April, 2018 Volume 1, Issue 2 Anglophone School District West
Start-ups, Wrap-ups and a Pause in the Middle
February and March were busy months in ASD-W, full of beginnings and ends. Let us begin with the beginnings.
High schools began new semesters which included a new curriculum for World Issues. The Office of First Nations held a number of
Professional Learning Days to introduce new resources and modules for Grade 3 curricula, Grade 9 Social Studies and High School
Visual Arts. Grade 9 Social Studies also gathered together to examine the Citizenship outcomes in the Canadian Identities course, a
day which involved both philosophical debate, and comedic roleplay. The Upriver Book Club debuted featuring Middle School Social
Studies teachers at John Caldwell and Saint Mary’s Academy who are diving into Under-
standing by Design by McTigue and Wiggins. And last but not least, we all experienced
our first Family Day Provincial Holiday.
Throughout the last two months, ASD-W schools have continued to go above and beyond
offering enriching and engaging opportunities in Social Studies and Fine Arts. Thirteen
schools have been collaborating with local artists to introduce the Arts in cross-curricular
contexts through Arts Smarts grants. Several of these projects will be featured in this edi-
tion of our newsletter. Heritage Fair season is upon us, as schools continue to host their
school based fairs, and we can’t wait to see all that ASD-W students have to offer at the
district-wide fair being hosted at CFB Gagetown on May 1st. Meanwhile, schools are busy
rehearsing, building sets and making costumes in preparation for the Provincial Drama
Festivals. The Woodstock Elementary Festival will be hosted at Woodstock High School
on Tuesday, April 10th, while the combined Fredericton and Oromocto Elementary Festival
features 3 days of plays from Monday April 9th to Wednesday, April 11th.
A number of projects have also wrapped up this past month with Canada 150 grant deadlines. We are thrilled to report that every
school in our district is now the proud owner of at least one piece (if not several pieces) of original, New Brunswick art. In total, 137
pieces of art have been purchased. I have had the honour of meeting many of
these artists who have poured their passion into these works of art, and are proud
to be inspiring the next generation of New Brunswick Artists.
Additionally, 39 schools took advantage of the Artist Performance in Schools
grant to host a live performance at their school. From Tristan Horncastle to TNB
and I-Tromboni, students across the district have had the opportunity to experi-
ence live performance within their walls.
The #NBProud Art Competition also selected its winners, which includes many
ASD-W winners. Look for the winning entries inside our newsletter.
Finally, the Lens of this Land project has culminated in an art exhibit at the Fred-
ericton Public Library featuring student artwork inspired by the land from Fred-
ericton High School, Hartland Community School and Geary Elementary School
students.
And of course, this list is far from exhaustive. And the greatest work of
all, is the work that teachers are doing every day, in classrooms, with
their students, to build understanding of our complex world and the
communication skills to express all the thoughts, ideas, inspirations,
passions, concerns, and questions through a variety of media.
We hope you enjoy our 2nd Edition of the SSFAE Newsletter.
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES
Fredericton/Oromocto Drama Festival: April 9-11th
Woodstock Centre Drama Festival : April 10th
Kiwanis Fredericton Band Blast: April 28th
ASD-W District Heritage Fair: May 1st, 2018
SSFAE Newsletter Social Studies, Fine Arts & Enrichment
Forest Hill Elementary enjoys TNB’s production “A
Herman Tale” thanks to a Canada 150 Artist Perfor-
mance in Schools grant.
Summerhill Elementary was thrilled to
receive its art acquisition piece directly
from the artist: Lorie Bonville Smith.
ARTSMARTS GRANTS
ArtsSmarts Grants offer up to $3000 for schools wish-ing to incorporate fine arts outcomes into other subject areas. This cross-curricular approach allows students to work with a local artist in the field of visual arts, dra-ma, music or dance as a means of enriching and extending learning. Check for information and appli-cations for next year’s ArtsSmarts grants in Sep-tember. This year, 10 schools in Anglophone West were awarded ArtsSmarts grants. Some of these exceptional projects are highlighted here.
SOME OF THE MANY BENEFITS OF ARTS INTEGRATION:
Students are involved in the
creative process. This en-
courages critical and crea-
tive thinking and fosters
imagination, collaboration,
communication and lifelong
learning.
Arts integration can provide
opportunities to engage modes of communication
that are sometimes over-
looked. While we often
focus on words and num-
bers, arts-based experienc-
es can allow students to
learn and demonstrate
learning through images,
sounds and movement.
Arts based learning offers
hands-on, real-world expe-
rience and can provide mul-
tiple forms of engagement,
and multiples ways of rep-
resenting learning.
BUILDING A GROWTH MINDSET AT BRISTOL
Grade 2 students at Bristol Elemen-tary School are excited to be partici-pating in an ArtsSmarts Project titled BAM!!! Building A Mindset (of growth… Super Heroes in Disguise), as a means of learning about, and building, a growth mindset. Ms. Cogswell’s class explored quality literature depicting strong characters who never give up. Talented local art-ist Cortney Rector worked with stu-dents on visual responses to the liter-ature. They designed Superhero capes, and painted self-portraits of their Superhero selves using the style of famous pop artist Roy Lichten-stein. Students learned about ono-matopoeia before creating word art posters. They enjoyed working with clay to create super hero self-portraits that were then oven baked and glazed. The class will also create dog tag necklaces, a super hero photo booth and a bottle cap mural that will depict the growth mindset theme.
HERITAGE THOUGH ART AND TECHNOLOGY
Grade six students at George Street Middle School completed an inter-active painting project titled Heritage through Social Studies, the Arts and the Future of Coding. Students researched their country of origin and made acrylic paintings depicting the country, the national plant, the flag, and national animal. The students then used coding to attach Makey Makeys which allowed the paintings to “talk” to the viewer, giv-ing information about the subjects depicted. This project was the result of collaboration between Clara Thomas (technology), Hope Price (visual arts) and local artist Adrienne Borland.
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ArtsSmarts Grant applications are submitted in the fall. If you have an idea for a project, contact [email protected] to find out how to apply.
“Leads pass through. Wheel around. Face your corner. Alamande left….” This is just a small snip-pet of what you would hear if you were to walk into the gym on Wednesday mornings at Cam-bridge-Narrows Community School. Squaredance caller Terry Hebert, along with local volunteers
from the Washademoak Swingers Square Dance Club, have been working with students since the fall and the progress being made is impressive! Plans are in the works for students to demonstrate their talents at the school’s annual Volunteer Tea in late May/early June.
On February 15th, grade 4 students at Upper Miramichi Elementary School presented a live performance as part of a project titled Exploring the History and Culture of the Majestic Miramichi River through music, dance, move-ment, storytelling and visual arts. In preparation for this performance, artists Michelle Daigle and Don Rigley of Frantically Atlantic Entertainment worked with the stu-dents. Frantically Atlantic is an East Coast style musical duo with a broad repertoire of traditional and original songs and tunes in both official languages.
SQUAREDANCERS TAKING SHAPE IN CAMBRIDGE NARROWS
MUSIC, DANCE, MOVEMENT AND THE MAJESTIC MIRAMICHI RIVER
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Students “All join hands and circle to the right” Primary students preparing to “Promenade” back home
Students created impressive self portraits after first using a digital camera to take a picture of themselves in a controlled, studio-like environment set up in the classroom. Secondly, using a computer and graphics software such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, they were shown how that image can be manipulated into a graphic design. Thirdly, using charcoal, graphite pencils, and felt pens, they created black and white drawing based on these digital works.
The student portraits were displayed at the Andrew and Laura McCain library in Florenceville-Bristol for public viewing. There was a lot of positive feedback giv-en to the students regarding the end product. It was very impressive. It appeared that the students even surprised themselves with the end result. Some students mentioned that their parents/guardians might frame the piece of art.
These drawings will be accompanied by a short text that deals with each stu-dent’s identity, their own story, or other personal experiences. This will be their final project to conclude their art rotation.
SELF PORTRAITURE AT BATH COMMUNITY SCHOOL
69 Schools + 3 Ed Centres = 137 Pieces of Art
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See artists and titles of the works, as well as schools who acquired each artwork on the adjacent page
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We are happy to report that all schools in ASD-W participated in the Art Acquisi-tions program by purchasing artwork from a New Brunswick artist for their school. In total, our schools purchased 137 works of art. Here are a small sample of the works purchased through this pro-gram: 1. Michel Duguay Un air de fête, 2015 George Street Middle School 2. Suzan Carsley Keeping the Circle Strong, 2017 Nackawic High School 3. Colin Smith Field Trip, 2017 Bristol Elementary School 4. Jean-Paul Boudreau An amazing conversation, 2013 Gibson Neill Elementary School 5. Dennis Austin Reid Study for Court, 2016 Southern Victoria High School 6. James Wilson Marsh Channel, Hampton N.B., 2015 Nackawic Middle School 7. Anne-Marie Sirois Robbie Caninus, 2015 Garden Creek Elementary 8. Judith Saunders Kayak at Red Bank, 2013 Harold Peterson Middle School 9. Geneviève Bouffard Vue d’en haut, 2014 Harvey Elementary 10. Emily Phillips Dickson Falls at Fundy National Park Ridgeview Middle School 11. Donna Rawlins Sharpe Food Chain II, 2013 Upper Miramichi Elementary School 12. Melinda (Arseneau) Sheehan New River Beach, 2016 New Maryland Elementary School 13. Mario LeBlanc Arbre #3, 2013 Carleton North High School
N.B. Art Acquisitions CREATIVITY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM Beth Crawford – Fine Arts and Enrichment Lead
Creative development must not be considered an ‘add-on’. Instead, classroom instruction can allow the free-dom for creative and innovative discoveries in each grade and across disciplines. When students are engaged in the process of discovery, information becomes meaningful and may be committed to memory. With this in mind, here are a few suggested methods for supporting creative development across the curriculum:
PLAY - Play can be used as a tool for engaging students and can provide re-
stored enthusiasm for inquiry. When introducing a new topic of inquiry to a class, it may be valuable to think about how you can initiate a play-based introductory session. For example, students may be asked to play with a new material, such as cardboard, before building an architectural model. The process of playing with the material will allow students the opportunity to devise unique and creative approaches to this building and design task. Discoveries can be shared with peers informally or through whole group discussions.
DIVERGENT THINKING - Opening the door to creative development in the
classroom means creating a ‘safe space’ where students are comfortable with ambiguity and open to multiple possibilities. It is important to urge students to think past their original ideas, exerting effort and tak-ing risks (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2013). Sharing a new or novel insight involves uncertainty and, therefore, can be considered a risky behavior by students who fear making mistakes or being wrong (Beghetto, 2010). Therefore, a supportive classroom environment must be created as a means of reducing risk-avoidant behaviors. This involves careful model-ing by the instructor and can be encouraged through open questioning.
OPEN QUESTIONING - Simply adjusting the format of a question you wish
to pose can support creative development by allowing students to ex-plore multiple possibilities. Open questions encourage divergent think-ing by posing problems that have more than one acceptable solution. As a result, the fear of being wrong is replaced by a willingness to inquire, predict, and propose alternate solutions.
COLLABORATION - One of the greatest sources of ideas is the collective
insights of peers, classmates, or colleagues. Through collaboration stu-dent gain new perspectives and learn to value the ideas of others. This kind of flexible thinking may also help students develop empathy. Col-laboration goes beyond cooperation as it necessitates sharing and build-ing upon the ideas of others (Kelly, 2012) and can only be possible when students develop the capacity to communicate with one another without fear of judgment.
IDEA GENERATION - The process of idea generation is often called brain-
storming. Here, students generate multiple ideas, often in collaboration with others. Booth (2013) suggests that students need to develop the “capacity for multiplicity” and, ideally, learn to find pleasure in the pro-cess. After multiple ideas have been generated, the process of testing and experimenting with these ideas may begin. Instructors can encour-age this process through modelling, scaffolding, and allowing ample op-portunity to practice. Above all, it is critical that students are provided with appropriately challenging and engaging tasks, and afforded enough time to explore them completely.
* see works cited on the back page of the newsletter
This project allowed 48 students at Kes-wick Ridge School to learn about the use of wool for a variety of purposes with the di-rect involvement of a fiber artist. The chil-dren had a wide variety of opportunities to develop cross-curricular skills of “communication, inquiry, life-long learn-ing, decision-making, participation, team-work, and personal management" (You and Your World Curriculum) and were encour-
aged to explore materials and processes to create artworks that reflect their experience (Visual Arts Curriculum). With trips to Kings Landing Historical Settlement, Shepherd’s Garden Sheep Farm, and Briggs & Little Woolen Mills, the stu-dents learned about historical and current wool processing. The presentations by fiber artist Ali Murphy expanded the scope of this project to include other fibers, some available in New Bruns-wick and others from around the world. The students learned about wool processing, sorted wool sam-ples at various stages, tried spinning with a drop spindle and a wheel, and worked on plans for a needle-felted hanging. In an-other session, they sampled fibers from different animals and plants and began the actual needle-felting with direct support from community volunteers in the classroom.
WOOL, THEN AND NOW, 1867-2017 An FAA Project at Keswick Ridge School
Teachers: Celinda Crandall and Megan Bird O’Brien Funded by: FAA Grant Artist: Ali Murphy, fiber artist
We heard… Cling clang, wool, machines, doors, bells, people
K-1-2 children completed wall hangings of Christmas trees and wet-felted butterflies. Grade 5 students
creating landscape hangings.
We touched… Dirty wool, yarn, Roving, dyed wool
We saw… The door, coloured wool, the people, ceiling, wool boxes, window
Music students in Cambridge Narrows looked at the im-
portance of Music in the First Nations community and
came up with the idea of making a blanket for the guest
Elder. Well done!
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Grade 11 and 12 French Immersion students at Carleton
North High School participated in an enrichment project
through the Bilingual Learning Environment Program.
Teachers Renée Michaud and Donna Langille organized a
workshop with stained glass artist, Guylaine DuFour. The
finished piece will hang in the Carleton North Library.
Project Zero and Studio Thinking
The Studio Thinking Project was a study conducted by
Project Zero at Harvard University, investigating how
the arts are taught, what students learn, and how
teachers design instruction for the arts. The research
is not new, but still remains relevant. One result of
this study was the Studio Thinking Framework. These
eight ‘habits of mind’ highlight the real benefits of art
education and provide a focus for teachers and stu-
dents working in a studio setting. How do you sup-
port studio habits of mind in your own classroom?
EIGHT STUDIO HABITS OF MIND
Develop Craft: Learning to use and car e for tools, m a-
terials, learning artistic conventions
Engage & Persist: Learning to embrace problems of rele-
vance within the art world and/or of personal importance, to
develop focus conducive to working and persevering at tasks
Envision: Learning to picture mentally what cannot be direct-
ly observed and imagine possible next steps
Express: Learning to create works that convey an idea, a feel-
ing, or a personal meaning
Observe: Learning to attend to
visual contexts more closely than
ordinary “looking” requires, and
thereby to see things that other-
wise might not be seen
Reflect: Learning to think and
talk with others about an aspect
of one’s work or working process,
and, learning to judge one’s own
work and working process and
the work of others
Stretch & Explore: Learning to reach beyond one ’s ca-
pacities, to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, and
to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes
Understand Arts Community: Learning to interact as
an artist with other artists (i.e., in classrooms, in local arts or-
ganizations, across art fields, and within the broader society)
Students at George Street Middle School created a collage
map of Canada using images of student artwork created
under the direction of their teacher, Alison Sollows-Astle,
and Alison Black of Open Your Art. This project was
funded by an FAA Artist in Residence Grant .
USING INQUIRY IN THE MUSIC CLASSROOM
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It is a common misconception that people are simp-
ly creative, or they are not. With creating and com-
posing integrated into the music curriculum right
from Kindergarten, we as educators are presented
with the opportunity to demystify the creative pro-
cess using inquiry to drive instruction.
In Dive into Inquiry (2016), Trevor Mackenzie talks
about inquiry as “flipping control of learning in our
classrooms” (p. 17). This doesn’t mean the teacher
stops teaching, it means that the teacher is willing
to wear different hats, and at times step back to let
the students question, explore and discover, rather
than simply receive and return in good condition.
A great inquiry lesson begins with an Essential
Question which Wiggins and McTighe define as
“questions that are not answerable with finality in a
brief sentence… Their aim is to stimulate thought,
to provoke inquiry, and to spark more questions—
including thoughtful student questions—not just pat
answers” (2007, p. 106).
We have all met people who self-describe as “not
having a creative bone in their body”. How can we
ensure that this is a phrase that our students never
utter? Creativity is not so much a tangible thing,
but rather a process in which connections are made
between seemingly unrelated things, patterns are
uncovered, and solutions can be found. Therefore
part of demystifying the music creation process is to
explore what inspires real world composers. As an
essential question this might read: What inspires
composers to write music?
This is an essential question because we can
return to the question year after year, outcome
after outcome, and still uncover, discover and in-
spire our students to develop their creativity in
new ways.
What inspires
composers to
write music?
Consider the Kindergarten outcome which em-
phasizes “sound sources”. Have students listen
to songs that incorporate “real-world” sounds,
and have students consider all the sounds of
their daily lives. Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride
has the sounds of horse clops, sleigh bells and a
whip. Having students listen to Louis Prima’s
Beep Beep should have hands-up as the class
identifies possible inspiration for all the crazy
sounds this song incorporates. Of course the
goal is always that students will be able to trans-
fer new found skills to demonstrate their under-
standing. Can students find and suggest other
sounds in their everyday lives that might be used
to create music?
Saint-Saens’s Carnival of the Animals is fun to
explore with students. Can they guess what ani-
mal inspired each part of the piece? Have stu-
dents defend their guesses by referring pitch,
tempo and other qualities of the music that led
them to their guess. Even if they select the
wrong animal, their ability to connect the traits
of the animal to the characteristics of the music
is where as teachers we can assess understand-
ing. Otherwise, they might just be lucky guesses.
Over the years, allowing students to continue to
investigate their surroundings for real-world
sounds to inspire their music can continue. Stu-
dents can be tasked with recording, looping, in-
corporate percussion or instrumentation to
change the feel of their compositions.
Returning to our essential question: What in-
spires composers to write music?, increasingly
complex ideas and patterns can be introduced
over the years. Linking emotion to key and tem-
po, students can explore how changing the
soundtrack to a famous movie scene can alter the
meaning of the film segment.
Explore how Charles Ives plays with his audienc-
es as he experiments with theme in “Variations
on America”.
Flipping the classroom means immersing them
in the music first, letting them describe the mu-
sic in their language, and then using those teach-
able moments to introduce the terminology of
the discipline.
By Grade 9 students could create their own vari-
ations on songs as simple as London Bridge. But
hands-on isn’t necessarily minds-on. Make sure
any performance is accompanied by a justifica-
tion that demonstrates purpose, intent and an
understanding of music theory and terminology.
Kindergarten: explore a range of ways of ex-
pressing thoughts, experiences, and feelings
through music, with emphasis on sound
sources
Grade 3: create and present songs with
rhythmic accompaniment that express per-
sonal meaning
Grade 7: independently or in a group, create
a composition that expresses an idea or com-
municates a mood
Grade 9 demonstrate an understanding of
the elements of music by creating short exam-
ples of melodies, rhythms, different textures,
harmonies and forms
A Stanford study shows that music engages areas of the brain which are involved with
paying attention, making predictions and updating events in our memory. (Baker, Mitzi. "Music moves brain to pay attention, Stanford study finds." Stanford Medicine. Accessed February 24, 2015)
Drama Fest 2018
WE are excited to announce that the following schools participat-ed in the 2018 ASD-W Drama Fest. Look for pictures in our next newsletter!
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Cambridge-Narrows Community School
Centrevile Community School
Chipman Elementary School
Florenceville Elementary School
Gagetown
Geary Elementary Community School
Gesner Street Elementary School
Hubbard Ave Elementary
Kingsclear Consolidated School
Nashwaaksis Memorial
Nashwaak Valley
New Maryland Elementary School
Priestman Street Elementary
Summerhill Elementary School
Townsview School
ASD-W Band Blast takes
place on April 28th!
SAVE THE DATE!
Accommodating
Students with Autism in
the Music Classroom
Sherry Goodine, music teacher at Car-
leton North High School, attended a
conference called Music and Autism
Spectrum Disorders given by Alice
Hammel at the University of Maine in
Gorham. We asked her to share her
professional learnings for the benefit
of other Fine Arts teachers in the dis-
trict.
SG: The day began with a brief over-
view on cognition and brain function
and then moved on to the cognitive
function of children with ASD.
She discussed many aspects of what
students with ASD are challenged by,
for example:
multi-step directions,
processing delays,
remembering items from day to day,
motor planning and fine motor is-sues.
Students with ASD demonstrate diffi-
culty with:
day to day class functions,
taking turns,
remembering creative movement,
understanding rules,
and collaborative learning.
Ms. Hammel offered several classroom
strategies to aid in making the music
class successful. There were too many
to list here, so I have chosen 10 to share
with you.
1. Develop a monitoring system,
2. Make frequent eye contact,
3. Create a private signal to use when
the student must pay attention
(realizing that the student can’t
hold focus for the duration a class).
4. You may also wish to create a signal
that the student can use to indicate
that he/she needs your attention or
help.
5. Help with organization. A “buddy”
can help gather materials and pre-
pare for class.
6. Assist with transition difficulties
that could lead to organizational or
behavioural differences during
class.
7. Place the student in a location with
the least number of distractions
(ex: don’t place student near the
classroom instruments).
8. Keep directions short and simple
9. Focus on quality of work and not
quantity.
10. Use signals for transitions, as they
are difficult for our ASD students.
(For example, turn light on/off,
ring a bell, play music as a gentle
reminder the activity is coming to a
close).
Recommended Resources:
Teaching Music to Students with Special
Needs, A label free approach.
Teaching Music to students with special
needs, a practical resource,
Winding It Back: Teaching to individual
differences in music classroom and en-
semble settings.
Teaching Music to Students with Autism.
(All written by Alice M. Hammel).
Thank you Sherry for seeking out op-
portunities for effectively including all
of our students in music class, and also
your willingness to share these
throughout our district.
For more information on this topic, feel
free to contact Sherry at
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THE MARKETPLACE: MAKING REAL-WORLD APPLICATION OF THE GRADE
8 SOCIAL STUDIES OUTCOMES AT GEORGE STREET MIDDLE George Street Middle School has made the most of the Grade 8 Social Studies economics outcomes by having
their students start their own businesses and be young entrepreneurs!
The ten Grade 8 classes, divide into more than 60 groups/
businesses which are paired with a local entrepreneur who
shares their business venture story. The students work with
the community volunteer over several visits, as they develop
their own business plans and create their own products.
The business plan process includes brainstorming ideas, using
the decision making process in selecting their venture (it’s
NOT a vote, it’s an informed decision), budgeting their pur-
chases (including shipping, taxes, customs, duty!), and apply-
ing for a loan (approved by the teacher).
Product creativity is encouraged, some students create new
products, and others put a new spin on an existing idea. Students have even taken advantage of Brilliant Labs as a
space to create everything from pencil toppers, cookie cutters and fidget spinners!
Students quickly learn the rocky process of launching a product, thus teaching resiliency because they must push
through and persevere – giving up is NOT an option. We all know collaboration is often challenging; but the
George Street teachers guide students through all these moments, developing invaluable skillsets of leadership
and communication.
Finally, student ventures are showcased to the families and com-
munity at the Market Place Evening held every spring [Wednesday,
April 11th from 5:30—7:30]. The deep learning of this project is
exemplified in how the students enthusiastically talk about their
process (including the “Ups and Downs”) from idea to product
without any notes.
All proceeds raised from the evening go to our sister school in
Zambia “The Twitti School”. Typically, the Market Place raises
around $5000, and our current efforts are in support of a new
playground for the school.
This project would not be possible without the wonderful guidance and collaboration with Eric Estabrooks and the
Learning Partnership. http://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/what-we-do/student-programs/entrepreneurial-
adventure
If you would like to know more about this project, GSMS teacher Lise Martin-Keilty is happy to answer questions
and share resources she has developed in both French and English. ([email protected])
Well done George Street Middle School!
Students running their business plans by Jason LeJeune (Isaac’s Way).
Margo Mulder (Boyce Farmers’ Market ) mentoring George St. Students.
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Social Entrepreneurship January 26, 2018
Grade 3
Treaty Education
February 16, 2018
On March 21st, Grade 9 Social Studies teachers were tasked with answering the following question:
What is required of citizens, in order to maintain a healthy democracy?
Teaching about Citizenship: Democratic Participation Class Activity
Lesson Plan designed by, and shared with the permission of Dr. Alan Sears (UNB)
On Wednesday, March 21st, 25 Grade 9 Social Studies teachers gathered at the Kingswood Lodge to explore the outcomes
that relate to citizenship. Participants greatly enjoyed trying out this activity by Dr. Alan Sears of UNB. Although it has
been designed for Grade 9 students, with some adjustments, it could inspire great conversations about democratic par-
ticipation at varying Grade levels. If you would like a copy of the full lesson plan electronically, please e-mail
Examine the list of actions below, as a group ensure you know what each term means. If you don’t know, how could you find the answer?
(5-10 minutes)
Peaceful protest
Violent protest
Signing/circulating petition
Voting
Joining a political party
Boycotts
Joining a social network group to promote a cause
Writing a blog about an issue that concerns you
Tweeting or Retweeting on a political hashtag
Writing a letter to your City Council, MLA or MP
Contacting an elected official by phone or in person
Strikes
Volunteering
Running for student government
Organizing an event to raise awareness
Putting up posters to raise awareness
Placing a sign in your house window or on your lawn that state your views on an issue
Handing out flyers (at the market or other public place)
Taking a knee during the anthem
As a group, use the 1st graphic organizer to rank each activity from most effective to least effective. (10 minutes)
Individually, use the 2nd graphic organizer to rank each
activity in terms of how willing you would be to take use that form of action. (10 minutes)
Compare your results from step 3 with your classmates.
(5 minutes)
Complete the exit survey. (10 minutes)
Graphic Organizer # 2. My willingness to try participate in these activities
Exit Card Questions:
Compare your graphic organizers #1 and #2. How does the order of actions in your Effectiveness organizer, compare to
the order of actions in your Willingness organizer? Explain your findings.
Review your graphic organizer on Willingness. For each level of willingness, note what it would take—what kind of issue or personal experience might cause you to pursue that level of action. Staple your two graphic organizers to the back of this exit card.
Graphic Organizer # 1. Effectiveness of Democratic Participation Methods
Sharing is Caring: Archiving Pre-service Teacher Produced Work for the Elementary Social Studies Classroom
By Dr. Casey Burkholder
(UNB Faculty of Education)
From January to March 2018, I taught a group of wonderful pre-service elementary school teachers at UNB. A key part of the course was to work with pre-service teachers to under-stand the New Brunswick Social Studies curriculum (K-5), and then to reimagine the curriculum as a space where mar-ginalized histories and identities could be de-marginalized and centered. We have created a website (www.nb-social-studies.com) that serves as an archive of the materials and artwork produced in the course in order to share our work with other teachers, teacher-educators, and the public.
Fig. 1. NB Elementary Social Studies Methods website
During the course, pre-service teachers created work for three specific assignments. First, each was expected to imagine and deliver a short learning centre to 5-6 students. Each chose a particular grade (sometimes connecting with their practicum placements), and a topic of interest. One of our kindergarten teachers created a learning centre about diversity within fami-lies. A grade one teacher’s centre focused on a hands-on in-troduction to composting, recycling, and reducing waste. A grade five teacher taught us about settler colonialism in Northern New Brunswick through a dramatic retelling (assisted by the game Settlers of Catan). We encourage teach-ers to reuse and upcycle our ideas and lesson plans (and cite the creators).
Fig. 2. Learning how to sort recycling for the Gr. 1 classroom
In a second assignment, the teachers were inspired by the Graphic History Collective’s (2017) project, Remember/Resist/Redraw (http://graphichistorycollective.com/projects/remember-resist-redraw) where artists, historians, activists, and storytellers collaborated to create posters to tell some of the stories that are absent from the dominant historical narra-tives that are often repeated in Canada. Our posters communi-cate a story or history that is missing from or downplayed in the New Brunswick elementary social studies curriculum. We have responded by highlighting a person, community, story, or event that—in our experiences—have been missing or marginalized in the curriculum, highlighting for example, the B70 Internment Camp, the Komagata Maru, Sarah Edmonds, the Sixties Scoop, among many others.
Fig. 3: The Voyage of the Komatata Maru (by Shoba Gunaseelan)
In a third assignment, the teachers created thematic toolkits for the elementary classroom that include:
an arts-based lesson plan
two suggestions for book or novel-studies
six online resources that encourage deeper exploration into the theme (e.g. films, podcasts, websites, digital sto-ries, etc.)
a project to be used as a culminating assessment at the end of the thematic toolkit.
The toolkits explore themes such as including Indigenous histories into the classroom. This toolkit includes a territorial acknowledgment, a discussion of important vocabulary, and an incorporation of ways to engage learners in understanding the ongoing legacy of settler colonialism in a New Brunswick context. Another toolkit explores ways of incorporating queer themes into early elementary education.
We offer this website as an archive of our work to the commu-nity of pre-service and practicing teachers, teacher-educators, and citizens in New Brunswick. Please explore our site, engage with our resources, credit our work, and make the resources work for your classrooms and communities.
Top Ten Reasons I Love
Visiting Schools
By Judy Piers-Kavanaugh
1. Entering the building and being greeted by
fabulous Administrative Assistants who
are so welcoming, and cannot wait to
show me their school.
2. Collaborating with teachers, learning from
one another, and discovering new ques-
tions.
3. The students’ energies and their inquisi-
tiveness
4. I love the instant feedback from the stu-
dents about the teaching, even when
they don’t realize they are providing the
feedback.
5. I treasure all the funny stories that the
classroom provides – this job is never
boring!
6. I love listening to the students’ ideas and
seeing how their minds work.
7. Seeing the many cross-curricular connec-
tions students’ make
8. I appreciate seeing the lightbulb or the
“Aha!” moments for students when they
make new spontaneous applications.
9 .I enjoy walking around the schools and ob-
serving the artifacts on the walls. This
provides me with the opportunity to see
what the school community values.
10. I am grateful to learn from the wonderful
teachers in our district so many great
ideas that I can “steal” and use when I
return to my classroom.
This year’s CHEA/ACHÉ conference will bring to-gether scholars, students, educators, teacher educa-tors, and community-based researchers to study the educational past in Canada and abroad. Papers for the conference will focus on the theme of education and community, examine education’s relationship to notions of community, and explore the role of edu-cation in community-building.
Dr. Marie Battiste, Professor, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, will deliver the key-note. Teachers are encouraged to participate and learn about how new educational developments such as insights from neuroscience, the emphasis on social and emotional learning, the consequences of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or the impact of inclusive education, are reshaping ideals and understandings of community and the enter-prise of educational history itself.
Join us for critical discussion, professional learning, and teacher workshops. Further details will be post-ed on the conference website http://www.ache-chea.ca/2018-conference/
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Works Cited: Beghetto, R. (2010). Chapter 3: Creativity in the classroom. In The Cambridge handbook of creativity. Cambridge University Press. Beghetto, R., Kaufman, J.C. (2013). Fundamentals of creativity. Educational Leadership. February, 2013, pp. 11-15 Booth, E. (2013). A recipe for artful schooling. Educational Leadership. Feb-ruary, 2013, pp. 22-27 Hetland, L. (2013). Connecting creativity to understanding. Educa-tional Leadership. February, 2013, pp. 65-70. Kelly, R. (Ed.). (2012). Educating for Creativity: A Global Conversa-tion. Brush Education. MacKenzie, T. (2016.) Dive into inquiry. Irvine, California: EdTechTeam Press.
McTighe, Jay & Wiggins, G. (2005). Understanding by Design. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2005.
PLEASE CONTRIBUTE Thank you for reading our first SSFAE newslet-
ter. We have done our best to feature a sam-
pling of the great work ASD-W teachers are
doing in the fields of Social Studies, Fine Arts
and Enrichment.; however, we know we have
barely scratched the surface.
If you have a project, or event with a Social
Studies or Fine Arts approach please reach out
to one of our team. We love being invited into
your schools.
If we can’t make it, please feel free to send in a
50-200 word write-up, and pictures to
[email protected] . Please ensure any
photographs of students have parental permis-
sion to publish. Please write: FOR NEWSLET-
TER in the subject line.
Sylvette Fortin demon-
strates how to use a sewing
machine before students
begin sewing felt ears for
sock puppets. Ms. Fortin is
a local artist working with
Chantal Sampson’s grade 1
class at Connaught Street
School on an ArtSmarts
project.
Invitation to Join UNB Social Studies Project
Casey Burkholder, Alan Sears, and Matt Rogers of the UNB Facul-
ty of Education are in the early stages of developing a podcast se-
ries on social studies teaching and learning in New Brunswick.
The podcast looks to highlight new and provoking school/
community-based social studies projects that focus on themes
ranging from citizenship, history and geography education, me-
dia, social engagement and activism, to critical equity studies.
At this stage, the UNB team is seeking social studies educators
who would be interested in forming a teacher advisory committee
for the series.
This volunteer committee will shape themes for episodes, identify
provocative NB social studies projects, and help to share the pod-
cast with a wide audience of educators.
Interested teachers should con-
tact Matt Rogers
([email protected]) to learn
more about the podcast and the
teacher advisory committee.
YOUR SSFAE TEAM
Judy Piers-Kavanaugh
Social Studies Lead
Beth Crawford
Fine Arts and Enrichment Lead
Beth Christie
Subject Coordinator
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