I think everyone will agree that it is time for the Christmas vacations to begin! And while we’re at it, a little more snow might be just the ticket to get us in the mood for the holidays. Liaison with the Board Your executive and I have been working behind the scenes for you. For th e first time ever, the SRTA has a liaison group that meets exclusively with the board to discuss issues ofrelevance. At our first meeting in November, Pat, Kathy, Lindsay and I relayed our concerns about the transfer of professional staff in our division, the increased demands on immersion teachers this year, and the new Violence in the Workplace legislation that was passed in August. We discussed the item and suggested solutions to help solve the issues. Our next meeting has been set for the end ofFebruary. If you have subjects you would like us to broach, please contact me. Budget RecommendationsJason Sparling, the Education Finance chairperson led a small committee comprised of me, Pat and Lindsay to present suggestions to the board for the 2012-2013 budget. Some of the changes we suggested were a return to Vocational Arts for grades 7 & 8, allocated funding specific to gifted students, mandatory training for all staff in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention and/or WEVAS, funds to provide support for release time/help ofImmersion teachers to evaluate students, increased maintenance personnel, and beautification of all entrances to buildings in SRSD. The board was pleased to receive our input and will take all the suggestions into consideration. Short Term Disability BenefitsIn 2010, after some education through speakers at council meetings and articles in the newsletter, a vote was held to add this item to our benefits. We required a 60% threshold; we received 52% so the idea died. Since t hen, in ex cess of 60 new members have joined our division; many ofwhom would benefit the most from the plan. Beginning in the new year, there will be an extensive educational initiative put forth by Wendy Chase, our new Employee Benefits chair as we revisit the issue. More news to come. More Info There’s a lot more information in the newsletter. Please continue flipping the pages…. If I don’t see you before then, have yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and may your hearts be bright as you celebrate the season with your loved ones. Enjoy the extra-long Christmas break; it doesn’t come around too often. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone! Here’s looking forward t o w hat 2012 will bring. If you would like help or clarification on anything that is affecting you in the workplace, please con tact me @ 270- 0215 or[email protected]President Suzanne Moore Vice-President Pat Liss Treasurer Janelle Picton SecretaryFrances GauthierCollective Bargaining ChairSteve Muzyka Employee Benefits ChairWendy Chase Health & Wellness ChairColleen Kachur-Reico Professional Development Chair Allison Graham Workplace Safety & Health Kathy DubeskyEquity & Social Justice ChairRebecca SheffieldEducation Finance Chair Jason Sp arling Resolutions ChairLindsay Hutchinson Public Relations ChairSuzanne Moore 204-270-0215[email protected]http://seineriverta.weebly.com Council Meeting Dates: (Tuesdays) February 7, 2012April 24, 2012June 12, 2012SRTA PD Fund Information & Forms onSharepointContact Allison Graham @[email protected]
Oct. 25, 2011This year marked the first time thatwe’ve offered the SAGE conferenceprogram online only, without anyprinted material.
In the eight weeks the overall programand individual programs were online, thepage on which they were linked wasviewed more than 32,000 times. Thepage was visited by 26,179 individual
people.At the same time the change meant asavings of more than160 trees, andprevented over 12,000 of solid wasteand 37 thousand pounds of greenhousegases. The printed program used morethan 1 million sheets of paper and tookmore than a month to print.
We know, however, that some peoplehad problems with the program and wewould like to hear what the problemswere or how we might make changes tomake the accessing of the onlinematerial easier.
Let us know what your experience hasbeen with an online-only brochure andlet us know how we can improve fornext year.
One of the most important documents you will receive each January is your Benefits Statement.Pension legislation now allows TRAF to distribute personal information electronically. Therefore, asnoted in the spring 2011 Link newsletter, paper copies of the Benefits Statement will be discontinuein 2012. Be sure to register for Online Services to receive electronic notification telling you when yostatement is available online. Register now and your name will be entered into our quarterly draws
Register for Online Services https://www.traf.mb.ca/online/nonsecure/memberRegister.jsf to viewyour statement when it becomes available.
Dec. 1, 2011 Organizers of the Prime Minister’s Awards forteaching excellence are looking for more Manitobaentries.
The deadline for nominations has been extended tJan. 9, 2012.
Six teachers from Manitoba were honoured this yebut a spokesperson for the awards says it would lito see more. The benefits of winning this award artremendous!
Up to 15 Certificates of Excellence (national level)and up to 50 Certificates of Achievement (regionalevel) are available worth $5,000 and $1,000respectively.
Winner’s schools share in the honour. Specialrecognition will be offered again this year by theCanadian Space Agency to a terrific space teacherDesignated awards are also offered to outstandingAboriginal educators. All winning teachers receive certificate, a PMA pin and a letter of congratulationsigned by the Prime Minister.
National level winners are personally honoured bythe Prime Minister and come to Ottawa to take pa
in a fantastic week of events and activities includinbest practice sessions with fellow recipients fromacross Canada.
Details can be found at the Prime Minister’s Awardfor Teaching Excellence website at: www.pma.gc.c
plan members to purchase pensionable service forParental Leaves. The leaves must be Parental Leavesand the member must purchase the whole leave.
Parental leaves commencing after June 16th
2011
can be purchased at the contributions required for the
irst 17 weeks of the leave. The rest of he leave must be purchased at double thecontributions required for the balance of
he leave. All these leaves must bepurchased by 18 months from thecommencement of the leave.
Active members can purchase ParentalLeaves that occurred prior to June 16th 2011 at their present contribution required
or the first 17 weeks and double thecontributions required for the balance of
he leave. All these leaves must bepurchased by December 16
th2012 to
qualify for the above contribution rate.Previous leaves purchased after December 16th 2012
will be based on actuarial formula and will besignificantly higher.
Applications for purchase of Parental leaves or perviousParental Leaves are on the TRAF website atwww.TRAF.mb.ca.
If you have any questions please contact TRAF directly
at 1 204 949 0048 or www.TRAF.mb.ca.
Mercer:
Their intent is to allow purchases for both Maternityand Parental by one female or for Parental for oneMale under the amended legislation. That is to say, a
female can purchase serviceon a maternity leave for thefirst 17 weeks at own cost
and an additional 17 weeks oParental at own cost. Thebalance of the parental leave
in excess of 34 weeks, ispurchased at double the cost(own cost and government’scost) The whole leave must
be purchased and must betermed a parental leave/
maternity leave. A Male canpurchase the first 17 weeksat own cost and the balance
at double the cost. Either must do so within 18
months of the cessation of the leave or if purchasedafter 18 months they will pay actuarial costs. Foractive teachers, Parental leaves occurring in the past
T he a v er a g e y ea r s of s er v i c e f or w omen r et i r ees i s 25 .9 a nd f or men 30 .5 y ea r s
T he re a re c u r re n t l y 1 1 me
m be r s
1 0 0 ye a r s o ld o
r o lde r w ho a re
co l lec t i n g pe n
s io n s.
The oldest
pensioner is 106.
Seventy per cent of active
members are women.
The average ages of new retirees
are 58.7 for women and 59.4 for men.
There are 2,458
eligible to retire, but TRAF
expects retirements to be
just over 500.
Abou t 10 y ea r s a g o t her e w er et w o a c t i v e t ea c her s f or ev er y r et i r ed one. T od a y t he r a t i o i s 1.2 a c t i v e t ea c her s t o one r et i r edone...
There are curren tl y 15,155 ac
ti ve
plan members and 12,415 re tirees,
a
difference of 2, 7
4 0.
As an alternative to completing a paper version of the Pension Application, members who are
registered for Online Services now have the option to complete the application online. This
prevents delays and ensures the process moves ahead smoothly. Once you complete the
application online, mail it to TRAF with the following:
• Proof of age for you and your partner, if applicable
•
Completed federal and provincial TD1 tax forms • Void cheque or letter from your Canadian bank or credit union
TRAF will notify you by mail once the application process has been completed.
In all cases, be sure to notify your school division of your intent to retire.
Members who complete their application online before May 31, 2012 will automatically be
For most teachers,there has been a shiftin how classrooms havebeen run over theyears. We have beenencouraged to getaway from being at the frontof the classroom lecturing toour students for the entireclass. Instead, we should be aguide as the students doactivities that will lead them tounderstanding on their own. Irecently took a tour of a K-8school, and I saw this methodin action. Small clusters of children were doing differentactivities and drawing theirown conclusions. I only sawone teacher in the whole
school standing at the frontand “teaching” in thetraditional sense.
In high schools, there is alsoevidence of student centeredlearning. Students are workingtogether in groups creating amovie for a history project, orthey are mixing chemicals inorder to make discoveries in
Science. However, in SeniorYears Math classes, many of us are using the same ‘sageon the stage’ strategies thathave been used for years. Iam guilty of this myself, andthere are several reasons forthis. In many courses, weneed to teach a new outcomeevery day in order for thecurriculum to be covered, andfor our students to be ready
for the looming provincialexams at the end of Grade 12.Lecture style teaching justseems to be the most efficientway to get the information tothe students, and us mathteachers really like beingefficient.
The problem is that the datadoes not support this line of
thought. Sure, we may
manage to present all of thematerial to our students, butthat does not mean that theyare actually learning anything.I recently attended theNational Conference of Teachers of Mathematics inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, andseveral of the workshopschallenged my notions of whatbeing an effective mathteacher is all about.
Lecture style teaching isactually the most inefficientway for students to learn. Onespeaker estimated that only10% of the lecture contentactually sinks in for thestudent. In order to increaseunderstanding we MUST getthe students to actually dothings on their own, notmerely watch us. This involves
more than just gettingstudents to practice questionsand essentially reproduce whatwe have shown them. Weneed students to use theirhands, create things, andcreate ideas that are originalto them, not just given to them
This is particularly true for the “reluctant learner”. One
workshop I attended was
entitled “Hands OnAlgebra”, and we spentan hour solving multi-stalgebra problems usingbolts, baskets andpennies. In another
session we createdtetrahedrons using anAmerican dollar bill in ourpocket. It is not enough todraw pictures on the board, even to have fancy SmartBoard animations. Manystudents who have oftenstruggled in math needsomething to hold and tomanipulate. This may be thekey to bringing success to thstudent who has never hadsuccess in math before.
The biggest challenge I hadwas applying this to my Pre-Calculus courses. I have longabandoned using hands onactivities and manipulatives Pre-Cal courses, thinking thathey were a waste of precioutime. In one session I learnthow to complete the square(an important Gr.11 Pre-Cal
concept) while using algebratiles. This gave me anopportunity to bring somethconcrete into what is largely very abstract course.
Not every math concept willlend itself to hands onactivities, but the importantthing for math teachers is tocontinue to look foropportunities for hands on
learning. It may take somework, and it may take sometime, but if genuine studentlearning is the goal, then it isour obligation to give studenof all learning styles anopportunity to learneffectively.
Matthew Nikkel teaches allthings Math at Ste. AnneCollegiate
On the weekend of October 15, 2011, I wasgranted the incredible opportunity to attend a 1day workshop for CAFÉ in the Classroom inRockland, Maine with another teacher from myschool; Alana Klopick. CAFÉ is an extension of
can still meet the needs of each individual, byfocusing on specific reading strategies that a
student might need.CAFÉ is an acronym for Comprehension,Accuracy, Fluency and Expand vocabulary. Eachheading was chosen because of how eachassociated skill set is a major contributor to astudent’s overall ability as a reader. Somestudents have beautiful fluency; they can read allthe words on the page with expression andrhythm. However, ask them about what theyread and they look at you blankly. “I wassupposed to LISTEN to myself?” Others may
remember every detail of the story they justread, but sound choppy or robotic as they read.
The concept that sets CAFÉ apart from traditionalGuided Reading is that not all students who readat “J” have the same needs in order to becomebetter readers. For instance, in a typical GuidedReading group there are 4 to 5 students all atapproximately the same level. When you sit andlisten to each of them read they may all have
different needs. Johnny may do a wonderful joattacking new words, but has no expressionwhile he reads, and Marcy may read beautifullybut doesn’t even blink when she mis-reads aword and loses the thread of the story. In the
“S, T, U” group there might be another littlereader who has the same needs as Johnny andyet another who needs to slow down and checkfor understanding just like Marcy. The idea of CAFÉ is that it’s better to have Johnny and Marin separate groups, where the focus is on astrategy that “fits” their individual needs; a
group where you can take time to teach specifskills for either comprehension or for developinbetter understanding of punctuation and otherwriting cues. There is even the possibility thatchild may need to meet with more than onegroup, or may leave one and join another at anpoint. Since every student reads books that fitthem, not the group they are a part of, there isno worry about finishing text, or changingeverything in their book bag, just because theyneed a new group.
Another important element of the CAFÉ is theconferring notebook, or pensieve, which is arecord of every interaction between teacher anstudent. Forms developed by “The 2 Sisters” aconcise and easy to use. It makes for verytargeted note taking that leaves the teacher wa clear record of each reading session with aminimum of writing. They even have pictures help you remember what to write! The noteboaccommodates both group work and individualsessions, and gives teachers a wealth of
information to pull from when writing reports ospeaking with parents.
It was a phenomenal day! Participants eachreceived a video from the publishing company,books and a few other little goodies that teachlove. The sisters are dynamic speakers and trinspiring educators. I can hardly wait for anopportunity to hear them again…hopefully at aDaily 5 workshop!
