websites and Apps​, So many hands on activities and demos​, A couple of musical interludes, Feedback on the workshop​, Thank you and safe travels home​

Students worked in collaborative learning groups to ask questions and research on the above outcomes. Next, students had to build their own musical instrument and manipulate its sound in a presentation format of their choice, to show their learning.

We were learning about the importance of First Nations peoples to Canada in Social Studies 5. Students learned about the Medicine Wheel, the importance of the Circle to FN history, and how the FN structures their government, among other concepts. After researching, students compared FN peoples` way of structuring their government with Hutterians` government structure, and found them to be quite similar, which was an eye opener for them. Using a retelling strategy, students worked in small groups to find out certain information, and then as a whole group to share their findings. Students then took the information and as a whole group, collaborated to design a poster that could be hung in any classroom in Canada, showing the structure of government of First Nations people.

Subject: Cross-curricular Competencies of Thinking, Identity and Interdependence, Literacies, and Social Responsibility that will “strengthen and enrich students’ present learning and future lives.” Saskatchewan Education, 1988

Grade: Not applicable (special needs student)

Theme: Social Interactions

Competency Focus: Strategies that can help a student with ASD manage stress levels, and as a result, social interactions

Think about changing your classroom to fit 21st Century needs. Covers display, storage, furniture, teaching zone, personality and other active student learning spaces.

The students were given one period each week for 5 weeks to explore their interests and plan, implement and produce a Genius Hour Presentation in a format of their choosing. They began with a few worksheets to identify their interest areas and various ideas in which they may present their information and also various formats both electronically and paper-based which they could use to showcase their learning. The students used books, ipads and computers to access information. Various showcases included working replicas of battery-operated cars and helicopters, working volcanoes, a hockey rink, baking, painting and posters. Students were so engaged that most students completed the majority of their projects outside of school on their own time.

This year my professional Development SMART Goal was to use cross-curricular instruction strategies in the classroom when pertaining to English Language Arts activities. Consequently, I have merged the Grade ¾ Social Studies Curricular outcomes with the ELA curricular outcomes. This is a Unit plan that I have created to teach the students about the province of Saskatchewan. Some highlights include the following; 1. Using graffiti Charts as a pre-assessor. 2. Discovering research techniques about their own formulated questions. Utilizing ABC Brainstorm 3. Making a Destination Road Map and Puzzle of Saskatchewan 4. Reading Saskatchewan based Literature and creating Pop-up books 5. Creating Mind-Maps of Saskatchewan topics of Study 6. Designing a Life-size Plastecine 3-D Collaborative Saskatchewan Map Game with their own question based upon the mind-map 7. Presenting their Game and own Social Studies examination.

A 5 level writing rubric covering: organization, word choice, conventions, ideas, voice, sentence fluency and presentation.

This activity will provide each class member with a list of positive attributes, created by their classmates. The purpose of this activity is to boost your classmate’s confidence by letting them know the great things you see in them.

Differentiation is a teaching method that varies the content, process, product or learning environment related to student interest, learning profile or readiness.

Aboriginal Literatures in Canada: A Teacher’s Resource Guide serves a double purpose: to encourage the teaching of Aboriginal literature in English high school curricula across the country because Aboriginal students deserve to be taught texts they can relate to and, because non-Aboriginal students should be educated about Aboriginal culture, history and contemporary life through the richness of Aboriginal writing with its innovative uses of the English language. Various works of Aboriginal literature are included.

Blackboard is a course-management system (or CMS) that is web based and password protected. Similar to Moodle, this online program allows staff and students to engage in online or offline classes. It also allows staff and students to utilize online activities and resources (for both online and offline classes).

In Saskatchewan, the Ministry of Learning hosts some of its materials on Blackboard so that all educators across the province can access them. It is used to house password protected resources and materials.

Materials scanned into the Sun West library on Kurzweil can be accessed and used throughout the Division. This means that materials scanned in one school can be saved and accessed by staff in other schools in Sun West. This is a huge time-saving feature for many schools where time to scan may be limited. The copyright understanding is that materials used provided that the school has a “hard copy” of the resource being used. So, if a school is using the Kurzweil scanned version of Underground to Canada, a copy of the book must also be available in the school.

Students are introduced to the properties of acids and bases, as well as how to name them. This lesson
takes place over two class periods usually. We begin by discussing what students know about acids and
bases. We try to create a student generated list of features. This has ranged from a very small list to
large list in the past, depending on student experiences. Next, I give a lesson on the definition of acids
and bases, followed by some properties. Next, students use a lab to experience and determine which is
an acid or a base (and the relevant strengths) using a stations lab.
Following the lab, students may choose to work in groups or with me in a smaller group on naming and
writing formula for acids and bases. They then practice naming and correct as a group.

Three exercises that allow learners to build from what they already know about the topic.

Name of Student: ___________________________________ Date: __________________
EAL Teacher ________________________ Classroom Teacher ___________________ CFR Level: ______

The following adaptations can support this student’s needs. As the semester proceeds, additional adaptations may be identified and others may be discontinued. Check subsequent adaptations using a different coloured pen.

Background
Student assessment is a deliberate process used to provide feedback and evidence for making judgments about students’ learning in relation to identified learning outcomes. Teachers guide the evaluation and reporting of student progress to parents/guardians.