The primary purpose of assessment
and evaluation is to improve student learning. Information gathered through
assessment helps teachers to determine students’ strengths and weaknesses in
their achievement of the curriculum expectations in each course. This
information also serves to guide teachers in adapting curriculum and
instructional approaches to students’ needs and in assessing the overall
effectiveness of programs and classroom practices.
The Educators Academy’s theory of assessment and
evaluation follows the Ministry of Education's Growing Success document,
and we follow it because it is beneficial to the students. Our teachers design
assessment in such a way as to make it possible to gather and show evidence of
learning in a variety of ways to gradually release responsibility to the
students, and to give multiple and varied opportunities to reflect on learning
and receive detailed feedback.
Growing Success articulates the vision the Ministry has for
the purpose and structure of assessment and evaluation techniques. There are
seven fundamental principles that ensure best practices and procedures of
assessment and evaluation by The Educators Academy teachers. The Educators
Academy’s assessments and evaluations are,
·
are fair, transparent, and equitable for all
students;
·
support all students, including those with special
education needs, those who are learning the language of instruction (English or
French), and those who are First Nation, Métis, or Inuit;
·
are carefully planned to relate to the curriculum
expectations and learning goals and, as much as possible, to the interests,
learning styles and preferences, needs, and experiences of all students;
·
are communicated clearly to students and parents at
the beginning of the school year or course and at other appropriate points
throughout the school year or course;
·
are ongoing, varied in nature, and administered
over a period of time to provide multiple opportunities for students to
demonstrate the full range of their learning;
·
provide ongoing descriptive feedback that is clear,
specific, meaningful, and timely to support improved learning and achievement;
·
develop students’ self-assessment skills to enable
them to assess their own learning, set specific goals, and plan next steps for
their learning.
Assessment is the process of gathering information
that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum
expectations in a course. As essential steps in assessment for learning and as
learning, The Educators Academy teachers believe on:
- plan
assessment concurrently and integrate it seamlessly with instruction;
- share
learning goals and success criteria with students at the outset of
learning to ensure that students and teachers have a common and shared
understanding of these goals and criteria as learning progresses;
- gather
information about student learning before, during, and at or near the end
of a period of instruction, using a variety of assessment strategies and
tools;
- use
assessment to inform instruction, guide next steps, and help students
monitor their progress towards achieving their learning goals;
- analyse
and interpret evidence of learning;
- give
and receive specific and timely descriptive feedback about student
learning;
- help
students to develop skills of peer assessment and self-assessment.
Evaluation refers to the process of judging the
quality of student learning on the basis of established performance standards
and assigning a value to represent that quality. The Educators Academy Teachers
use their professional judgement to determine which specific expectations
should be used to evaluate achievement of the overall expectations, and which
ones will be accounted for in instruction and assessment but not necessarily
evaluated.
In order to ensure that assessment
and evaluation are valid and reliable, and lead to improvement of student
learning, The Educators Academy teachers will use a variety of the following
strategies to assess student learning and to provide them with feedback:
Assessment
For and As Learning includes:
- Graphic organizers
- Teacher feedback
- Peer feedback
- Self-reflection
- Practice with feedback
- Sticky note activities
- Placemat activities
- Jigsaw
- Practice quizzes
- Success Criteria
- Exit tickets
- Goal setting
- Reading/writing logs
Assessment
Of Learning includes:
- Quizzes/Tests
- Projects
- Differentiated Products (e.g. graphic organizers,
outlines)
- Oral reports
- Presentations
- Media production
- Technology products
Assessment Strands:
The Educators Academy will ensure
that student’s work is assessed and/or evaluated in a balanced manner with
respect to the four categories, and that achievement of particular expectations
is considered within the appropriate categories.
Knowledge
and Understanding (K/U)
Thinking
and Inquiry (T/I)
Communication
(C)
Application
(A)
Assessment
Strands
Student achievement is communicated
formally to students and parents by means of the Provincial Report Card. The
report card provides a record of the student’s achievement of the curriculum
expectations in every course, at particular points in the school year or
semester, in the form of a percentage grade. Report
cards are issued upon completion of the course. Each report card will focus on
related aspects of student achievement. The percentage grade will
represent the quality of the student’s overall achievement of the expectations
for the course and will reflect the corresponding level of achievement. The
Educators Academy will record a final grade for every course, and a credit is
granted for the course in which the student’s grade is 50% or higher.
Ø Term work will account 70% of the course work
Ø Final Exam would be a value of 30%
Final
Assessment and Evaluation = 100%
The teacher will
also provide written comments concerning the student's strengths, areas for
improvement, and next steps (E–Excellent,
G–Good, S–Satisfactory, N–Needs Improvement).
The report card will indicate whether an OSSD credit has been earned or not.
Upon completion of a course, The Educators Academy will send a copy of the
report card back to the student's home school where the course will be added to
the ongoing list of courses on the student's Ontario Student Transcript. The
report card will also be sent to the student's home address for parents’
communication.
Evaluation
Instruments/ Strategies:
Rubrics Observation
Checklist Project
Work
Peer Interviewing
Self Researching
Group Conferencing
Assessment
and Evaluation:
Final
Assessment and Evaluation = 100%
A Summary Description of Achievement in Each
Percentage Grade Range
and Corresponding Level of Achievement
|
Percentage Grade Range
|
Achievement Level
|
Summary Description
|
80-100%
|
Level 4
|
A very high to outstanding level of achievement. Achievement is above the
provincial standard.
|
70-79%
|
Level 3
|
A high level of achievement. Achievement is at the
provincial standard.
|
60-69%
|
Level 2
|
A moderate level of achievement. Achievement is below, but
approaching, the provincial standard.
|
50-59%
|
Level 1
|
A passable level of achievement. Achievement is below the
provincial standard.
|
below 50%
|
Level R
|
Insufficient achievement of curriculum expectations. A credit will not
be granted.
|
THE ACHIEVEMENT CHART: FRENCH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
(CORE, EXTENDED, AND IMMERSION), GRADES 9–12
Categories
|
50–59%
(Level 1)
|
60–69%
(Level 2)
|
70–79%
(Level 3)
|
80–100%
(Level 4)
|
Knowledge and Understanding - Knowledge and
Understanding – Subject-specific content acquired in each course (knowledge),
and the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding)
|
|
The student:
|
Knowledge
of content (e.g., vocabulary and expressions;concepts, opinions, ideas,
facts; language conventions; aspects of culture)
|
– demonstrates limited
knowledge of content
|
– ddemonstrates some
knowledge of content
|
– demonstrates
considerable knowledge of content
|
– demonstrates
thorough knowledge of content
|
Understanding
of content (e.g., concepts, ideas, opinions, and facts and their relationship
to forms; language structures and strategies; forms and characteristics of
texts)
|
demonstrates
limited understanding of content
|
demonstrates
some understanding of content
|
demonstrates
considerable understanding of content
|
demonstrates
thorough understanding of content
|
Categories
|
50–59%
(Level 1)
|
60–69%
(Level 2)
|
70–79%
(Level 3)
|
80–100%
(Level 4)
|
Thinking – The use of critical and creative
thinking skills and/or processes
|
|
The student:
|
Use
of planning skills (e.g., establishing a focus; setting goals; generating
ideas; formulating questions; researching and organizing information;
contextualizing and elaborating on ideas; selecting and using strategies and
resources)
|
– uses planning skills
with limited effectiveness
|
uses
planning skills with some effectiveness
|
uses
planning skills with considerable effectiveness
|
– uses
planning skills with a high degree of effectiveness
|
Use of processing skills
(e.g., predicting; inferring; discussing; interpreting; summarizing;
analysing; evaluating; constructing and defending an argument; revising and
restructuring)
|
uses
processing skills with limited effectiveness
|
uses
processing skills with some effectiveness
|
uses
processing
skills
with
considerable
effectiveness
|
uses
processing
skills
with a
high
degree of
effectiveness
|
Use of critical/creative thinking
processes, skills, and strategies (e.g., using language-learning, inquiry,
and problem-solving strategies; prioritizing; critiquing; hypothesizing;
synthesizing; forming and justifying conclusions)
|
uses
critical/
creative
thinking
processes
with limited
effectiveness
|
uses
critical/
creative
thinking
processes
with some
effectiveness
|
uses
critical/
creative
thinking
processes,
with considerable
effectiveness
|
uses
critical/
creative
thinking
processes
with a high degree of
effectiveness
|
Categories
|
50–59%
(Level 1)
|
60–69%
(Level 2)
|
70–79%
(Level 3)
|
80–100%
(Level 4)
|
Communication – The conveying of meaning through various forms
|
|
The
student:
|
Expression and organization of
ideas and information (e.g., clear expression, logical organization) in oral,
graphic, and written forms, including media forms
|
expresses and organizes ideas and
information with limited effectiveness
|
expresses
and organizes ideas and information with some effectiveness
|
expresses
and organizes ideas and information with considerable effectiveness
|
expresses
and organizes ideas and information with a high degree of effectiveness
|
Communication for different
audiences (e.g., self, peers, teacher, community members) and purposes (e.g.,
to interact, discuss, collaborate; to inform, raise awareness, explain,
instruct; to entertain, perform; to persuade; to express feelings and ideas;
to solve problems) in oral, visual, and/or written forms
|
communicates for different
audiences and purposes with limited effectiveness
|
communicates for different
audiences and purposes with some effectiveness
|
communicates for different
audiences and purposes with considerable effectiveness
|
communicates for different
audiences and purposes with a high degree of effectiveness
|
Use of conventions, vocabulary,
and terminology of the discipline in oral, visual, and/or written forms
(e.g., elements of style and usage; phrasing and punctuation conventions;
appropriate language conventions in particular social and cultural contexts)
|
uses conventions, vocabulary, and
terminology of the discipline with limited effectiveness
|
uses conventions, vocabulary, and
terminology of the discipline with some effectiveness
|
uses conventions, vocabulary, and
terminology of the discipline with considerable effectiveness
|
uses conventions, vocabulary, and
terminology of the discipline with a high degree of effectiveness
|
Categories
|
50–59%
(Level 1)
|
60–69%
(Level 2)
|
70–79%
(Level 3)
|
80–100%
(Level 4)
|
Application – The use of knowledge and skills to make connections
within and between various contexts
|
|
The student:
|
Application of knowledge and
skills (e.g.,literacy strategies and processes; literary terminology,
concepts, and theories) in familiar contexts
|
applies
knowledge
and
skills
in familiar
contexts
with
limited
effectiveness
|
applies
knowledge
and
skills
in familiar
contexts
with
some
effectiveness
|
applies
knowledge
and
skills
in familiar
contexts
with
considerable
effectiveness
|
applies
knowledge
and
skills
in familiar
contexts
with a
high
degree of
effectiveness
|
Transfer of knowledge and skills
(e.g., strategies, concepts, processes) to new contexts
|
transfers
knowledge and skills to new contexts with limited effectiveness
|
transfers
knowledge and skills to new contexts with some effectiveness
|
transfers
knowledge and skills to new contexts with considerable effectiveness
|
transfers
knowledge and skills to new contexts with a high degree of effectiveness
|
Making connections within and
between various contexts (e.g., between personal, global, cultural, historical,
and/or environmental contexts; between French and other languages; between
the school and other social contexts)
|
makes connections within and
between various contexts with limited effectiveness
|
makes connections within and
between various contexts with some effectiveness
|
makes connections within and
between various contexts with considerable effectiveness
|
makes connections within and between various
contexts with a high degree of effectiveness
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Submission
of Assignments
All assignments should be submitted for grading on the stated due date.
Any late assignments may be subjected to a 10% penalty.
Work not submitted within 5 school days after the stated due date will be
assigned a mark of 0.
If a student is ill or away for a documented reason, all assignments must
be submitted upon return to class, unless arrangements are negotiated with the
teacher.
It is vital that the student realize the potential consequences of
incomplete work and absences, including failure to gain the credit for the course.
It is the responsibility of the student to catch up on all work missed from
being absent.
Program Planning
Considerations
Effective instruction is a key to student success. To provide effective
instruction, The Educators Academy teachers consider what they want students to
learn, how they will know whether students have learned it, how they will
design instruction to promote the learning, and how they will respond to
students who are not making progress. Our teachers identify the main concepts
and skills described in the curriculum expectations.
Effective teaching approaches involve students in the use of higher-level
thinking skills and encourage them to look beyond the literal meaning of texts
and to think about fairness, equity, social justice, and citizenship in a
global society.
Motivating students and instilling positive habits of mind, such as a
willingness and determination to persist, to think and communicate with clarity
and precision, to take responsible risks, and to question and pose problems,
are also integral to high-quality language instruction. An understanding of
students’ strengths and needs, as well as of their backgrounds and life
experiences, The Educators Academy teachers plan effective instruction and
assessment strategies. Our teachers continually build their awareness of
students’ learning strengths and needs by observing and assessing their
readiness to learn, their interests, and their learning styles and preferences
French is a second official language which is best learned through
activities that present stimulating ideas, issues, and themes that are
meaningful to students. Since no single instructional approach can meet all the
needs of each learner, we select classroom activities that are based on an
assessment of students’ individual needs, proven learning theory, and best
practices. At The Educators Academy, teachers introduce a rich variety of
activities that integrate expectations from different strands and provide for
the explicit teaching of knowledge and skills. They also provide frequent
opportunities for students to rehearse, practise, and apply skills and
strategies, and to make their own choices.
Planning Program
for Special Education Needs
The Educators Academy classroom
teachers are the key educators of students who have special education needs.
They have a responsibility to help all students learn, and they work
collaboratively with special education teachers, where appropriate, to achieve
this goal.
The Educators Academy is committed
to ensuring that all students, especially those with special education needs,
are provided with the learning opportunities and supports they require to gain
the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to succeed in a rapidly changing
society. The context of special education and the provision of special
education programs and services for exceptional students in Ontario are
constantly evolving.
The Educators Academy believes
that:
·
All students can succeed.
·
Universal design and differentiated
instruction are effective and interconnected means of meeting the learning or
productivity needs of any group of students.
·
Successful instructional practices
are founded on evidence-based research, tempered by experience.
·
Classroom teachers are key
educators for a student’s literacy and numeracy development.
·
Each student has his or her own
unique patterns of learning.
·
Classroom teachers need the support
of the larger community to create a learning environment that supports students
with special education needs.
·
Fairness is not sameness.
At The Educators Academy, students
may demonstrate a wide range of learning styles and needs. Teachers plan
programs that recognize this diversity and give students performance tasks that
respect their particular abilities so that all students can derive the greatest
possible benefit from the teaching and learning process. The use of flexible
groupings for instruction and the provision of ongoing assessment are important
elements of programs that accommodate a diversity of learning needs.
In planning courses for students
with special education needs, our teachers will begin by examining the current
achievement level of the individual student, the strengths and learning needs
of the student, and the knowledge and skills that all students are expected to
demonstrate at the end of the course, in order to determine which of the
following options is appropriate for the student:
v
no accommodations or modifications;
or
v
accommodations only; or
v
modified expectations, with the
possibility of accommodations; or
v
alternative expectations, which are
not derived from the curriculum expectations for a course and which constitute
alternative programs and/or courses.
There are three types of
accommodations:
·
Instructional accommodations are
changes in teaching strategies, including styles of presentation, methods of
organization, or use of technology and multimedia.
·
Environmental accommodations are
changes that the student may require in the classroom and/or school
environment, such as preferential seating or special lighting.
·
Assessment accommodations are
changes in assessment procedures that enable the student to demonstrate his or
her learning, such as allowing additional time to complete tests or assignments
or permitting oral responses to test questions
If the student
requires either accommodations or modified expectations, or both, The Educators
Academy will take into account these needs of exceptional students as they are
set out in the students' Individual Education Plan. Our courses offer a vast
array of opportunities for students with special educations needs to acquire
the knowledge and skills required for our evolving society. Students who use
alternative techniques for communication may find a venue to use these special
skills in these courses. There are a number of technical and learning aids that
can assist in meeting the needs of exceptional students as set out in their
Individual Education Plan.
If a student requires
“accommodations only” in French courses, assessment and evaluation of his or
her achievement will be based on the appropriate course curriculum expectations
and the achievement levels outlined in this document. The IEP box on the
student’s Provincial Report Card will not be checked, and no information on the
provision of accommodations will be included.
Program
Considerations for English Language Learners
Ontario schools have some of the
most multilingual student populations in the world. The first language of
approximately 20 per cent of the students in Ontario’s English language schools
is a language other than English. Ontario’s linguistic heritage includes
several Aboriginal languages; many African, Asian, and European languages; and
some varieties of English, such as Jamaican Creole. Many English language
learners were born in Canada and raised in families and communities in which
languages other than English were spoken, or in which the variety of English
spoken differed significantly from the English of Ontario classrooms. Other
English language learners arrive in Ontario as newcomers from other countries;
they may have experience of highly sophisticated educational systems, or they
may have come from regions where access to formal schooling was limited.
The Educators Academy course
provides a number of strategies to address the needs of ESL/ELD students. This
course is flexible in order to accommodate the needs of students who require
instruction in English as a second language or English literacy development.
The Educators Academy teachers consider it to be his or her responsibility to
help students develop their ability to use the English language properly.
Appropriate accommodations affecting the teaching, learning, and evaluation
strategies in this course are made in order to help students gain proficiency
in English, since students taking English as a second language at the secondary
level have limited time in which to develop this proficiency.
During the start of education at
The Educators Academy, English language learners receive support through one of
two distinct programs from our teachers who are specialized in meeting their
language-learning needs:
English as a Second Language (ESL)
programs are for students born in Canada or newcomers whose first language is a
language other than English, or is a variety of English significantly different
from that used for instruction in Ontario schools.
In planning programs for students
with linguistic backgrounds other than English, teachers at The Educators
Academy recognize the importance of the orientation process, understanding that
every learner needs to adjust to the new social environment and language in a
unique way and at an individual pace. For example, students who are in an early
stage of English-language acquisition may go through a time during which they
closely observe the interactions and physical surroundings of their new
learning environment. Students thrive in a safe, supportive, and welcoming
environment that nurtures their self-confidence while they are receiving
focused literacy instruction. When they are ready to participate, in paired,
small-group, or whole-class activities, some students begin by using a single
word or phrase to communicate a thought, while others speak quite fluently.
Responsibility for students’
English-language development is shared by our classroom teacher, our ESL
teacher and other staff at The Educators Academy. Sometimes volunteers and
peers are helpful in supporting English language learners in the language
classroom. Teachers at The Educators Academy adapted the instructional program
in order to facilitate the success of these students in their classrooms.
Appropriate adaptations include:
·
modification of some or all of the
subject expectations so that they are challenging but attainable for the
learner at his or her present level of English proficiency, given the necessary
support from the teacher;
·
use of a variety of instructional
strategies (e.g., extensive use of visual cues, graphic organizers,
scaffolding; previewing of textbooks, pre-teaching of key vocabulary; peer
tutoring; strategic use of students’ first languages);
·
use of a variety of learning
resources (e.g., visual material, simplified text, bilingual dictionaries, and
materials that reflect cultural diversity);
·
use of assessment accommodations
(e.g., granting of extra time; use of oral interviews, demonstrations or visual
representations, or tasks requiring completion of graphic organizers or cloze
sentences instead of essay questions and other assessment tasks that depend
heavily on proficiency in English).
Environmental
Education and French as a Second Language
Helping students
become environmentally responsible is a role assumed by The Educators Academy.
The first goal is to promote learning about environmental issues and solutions.
The second goal is to engage students in practicing and promoting environmental
stewardship in their community. The third goal stresses the importance of the
education system providing leadership by implementing and promoting responsible
environmental practices so that all stakeholders become dedicated to living
more sustainably. Good curriculum design following the resource document - The
Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9-12: Environmental Education, Scope and Sequence of
Expectations, 2011, assist The Educators Academy’s staff to weave environmental
education in and out of the online course content. This ensures that the
student will have opportunities to acquire the knowledge, skills, perspectives
and practices needed to become an environmentally literate citizen.
Healthy Relationships and French as a Second language
Every student is entitled to learn in a safe, caring environment, free
from violence and harassment. Students learn and achieve better in such
environments. The safe and supportive social environment at The Educators
Academy is founded on healthy relationships between all people. Healthy
relationships are based on respect, caring, empathy, trust, and dignity, and
thrive in an environment in which diversity is honoured and accepted. Healthy
relationships do not tolerate abusive, controlling, violent,
bullying/harassing, or other inappropriate behaviours. To experience themselves
as valued and connected members of an inclusive social environment, our
students are involved in healthy relationships with their peers, teachers, and
other members of The Educators Academy community.
The most effective way to enable all students to learn about healthy and
respectful relationships is through the school curriculum. The Educators
Academy teachers promote this learning in a variety of ways. For example, they
help students to develop and practise the skills they need for building healthy
relationships by giving them opportunities to apply critical-thinking and
problem solving strategies and to address issues through group discussions, role
play, case study analysis, and other means. The Educators Academy also have a
positive influence on students by modelling the behaviours, values, and skills
that are needed to develop and sustain healthy relationships, and by taking
advantage of “teachable moments” to address immediate relationship issues that
may arise among students.
Anti Discrimination Education in the French as a Second
Language
The implementation of
antidiscrimination principles in education influences all aspects of school
life. It promotes a school climate that encourages all students to work to high
standards, affirms the worth of all students, and helps students strengthen
their sense of identity and develop a positive self-image. Antidiscrimination
education encourages students to think critically about themselves and others
in the world around them in order to promote fairness, healthy relationships,
and active, responsible citizenship.
The Educators Academy ensures that
school-community interaction reflects the diversity in the local community and
wider society. Consideration is given to a variety of strategies for
communicating and working with parents and community members from diverse
groups, in order to ensure their participation in such school activities as
plays, concerts, and teacher interviews. A family new to Canada, who may be
unfamiliar with the Ontario school system, is provided a special outreach and
encouragement in order to feel comfortable in their interactions at The
Educators Academy.
Learning resources that reflect the
broad range of students’ interests, backgrounds, cultures, and experiences are
an important aspect of an inclusive English program in The Educators Academy.
In such a program, learning materials involve protagonists of both sexes from a
wide variety of backgrounds. Teachers at The Educators Academy routinely use
materials that reflect the diversity of Canadian and world cultures, including
those of contemporary First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples, and make them
available to students. In The Educators Academy’s inclusive programs, students
are made aware of the historical, cultural, and political contexts for both the
traditional and non-traditional gender and social roles represented in the
materials they are studying.
In addition, The
Educators Academy differentiates the instruction and assessment strategies to
take into account the background and experiences, as well as the interests,
aptitudes, and learning needs, of all students.
Financial Literacy in French as a Second Language
The
document A Sound Investment: Financial Literacy Education in Ontario Schools,
2010 sets out the vision that: Ontario students will have the skills and
knowledge to take responsibility for managing their personal financial
well-being with confidence, competence, and a compassionate awareness of the
world around them. Since making financial decisions has become an
increasingly complex task in the modern world, students need to have knowledge
in various areas and a wide range of skills in order to make informed decisions
about financial matters.
The Educators Academy considers it essential that financial
literacy be considered an important point of a well-educated population. In
addition to acquiring knowledge in such specific areas as saving, spending,
borrowing, and investing, students need to develop skills in problem solving,
inquiry, decision making, critical thinking, and critical literacy related to
financial and other issues. The goal is to help students to acquire the
knowledge and skills that will enable them to understand and respond to complex
issues regarding their own personal finances and the finances of their
families, as well as to develop an understanding of local and global effects of
world economic forces and the social, environmental, and ethical implications
of their own choices as consumers.
For
example, In the FSL program, students have multiple opportunities to
investigate and study financial literacy concepts in relation to the texts
explored in class. The Educators Academy students build their understanding of
personal financial planning by participating in role play of interactions in
the local community, such as buying and selling goods or engaging in personal
financial transactions. They can also become familiar with the variety of currencies
used in French speaking countries or regions.
Critical Thinking and Critical Literacy
Critical thinking is the process of
thinking about ideas or situations in order to understand them fully, identify
their implications, make a judgement, and/or guide decision making. Critical
thinking includes skills such as questioning, predicting, analysing,
synthesizing, examining opinions, identifying values and issues, detecting
bias, and distinguishing between alternatives. At The Educators Academy, students
are taught these skills so they become critical thinkers who can move beyond
superficial conclusions to a deeper understanding of the issues they are
examining. After this, they are also able to engage in an inquiry process in
which they explore complex and multifaceted issues, and questions for which
there may be no clear-cut answers.
Students use critical-thinking
skills in The Educators Academy course for French when they assess, analyse,
and/or evaluate the impact of something and when they form an opinion about
something and support that opinion with a rationale. In order to think
critically, The Educators Academy students examine the opinions and values of
others, detect bias, look for implied meaning, and use the information gathered
to form a personal opinion or stance, or a personal plan of action with regard
to making a difference. In this way, our students approach critical thinking in
various aspects. Some of our students find it helpful to discuss their
thinking, asking questions and exploring ideas but other students may take time
to observe a situation or consider a text carefully before commenting; they
prefer not to ask questions or express their thoughts orally while they are
thinking.
The development of these
critical-thinking skills is supported in the French course at The Educators
Academy. As students work to achieve the curriculum expectations in their
particular course, our students frequently identify the possible implications
of choices. As they gather information from a variety of sources, they are able
to interpret what they are listening to, reading, or viewing; to look for
instances of bias; and to determine why a source might express a particular
bias.
Literacy, Mathematical Literacy and Investigation (Inquiry
Skills)
Literacy,
mathematical literacy, and inquiry/research skills are critical to students’
success in all subjects of the curriculum and in all areas of their lives. A
vision of literacy for adolescent learners at The Educators Academy might be
described as follows:
All
students are equipped with the literacy skills necessary to be critical and
creative thinkers, effective meaning makers and communicators, collaborative
co-learners, and innovative problem solvers. These are the skills that will
enable them to achieve personal, career, and societal goals. Students,
individually and in collaboration with others, develop skills in Thinking:
Students access, manage, create, and evaluate information as they think,
Expression: Students use language and images in rich and varied forms as they
read, write, listen, speak, view, represent and discuss and Reflection:
Students apply metacognitive knowledge and skills to monitor their own thinking
and learning.
Oral
communication skills are fundamental to the development of FSL literacy and are
essential for thinking and learning. The expectations in all strands give The
Educators Academy students a chance to engage in brainstorming, reporting, and
other oral activities to identify what they know about a topic, discuss
strategies for solving a problem, present and defend ideas or debate issues,
and offer critiques or feedback on work, skill demonstrations, or opinions
expressed by their peers.
Activating
prior knowledge and connecting learning to past experiences help students acquire
French literacy skills. Making connections to the literacy skills and
strategies our students already possess in their first language contributes to
their literacy development in both languages. A focus on developing strategies
that help our students understand as well as talk and write about texts that
are authentic, interesting, challenging, age appropriate, and linguistically
accessible increase student engagement, motivation, and success in FSL.
The Role of a Library
The
Educators Academy’s library program can help to build and transform students’
knowledge to support lifelong learning in our information- and knowledge-based
society. The Educators Academy supports student success across the FSL
curriculum by encouraging students to read widely, by teaching them to read for
understanding and enjoyment, and helping them to improve their research skills
and to use information gathered through research effectively.
The
Educators Academy library program enables students to:
- develop a love of reading for
learning and for pleasure;
- acquire an understanding of
the richness and diversity of literary and informational texts produced in
Canada and around the world;
- obtain access to programs,
resources, and integrated technologies that support all curriculum areas;
- Understand and value the role
of public library systems as a resource for lifelong learning.
Our
classroom teachers develop, teach, and provide students with authentic
information and research tasks that foster learning, including the ability to:
- locate, select, gather,
critically evaluate, create, and communicate information;
- use the information obtained
to solve problems, make decisions, build knowledge, create personal
meaning, and enrich their lives;
- communicate their findings for
different audiences, using a variety of formats and technologies;
- Use information and research
with understanding, responsibility, and imagination.
The
Role of Information and Communication Technology
Information and communications technology (ICT) provides a
range of tools that can significantly extend and enrich teachers’ instructional
strategies and support student learning. ICT tools include multimedia
resources, databases, websites, digital cameras, and word-processing programs.
Tools such as these can help students to collect, organize, and sort the data
they gather and to write, edit, and present reports on their findings. ICT can
also be used to connect students to other schools, at home and abroad, and to
bring the global community into the local classroom.
In The Educators Academy,
therefore, according to the needs of students, they are encouraged to use ICT
to support and communicate their learning in FSL. Students working individually
or in groups have a full access to use computers and portable storage devices,
CD-ROM and DVD technologies, and/or Internet websites to solve the problems and
make decisions. As a result, our students
develop transferable skills through their experience with word processing,
internet research, presentation software, and telecommunication tools, as would
be expected in any other course or any business environment.
Although the Internet is a powerful learning tool, there are
potential risks attached to its use. All students must be made aware of issues
related to Internet privacy, safety, and responsible use, as well as of the
potential for abuse of this technology, particularly when it is used to promote
hatred. Our teachers understand that ICT tools are
valuable in their teaching practice, both for whole class instruction and for
the design of curriculum units that contain varied approaches to learning to
meet diverse student needs.
The Ontario Skills
Passport and Essential Skills
Ontario Skills Passport (OSP) is a
bilingual, web-based resource that enhances the relevance of classroom learning
for students and strengthens school–work connections. The skills described in
the OSP are the Essential Skills that the Government of Canada and other
national and international agencies have identified and validated, through extensive
research, as the skills needed for work, learning, and life. The Educators
Academy can engage students by using OSP tools and resources to show how what
they learn in class can be applied in the workplace and in everyday life. The
Essential Skills identified in the OSP are:
Ø
Reading Text
Ø
Writing
Ø
Document Use
Ø
Computer Use
Ø
Oral Communication
Ø
Numeracy: Money Math; Scheduling or
Budgeting and Accounting; Measurement and Calculation; Data Analysis; and
Numerical Estimation
Ø
Thinking Skills: Job Task Planning
and Organizing; Decision Making; Problem Solving; Finding Information; and
Critical Thinking
Career
Education
The
goals of the Kindergarten to Grade 12 education and career/life planning
program are to:
- ensure that all students
develop the knowledge and skills they need to make informed education and
career/life choices;
- provide classroom and
school-wide opportunities for this learning; and
- engage parents and the broader
community in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the program,
to support students in their learning.
The
framework of the program is a four-step inquiry process based on four questions
linked to four areas of learning: (1) knowing yourself – Who am I?; (2)
exploring opportunities – What are my opportunities?; (3) making decisions and
setting goals – Who do I want to become?; and, (4) achieving goals and making
transitions – What is my plan for achieving my goals?
Cooperative
Education and Other Forms of Experiential Learning
Planned learning
experiences in the community, including job shadowing and job twinning, field
trips, work experience, and cooperative education, provide our students with
opportunities to see the relevance of their classroom learning in a work
setting, making connections between school and work, and exploring a career of
interest as they plan their pathway through The Educators Academy. In addition,
through experiential learning, students develop the skills and work habits
required in the workplace and acquire a direct understanding of employer and
workplace expectations. Experiential learning opportunities associated with
various aspects of the FSL curriculum help broaden students’ knowledge of
employment opportunities in a wide range of fields, including interpreting,
translating, and publishing and other media-related industries. Students who
choose to take a two-credit cooperative education program with an FSL course as
the related course are able, through this package of courses, to meet the
Ontario Secondary School Diploma additional compulsory credit requirements for
Groups 1, 2, and 3.
Planning
Program Pathways and Programs Leading to a Specialist High Skills Major
In The Educators Academy, FSL courses are well suited for
inclusion in Specialist High Skills Majors (SHSMs) or in programs designed to
provide pathways to particular apprenticeship, college, university, or
workplace destinations. In some SHSM programs, courses in this curriculum can
be bundled with other courses to provide the academic knowledge and skills
important to particular economic sectors and required for success in the
workplace and postsecondary education, including apprenticeship training. FSL
courses also serve as the in-school link with cooperative education credits
that provide the workplace experience required not only for some SHSM programs
but also for various program pathways to postsecondary education,
apprenticeship training, and workplace destinations
Health and Safety
As
part of every course, students must be made aware that health and safety are everyone’s
responsibility at home, at school, and in the workplace. Teachers should follow
board safety guidelines to ensure that students have the knowledge and skills
needed for safe participation in all learning activities.
In order to provide a suitable learning environment for The
Educators Academy staff and students, it is critical that classroom practice
and the learning environment complies with relevant federal, provincial, and
municipal health and safety legislation and by-laws, including, but not limited
to, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, the Workplace Hazardous Materials
Information System (WHMIS), the Food and Drug Act, the Health Protection and
Promotion Act, the Ontario Building Code, and the Occupational Health and
Safety Act (OHSA). Wherever
possible, potential risks are identified and procedures developed to prevent or
minimize incidents and injuries.
Resources:
v French English Dictionary
v Variety of Books (Including Novels)
v Handouts
v Online Research
v Internet
v Newspaper Articles
v www.wordreference.com
v www.linguee.com
v www.bonpatron.com