Fall Learning Conference Feedback

I enjoyed how Garfield talked about ideas that could be implemented in a classroom...and have forgotten most of it now because I have not had the time to talk with colleagues and find a way to implement one or two ideas in my daily practice.

I enjoyed the session regarding Nurturing Student Wellness because it connects directly to what I am teaching in CALM. This material is sticking with me, because I was able to turn around and make it fit my teaching the next week.

The closing keynote address was as very poorly delivered and was far too much information after already being in session for the previous 5 hours...on a Friday afternoon...at the end of a long month...of Covid teaching!!!

I enjoyed the zoom aspect and being able to listen from my own space. I grabbed a nugget out of the first part around questions that are richer. I found second half hard to listen to, as it lacked engagement and I had a hard time gleaning usable pieces.

I think a short opening keynote to spark those amazing ideas we all have is a great idea. I think an end of day keynote is hard. What if there was an opening keynote, and then breakouts with our own teams at school to process and analyze, and then maybe on-line zoom options if people want to collaborate with other schools?

I think the idea was excellent! I signed up for a course where the title and description didn't fit what I had in mind for the learning, and I therefore did not feel like my time was utilized properly. I found Garfield's keynote to be the most beneficial for the day, he sparked a lot of ideas which I could start the next week. I found his examples to show how easy it can be to work better, not harder, a great reminder and easy to alter to my curriculum I teach. His keynote was also quick, which is also what I loved. After his short keynote, I would have rather had time (the rest of the day!!!) to myself and/or with my grade colleagues to think and process and re-look at my month and the year ahead with that filter on.

I really appreciate all the work that goes into planning Pd days as I recognize how much effort and time it takes. It is wonderful for teachers to have the opportunity to constantly grow, however, I feel at this time it would have been more useful to have sessions where information could be given and questions could be answered in regards to the current situation of COVID 19. It would have also been helpful to have the time to work within individual school staff groups and with co-teachers as all schools have different needs at different times (especially times like this). Many strategies have been implemented within classrooms since the beginning of September and are constantly being evaluated and changed based on student needs, safety, and new information. It takes time to reassess and put new ideas to work, therefore, it would have been a god send to have time to work in the classroom on whatever is needed at this time.

I think the conference would have been very beneficial and received differently at a very different time when it wasn't being overshadowed by other worries and priorities. It was very difficult to sit all day at a computer and I found that there weren't enough breaks. I also would have preferred breakout sessions to speak with the staff members you were with at your school as opposed to everyone in long virtual breakout sessions across the division. Maybe more of a mixture of group PD, time for staff at individual schools, and time for teachers on thier own would have been better.

Thank you for the opportunities to increase my knowledge for my practice, and to share my feedback for future sessions!

I enjoyed being able to participate from my own school and with my own cohort so that we could discuss how the ideas might be applicable to our grade levels.

Most teachers I spoke with from a variety of schools, really felt that this wasn't the year to mandate this kind of learning. What we need most right now is time. Time to set up our online classrooms. Time to rejig our classrooms. Time to figure out how to teach in such a different way than we are used to.

I also find it hard to plan for learning at such a variety of age groups. What is applicable in grade 3 isn't always applicable in kindergarten. What is applicable in English isn't always applicable in French at the younger grades when we need to spend so much time filling them up with vocabulary in meaningful ways so that they can then participate in more engaged deeper thinking activities using their new language skills as they progress in their learning.

Having an extra day to not have to plan lessons in a new course in a new school was a pleasant break that afforded me the time and focus to dive deeper into the two days of learning. The school based learning on Thursday was time well spent with staff and time built in to work on Ed Plan items in PLC's and individually. Friday's morning keynote was a good start to the day. It stimulated a lot of conversation within my PLC and provided us with ideas we could use right away. The morning and afternoon Indigenous sessions were engaging and well paced. We were 'spoon fed' some solid resources and were allowed time to interact with it. The optional lunch session proved to be quite valuable. It was with Everactive Schools and with the small group who attended allowed us to learn about and generate lots of good ideas around staff wellness in all 8 dimensions.

It was a long time on one topic. The sessions maybe could be shorter, especially with zoom.

First - I really like and respect Garfield, the way he presents, and his ideas. I would love to use them in a normal year. However, I feel our PD organizers have to do a much better job of "reading the room". Teachers are in the middle of a very challenging month. Due to a late startup, increased PD days, 1h 45min per day in FLEX blocks, and a quarter system (which I do like), we have had to figure out how to shove what we taught over 125 hours a few years ago down into 68 hours (!!) Oh, and offer this on a dual platform - live and online. Oh, and make up for students who are ill prepared after a "lost" spring with no assessments and lowered expectations. Oh, and we have to be part-time cleaners using spray bottles we have to buy ourselves. Oh, and we have to constantly monitor and worry about our own health. And, as far as I know, the diploma exam will be right there waiting for us a month from now with similar expectations for good results (?) I can't say that worrying about "Critical Thinking" is a priority right now. Could teacher wellness truly be put at the heart of some of our PD? I had the same complaint about our PD in the spring. At least during the afternoon session I had the chance to just let it play, ignore it, and get caught up on my weekly, individual emails home to parents made necessary due to Maplewood being offline for this first month. Anybody join me for a drink?

I loved that I had choice in what I was able to do. I am an FI teacher, I have always been stuck having to go to the French things and felt it didn’t always align with my ipgp or what I was doing in my classroom. The year I was able to choose I feel was one of my best growth years. So I feel good about being able to choose this year. And even though I attended an English session, I was easily able to apply my learning on Monday!! I did feel the ending keynote ended up being a bit much by that time. My brain was rolling from what I had learned through the day and I wanted to focus on that, and the ending keynote didn’t help motivate me. Maybe it was too monotone, too heavy, not sure but I know it was too much and I had a lot of difficulty focusing at that point. Luckily we had the Friday to work on the work, though I feel it might have been better used in the afternoon of Thur to apply and share what we had learned. Thank you for giving the choice to everyone.

Time is always so valuable for teachers. Having two days so early in the year to be with our own staff or with teachers with the same subject material/grade level to collaborate with on an a self-directed agenda would have been so much more meaningful and useful.

I was intrigued and inspired by Garfield’s ideas and have already started implementing some big ideas. It was a positive experience for me and allowed for some rethinking of my older ways of organizing lessons.

I always like choice as that allows us to tailor the learning to our personal pedagogical needs. It was good that there was loads of choice and that we were able to pick what best suited our learning.

Garfield was engaging and his work was so aligned with our Division and School. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from him and work to apply this intentionally. I also heard very positive comments about Tegler and Babin's session and that it was nicely aligned with time to work and reflect.

Thankyou for organizing the learning day as it takes great planning organizing events of such magnitude. Though some of the day was beneficial, most was redundant - ideas and practices recycled/re-worded from years back, as always the case. After 25 years one recognizes the pattern. Moving forward may I suggest supporting staff with an entire day/s gathering with colleagues - exchanging, discussing and planning for the work that really makes a difference day to day!. As mature, educated professionals, micro-management is offensive. We flourish on trust, and excel with independency - making sound professional judgments regarding learning needs. Providing this valuable time, especially during a pandemic is critical to ensuring our students receive the very best education possible. We can feel we are drowning & just need time in taking a breath!

As an early learning specialist, I did not find the sessions on day 1 relevant to my practice. The opening and closing sessions felt like a repeat of what we have covered several times before. They did not support me as I work to present my program under our current challenging circumstances.
The break out sessions were too broad to be of use. Topics such as literacy are too specific to the developmental stage of the learner. Having a greater variety of sessions, focused on div level, would have been more useful.
Having time to meet as a school team on the second day was so valuable! Given that we have minimal contact with our colleagues due to cohorting, we have very little chance to connect and collaborate. Being able to focus on some of the specific challenges of this year as a team was the best use of our time. This was a better reflection of what I need to do my job well at this time.

I think that the Learning Conference would have been more beneficial as it was originally planned, of course being in person and collaborating is much better than online! We had some choice on session, but more specific learning would be more valuable. The sessions were very general as well as the discussions therefore did not meet my needs. I would prefer if the speaker would guide conversation and give suggestions and ideas rather than just coming from us.

Garfield Gini-Newman is one of my favourite presenters. I feel like he does an excellent job designing engaging, purposeful, and relevant sessions that balance theory and practice very well. I left his session feeling energized and excited, grateful for the resources that I did use with my students right away. The closing-note session was a little long, especially after such a full day. Having the chance to work in departments within our school context after the session would be a great way of really integrating some of the learning from our morning sessions. Thanks so much for a great day!

Hello...Well...where to begin. Last Friday was the Last thing your staff needed right now. I know this was in the planning for a while. I get that. But given the times we are in, there was nothing of value Friday, that we can use in the classroom to help us be better teachers during COVID. We needed to breathe, connect with our own staff, some of whom we never see given the state of teaching we are in, and actually plan for the next few weeks/months now that we have 1 month of teaching during a pandemic under our belts.
Please do not spend money on people who think they know what our situation is. It was ALL repeat. NOTHING new.
Complete waste of time. You say health and wellness is important this year? Making us sit and watch a TV all day was NOT what ur staff needed right now.
I know you are trying and are being your best, but talk to your admins...listen to them....they know what is going on in their schools and what their best needs are.

I signed up for numeracy in the hopes of learning some new ideas/strategies/activities. I have taken courses with Wanda in the past and I have always walked away from them enlightened and full of ideas. We spent the entire day listening to Garfield Newman speak. Every educator knows that your audience tunes out after a certain point.

Due to covid and the lack of contact we have with our fellow teachers, being able to collaborate together would have been a better use of our time. My teaching partner and I could have spent the day developing authentic and meaningful assignments for our students.