Mar 20

From the Desk of the Superintendent- Bill 2 Concerns

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Holy Spirit Catholic Schools, I would like to highlight some concerns with Bill 2, the proposed Education Act that the Government of Alberta, is in the process of passing, prior to the upcoming election. There is no doubt, that new legislation is required in order to meet the needs of transformation. However, as it currently reads, Bill 2, has the potential to seriously impact publicly funded Catholic education in Alberta, Catholic school boards, and Catholic schools, teachers, staff and students. The Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association (ACSTA) and our Board of Trustees are urging all supporters of Catholic education to become more fully involved; become aware of the issues and take action. The Board of Trustees has already communicated their concerns to our local MLA’s and the Minister of Education.

Shared Facilities- The West Lethbridge Centre is an excellent example of partnerships working together to achieve synergy.  However, the strength of this partnership between the City of Lethbridge, Public Library, Lethbridge School District and our school division was an understanding of, and respect for, our values.  Section 192 (2) of the new bill, creates the potential for the government to dictate that secular and religious-based schools share a space, which may run contrary to the ability of the Catholic School to develop an atmosphere animated by a spirit of liberty and charity based on the Gospel.  As a result, it is our position that shared facilities are not acceptable and therefore would suggest an amendment to section 192 (2).

Blended Boards- The proposed legislation, Section 112 (1) would allow the Minister to combine Separate (Catholic) boards together with Public boards, creating a blended board. Like our Catholic schools, separate school districts and divisions are unique and must remain distinct.

Diversity and Respect Provisions- Within our Catholic schools, our Catholic theology, philosophy, practices and beliefs are fully permeated throughout the day.  Therefore, it would be impossible as suggested in section 58 (2) of Bill 2 and section 11.1 (2) of the Alberta Human Rights Act to excuse a student attending a Catholic school from religious instruction.  Given that, an exemption is being sought for Catholic schools.  We also believe that our Catholic theology and values cannot be limited and must be allowed to be taught uninhibited and without sanctions from the government.

Catholic education has been attacked in various provinces and lost due to government interference and/or public complacency. As Catholic education supporters we must be vigilant to ensure that Catholic education is not lost for our students in the province of Alberta. We do make a difference to our students and our communities and our value must never be taken for granted or diminished. Please support Catholic education by learning more from the ACSTA and taking action.

Mar 18

Purpose, Mastery and Autonomy

Educational reform is hard. If it was easy, we’d already have arrived where inclusive education was the norm and no achievement gap existed. But although we are on that journey, we have yet to arrive, in part because educational reform requires change and change is simply…hard! Complicating the issue is that the system, especially in Alberta is far from broken and in fact could easily and truthfully be described as already good. Furthermore, moving from a good to great system requires significant change that in all honesty has little of an urgency factor. To succeed and bring about the educational change required, to be a truly inclusive system, meeting the needs of each child, education must be motivated. The motivation that I speak of is not what most of us have grown up with, the carrot and stick model, but rather what author Daniel Pink suggests in his book, “Drive.” Today, education must be motivated by purpose, mastery and autonomy in order to meet our desired goals.

Purpose: I would suggest that most educators entered the profession because of an innate desire to help children. I would further suggest that most educators maintain that desire throughout their careers. The public should recognize this fact and be grateful for those professionals. But I see desire and purpose as slightly different. Desire is a wish and therefore, if not “granted” can fade. However, purpose is beyond the wish because purpose also insinuates action. It is not only a wish for but more importantly a will to! The purpose required for significant educational change comes from a deep rooted belief that I can and more importantly I will make a difference in each child’s life every day! Purpose does not make up excuses, it just does! It is about efficacy and is linked to what Michael Fullan refers to as the moral imperative.  Purpose is about the heart and begins the journey of motivation.

Mastery: Purpose is the first requirement to motivate but it cannot move forward without mastery. The will needs to be married to skill. Most educators would argue that throughout their careers they have always tried to meet the needs of each child. I would agree. But intention and implementation are two very different products. Mastery shifts our intentions to fruition. Instead of wishing to meet the needs of each child, we actually do! Success breeds success! The more mastery we develop in education, the more likely we are able to meet the needs of each child in our classes, schools and systems. Education is motivated by believing in our ability to first make a difference and subsequently, making that difference. Mastery requires a dual commitment from the system and the professional. BOTH need to allocate time and money to ensure mastery. What we’ve done in the past has produced good results but only through mastery will we be able to produce great results. While purpose is about the heart, mastery is about the head.

Autonomy: The final piece of the puzzle and most difficult to achieve in education is autonomy. I have been quoted before that “autonomy is wished for but not really wanted.” Education is part of a larger societal norm that promotes or at the minimum accepts the blame game. It is always someone else’s fault. Autonomy shifts that blame or more importantly the responsibility on to ourselves. Given our societal tendency to point our finger at the culprit, this requires a tremendous shift for education. Autonomy reminds us of that old saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” Autonomy does not mean that everything is up for grabs. There will always be some sort of required structure that sets limits and boundaries. The autonomy functions within the existing structure and allows educators maximum flexibility in forwarding purpose and mastery. And autonomy, does not promote isolation. We’ve come too far in educational research not to continue and promote collaboration. Autonomy is  most positively impacted when organizational trust is high and a culture of risk taking is encouraged.  

Educational reform requires us to break existing habits, challenge our current ideals and change our practices. It requires time and unless motivated to do so, it will continue with minor tweaks at best. In our ever changing, face paced world, we must be motivated to challenge our paradigms. Our success to build the world we want to live in will be long term and sustainable when our motivation is focused on purpose, mastery and autonomy.

Mar 11

Tortoise vs. Hare

This past week I led one of the worst meetings I’ve had in my career in senior administration. It wasn’t contentious and nobody’s temper blew but it left me and I’m sure the other twenty of my administrative colleagues wondering why we came together. The meeting was a joint meeting of our budget, curriculum and inclusive education committees and the purpose was…I’m not sure. Although uncertainty has its place in leadership as expressed by the Leadership Freak, this was not one of the best examples.

I’m passionate about educational change and have a difficulty not being  impatient for true transformation to occur. I also believe that the leaders I have in our schools are supporters of educational change, albeit at different points on their own learning journey. So what is holding us back from making the sweeping changes required to truly meet the needs of each child that comes into our schools? I would suggest that it is a matter of timing and that sustainable educational reform occurs in time of the tortoise and not of the hare.

My own leadership journey has been on a steep learning curve this past year due in part to my PLN and a concentrated focus on relevant reading. As I grow as a leader, I’m recognizing that significant systemic change takes time. Why? Because significant systemic change requires a grass-root movement. Leaders require great insights, precise vision and must be able to create opportunities for successful change but unless staff buy in and are part of the change process it will either not take hold or start off like the hare but fall well short of its intended goal.

Although I’m not an expert of the American system, I believe that the situation occurring in the United States would support my argument. Top down govenment initiatives like “No Child Left Behind” or “Race to the Top” are examples of failures because they expected “hare” like results and didn’t involve the professionals in the classroom.  The conversations and later the actions that will be necessary to move our system forward need to start at the government or board or administrative tables but they must extend to our school staffs as soon as possible. The responsibilty for student success must be collective and therefore rests with all involved in the school system. Not one single entity within the framework of education will be able to make transformation a reality on a solo mission.

Our three committees have forwarded some bold ideas of which I’m very supportive. However, in my role as chief learning leader, these ideas need to be translated into actions. Moreover, these actions call for long term embedding into our culture not fleeting transitionsof practice. Teachers who recite, “This too shall pass!” have some validity in their comments. Too often, our next best educational reform has not been well researched and seldom had any staying power. In many instances, these magic cures for education were imposed upon those in the classroom or the school division itself. Believe me, I have no tolerance for teachers or divisions who refuse to implement well established and researched strategies that have been proven to positively impact student learning. But systemic change is more than just about pedagogy, it is an attitudinal change that requires commitment not compliance.   

So going back to my meeting, I understand why we were all frustrated. We want to see results, we want to build the right fence and then exercise as much flexibility within that structure. But, the fence building takes time and more importantly the flexibility within can only occur when we motivate and involve our staff through the work of Daniel Pink in his book Drive: autonomy, mastery and purpose. That however, will be another post!

So for now, think like a tortoise not like a hare when you view educational transformation. Remember it took Finland 25 years to make the difference they are making in order for them to be considered a world leader in education.

Mar 04

The Power of Introverts

This afternoon I listened to Susan Cain speak on “The power of introverts.” Like any TED talk I’ve listened to before, the message was thought provoking and caused me to ponder on what we are trying to do in education today. I’m a great advocate for ensuring that the competencies of the 21st century are well established in our schools. In fact, any chance I get, I’m talking and presenting about the need to transform education to prepare our students for their future and not our past.

One of the 21st century competencies  as defined by Alberta Education that I’m most comfortable with and believe is most critical to solving problems that are yet to exist is collaboration. The ability to work in a team structure, share ideas, and create synergy is a strong component of my leadership belief. I would suggest that my sports background has much to do with this belief. I’m especially driven to eliminate the culture of isolation that exists in many schools and classrooms. There is too much research that supports teacher collaboration as a successful strategy for improved student learning. And so, if we really want to be bold then collaboration has to modelled by the adults and taught to the students.

And then, I listen to Susan and am reminded that not everybody fits the mold that we want to establish. And I’m reminded that no sustainable improvement  in education or society is an all or nothing. It is always a delicate balance. In our desire to meet the needs of the 21st century learner we’ve forgotten that they are as much different and as much individualized as the 20th century learner. They are all unique! Just as we must develop collaboration in all students, we must do so by recognizing the unique gifts of both the extrovert and the introvert.

People that know me, know that I’m far from an introvert but, when do I do my best thinking? When do I reflect or think critically? When do I write? My wife is downstairs watching TV and my daughter is out with her boyfriend and I’m left in our home office in…silence! Maybe that’s not introversion but it works for me and I’m sure it works for many students. I would hate for us in education to take that away from any of our students for the sake of collaboration. So remember the next time you’re organizing group work or collaborative activities and you have a student or two that likes to work on their own in silence…let them. Don’t allow it all the time but allow it enough to honor their own power as introverts.

Mar 02

From the Desk of the Superintendent- March 2012

We are now back into full swing after our February break, which saw our staff engage in quality professional development. The Alberta Teachers’ Association provides for the two day convention which featured Rick Hansen as their opening keynote and Dr. Yong Zhao as a sessional presenter. Both speakers provided engaging and thought provoking messages to our teachers. In addition, our division hosted a 2-day support staff conference that is always extremely well received and appreciated. Lifelong learning cannot be just a phrase we use in education but rather an attitude we embrace. These opportunities are beneficial to our staff but more importantly to the students in our classrooms.

March begins with an invitation to assist the division through our public consultation process. Our public consultation will be held on March 5th at Catholic Central High School Campus East beginning at 7:00 PM. Registration is required and available by clicking here. Each year the Board asks our staff and parents for further direction towards meeting our strategic priorities of Catholic Identity, Student Success and Generative Governance. This year we have invited high school students and community members to bring their perspectives as well. We would love to see you and hear your voice as we build the future together.

Schools continue to be a bedlam of activity this month. Every school is well involved with Lenten activities.  Teachers are busy preparing report cards and getting ready for parent teacher interviews. Interviews are a great  method of continually building a strong partnership between home and school and I would encourage all parents to attend. In addition, we have two fabulous drama presentations beginning next week. Alice in Wonderland is being performed by students at St. Francis and Cinderella is playing at CCH. Both of these productions will be highly engaging and will demonstrate the many talents of our students and staff. Finally this month, we bring all of our staff together for our annual Spiritual Development Day on March 19th. Michael Chiasson, who will be facilitating the upcoming Lenten Mission at All Saints Parish and then the Diocesan Youth Rally in May, will be our Keynote Speaker.  In addition, there are over 20 breakout sessions planned to support the spiritual growth of our staff.

Our regular February board meeting began with a cheque presentation for the Food for Thought campaign from the Lethbridge Herald. Our division received nearly $12,000.00 from generous donations made to this campaign. The money is distributed by our Mother Teresa committee to support breakfast, lunch and other nutritional programs in our schools.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Lethbridge Herald and all who generously gave to this campaign. The major discussion item at the board meeting was the proposed Education Act and its impact on Catholic Education. There are some concerns with the new Act and as a result the Board will be communicating these concerns to our local MLA’s and the Minister of Education. Although Catholic Education is a constitutional right in Alberta, we must never take it for granted and remember that it is also a gift. The importance of Catholic Schools is communicated here in this short video. To learn more about our meeting, check out the Board Briefs.

Last weekend I returned to Medicine Hat to attend the funeral of a former student. Joe was a student of mine for three years and one of the students I took on an exchange to Ottawa and Montreal in my early teaching career. The gospel reading at his funeral was taken from Luke.  “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (Luke 12: 35-40) Joe’s untimely death reminded me that we do not know when the Son of Man will return and, as such, we must always be ready for that return. During this Lenten Season, may we all prepare ourselves for that unknown time when God returns or calls us home. Be loving! Be compassionate! Be forgiving! Be prayerful! And may we welcome God’s cup of grace so that we may be His light in the world.  

May God continue to bless you and your family during this season of Lent.

 

Feb 26

Provincial Achievement Tests

In the Province of Alberta, students in grades 3, 6, and 9 write Provincial Achievement Tests (PAT’s) on a yearly basis. Grade 3 students write tests in only Language Arts and Mathematics, while students in grades 6 and 9 complete the previous two plus Science and Social Studies. These tests were initially instituted as a check on curriculum but they have morphed into something that is causing much discussion in education circles. Today, PAT’s are used by some organizations to rank schools and by Alberta Education as part of their accountability system to evaluate schools and systems. The Accountability Pillar is not solely based on these standardized tests but the results certainly impacts the color coding received in division and/or school reports.

A couple of weeks ago at our Council of School Council Chair/Board meeting, I was asked to provide responses to our parents regarding PAT’s. Their questions revolved around the following concerns:

  • How important are PAT’s?
  • What are they actually used for?
  • Why are PAT results used as part of the student’s final mark or as their final exam?
  • Why is there so much stress placed on students who write PAT’s?

Unfortunately in the current accountability system, PAT’s are very important. The current mindset is that good results demonstrates a good school while the opposite is true given poor results. Educators, and I would suggest most parents would agree that there are far more methods to evaluate a student, a school or a system than just PAT’s. In the last 10 exam reports that I have prepared, I have always included the following statement, “Achievement and diploma exams only assess part of what students learn throughout the year. The best descriptor of student learning comes from a thorough and broad-based assessment program that teachers maintain during the school year.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about accountability and I’ve said that numerous times before. And although we need to make some significant changes to truly transform education, we still must maintain and articulate some sort of standards. I just don’t see how provincial achievement  tests can be seen as the premier measure of student learning or system success. In a world where we are trying to engage our learners and build 21st century competencies, bubble tests just don’t cut it!

It is always my intention to try and reduce the pressure on staff regarding provincial exams. My reasoning is that student learning is far more involved than any one test can measure and my own belief (that is also supported by research) that by and large, good teaching will achieve good results. If we continue to focus on the instructional practices in the classroom, at honing our craft as educators, then the results will take care of themselves. This was made crystal clear in a conversation with Tony Wagner at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. However, it is a difficult mindset for our administrators and our teaching staff not to focus on these tests when they are ranked by external institutes and rated with a color coded report card.

So why don’t parents just excuse their children from writing these exams as they legally have the ability to do so? Simple- it impacts the results for the school and system as excused writers count as zero in the calculations. This can be extremely significant and potentially damaging, especially if a small cohort is writing. Those students excused automatically bring down the “rating”  without recourse. The focus on those external sources is also why teachers and/or schools use the PAT result for part or all of the final grade. Some students may not necessarily be as motivated to study for a test that means nothing for their own mark. It is a vicious circle!

Maybe the problem is we don’t or we can’t define what student learning truly is or looks like. But I am convinced that where we need to go in education will never achieved by continued infactuation on these tests. Creativity, innovation and collaboration, all necessary for our 21st century can’t be accurately assessed in a written test setting only. Student choice in learning and the ability to go deeper into the curriculum will continue to be at odds with a standardized test of this nature. 21st century learning deserves 21st century schools, 21st century curriculum and 21st century assessment. And furthermore… our 21st century students deserve it!

Feb 21

From the Desk of the Superintendent- Public Consultation

The Board of Trustees will be hosting a public consultation on March 5th in the cafeteria at Catholic Central High School Campus East from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM. The consultation will be open to all Holy Spirit staff, parents, guardians, high school students and community members. We are hoping that this wide range of participants, especially the student voices, will provide excellent feedback to guide both the Board and Senior Administration in planning for the 2012-13 school year. The Division currently has three strategic priorities: (1) Catholic Identity, (2) Student Success and (3) Generative Governance.  Through small group discussions, the Board will be seeking information on how we are addressing these priorities and what we need to improve upon. The feedback provided will assist in the development of the Board’s Continuous Improvement Plan. The current plan is available here. In order to plan appropriately, registration will be required. Registration information will be available on our website by February 22nd.

Feb 17

Being instead of doing!

I’m a subscriber to the Leadership Freak. I love the insights I receive about leadership in under 300 words. The blog causes me to reflect on my own practice as a leader in a school division- sometimes I’m reaffirmed for what I’m doing and other times… However, some of the posts really push me hard in my thinking and cause me to be truly reflective. This past week, Dan Rackwell forced me to stop and consider my leadership practice in his blog, “How to Stop Drifting and Find Focus.” I quote, “Activity seduces. Leaders easily fall into the ‘Let’s just go do something’ trap. Activity without destination is futility. The ultimate destination is who not what. Before you do, ask who; ask who you want to become. The same goes for organizations. Who we want to become always precedes and guides what we want to do. Impatient leaders say let’s do something. Wise leaders say, ‘Let’s become something’.”  

School divisions and other organizations have mission or vision statements that should guide their “becoming something.” Our vision reads, “A Christ-centered learning community where students are cherished and achieve their potential.” This is our becoming something! As educational leaders we often get caught up in the vicious circle of trying to do things instead of setting direction. In other words doing something instead of being something. This is especially true as we journey on the transformation agenda. We have been so consumed by trying to transform education by doing things instead of really focusing on what transformation looks like as teachers and administrators and in classrooms, schools and systems.  We attend to the urgent (doing) rather than focusing on the important (being). And the important is to know who we want to be as a staff,  as a school, as a system and as a community.

In many school divisions, it is now time to start planning for next school year. Before we begin to put down what we are going to do or how we are going to do something, we need to fully understand and reaffirm who we are or who we want to become. Educators need to be reflective so that before we do… we are!

Feb 13

From the Desk of the Superintendent- Budget 2012 Highlights

On February 9, 2012, the Alberta government presented the provincial budget. After reviewing the budget with senior administration, I would like to provide some brief highlights and potential impacts to Holy Spirit.

One of the issues that the Board of Trustees and the Alberta School Boards’ Association (ASBA) sought was longer term funding. The ability to make longer term plans is critical to continually improving the education offered within our schools. The government certainly addressed this issue by providing a three year commitment. Base funding, which includes: (1) Early Childhood Services Base Instruction, (2) Base Instruction (Gr. 1-9), (3) Base Instruction (Gr. 10-12), (4) Class Size (ECS – Gr. 3) and (5) Class Size (CTS), will increase by 1% in 2012-13, 2 % in 2013-14 and 2% in 2014-15. All additional funding for differential factors and other funding will increase by 2% for the coming year.

One of the disappointments for our Division was that the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) grant, which was reduced last year by 50%, continues to be reduced by that same percentage. AISI has been a tremendous support to our classrooms in working with teachers over the past twelve years. The professional learning opportunities afforded to our teachers to enhance collaboration, differentiated instruction, assessment for learning and overall 21st Century competencies has been extremely positive. We are hopeful that flexibility within the budget will allow for continued support of these endeavors.   

In October 2011, Premier Redford made a commitment to allocate $107 million back into the education system. This resulted in our Division receiving just under $667,000, which was used in its entirety to increase staffing levels. Under a new grant introduced by the government called, “Equity of Opportunity,” the Division will continue to receive this dollar amount for 2012-13. This funding, and its flexibility to best meet local needs is certainly appreciated.  

The budget did not contain any announcements for new capital projects or modernizations. This is unfortunate news for St. Michael School in Pincher Creek and St. Patrick School in Taber which are currently the Board’s top priorities for modernization. The Minister is looking at alternate means to fund these projects and we are hopeful that more money for infrastructure will be forthcoming.  

Lastly, a new model for allocating funding for Inclusive Education has been announced. The raw data illustrates an increase of $152,000 from the new model and $234,400 additional funding. This is substantially less than what we currently provide for our students. This is a shortfall of  $737,000 for 2011-12 which is in addition to the 1.1 million shortfall in 2010-11. The move to an inclusive education system is fully supported by the Division but it must also be financially supported to ensure each and every child’s needs are met.

In keeping with a desire to be transparent by the Ministry, Alberta Education has provided a link that communicates the projected budgets for all divisions in the province. I would suggest some caution in reviewing the data as enrolment projections from the province as opposed to the division’s projections have been included which may alter this data. Our projections for enrolment are more conservative, which may have a material impact to the budget.  The information for all jurisdictions can be found at:  http://www.education.alberta.ca/admin/funding/2012jurisdictionfunding.aspx

There is still much work to do as we delve more closely into the details of the budget. Certainly our enrolments for 2012-13 will be a major contributing factor to our Division budget as well as our upcoming negotiations with our three employee groups. Further information will be provided as it becomes available.

Feb 12

Preparing tomorrow’s teachers!

On Friday, I had the pleasure of presenting to members of the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge on the transformation agenda. I began my presentation with a quote that I took from a tweet by Dave Martin (@d_martin05) “If we teach today, the way we were taught yesterday no one will ever be prepared for tomorrow.”  Even though the U of L offers one of the finest education programs in the country, they too, like all teacher preparation institutions, must be involved if education is to be truly transformed. Currently Alberta Education is engaged in an action agenda that encompasses a number of initiatives, all of which are to impact transformation. They include:

  • Action on Curriculum (Curriculum Redesign)
  • Action on Inclusion
  • Action on Teaching and Learning
  • Action on Legislation
  • Action on Research
  • Action on FNMI Success

It would be unrealistic for our university partners to ensure that teaching training included the above list in great detail but I believe there are certain aspects that all new teachers need a solid background in to prepare our students for tomorrow. If we truly want engaged thinkers, ethical citizens with an entrepreneurial spirit, then here’s my list:

  1. The Three R’s- Relationship! Relationship! Relationship!- Great teachers of today and great teachers of tomorrow need to be able to develop authentic relationships with their students and parents, their colleagues and their administration.  I always add the word authentic because relationships based only on “feel good” instead of mutual trust and respect don’t last long. We know that successful students have at least one adult in the school that they can identify with and feel a sense of belonging. Every student needs to have that experience and it can only be achieved through authentic relationships. Great teachers are not friends with their students, they are mentors. That authenticity needs to flow to parents, colleagues and administrators as well. Trust, which is critical in our world today can only be built through the establishment of authentic relationships.
  2. 21st Century Competencies- It is time to move away from what to learn to how to learn. For too many years, we have been programmed to be content driven as educators. Although our curricula tends to be far too wide and not very deep, we still have to find the ability to embed these competencies. Students need the opportunity to be creative, innovative and collaborative. They need to be able to problem solve and think critically because, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” -Albert Einstein.
  3. Inclusive Education- One of the greatest shifts that I believe has occurred with inclusive education is starting from student strengths rather than student deficiencies. Furthermore, learning must be for ALL students not just some. That requires teachers to draw from a large toolkit of high yield strategies to meet the needs of EACH student. Understanding brain research, implementing differentiated instruction and utilizing powerful assessment strategies are not optional but rather part of what good teachers do… day in and day out. Setting up structures of intervention within the classroom and/or building cannot be left to chance. Inclusion means moving from feeling sympathy and making excuses to having empathy and creating opportunities.  
  4. Focus on FNMI- The last 150 years of FNMI education has been dismal. With an increasing birthrate in the FNMI population it should come as no surprise that all divisions will have more FNMI students in their classrooms in the coming years. The first step to FNMI student success must be on building strong and positive relationships. For too long, fingers have be pointed and blame has been established. This can only be eliminated by the development of trusting relationships and through a better understanding and knowledge of our FNMI peoples and their culture. Every time I view the video “Justice for Aborginal Peoples” it reminds me of the terrible injustices they have endured and the need to heal wounds we created. We have often told FNMI people what they need to do for their children’s success in school and quite honestly that has not worked. Instead, we need to ask our FNMI people what we can do as individual teachers, schools and systems to help create successful learners.
  5. Lifelong Learning- One of the 21st century competencies is lifelong learning. It is extremely difficult to teach if we are not role models ourselves. Teachers need to be constantly updating their skills, looking at the latest research and engaging in high quality professional learning. Going to a conference every 5 years is not sufficient given the complexities of education today. Teachers need to engage in collaborative activities both inside and outside of the typical school day. Social media has allowed educators to engage in professional dialogue based on their own needs and without expense. Students need to see teachers excited and passionate about their personal learning. Teacher’s enthusiasm about self learning and personal management must be readily viewed by students.   
  6. Be Bold- This is probably the most important to me as the senior leader of the division. We cannot maintain the status quo anymore if we truly want to transform education, and the only way to move from the status quo is to be bold. Being bold doesn’t mean being disrespectful or becoming an anarchist, but it does mean challenging the status quo and pushing the learning culture. It means trying something new and innovative, becoming a risk taker in your classroom and failing forward. Bold systems require bold leaders and bold schools require bold teachers. Without boldness we will wake up 5, 10, or 20 years from now and still be having the same conversations.

So, what would you say is important for preparing tomorrow’s teachers?