Bulletin Nov, 2013
| PEDAGOGICAL NEWSLETTER
Keep up-to-date with developments. Material is updated regularly on your union info board at school. Questions may also be directed to your union delegate, your sector director, the website info pages, and to the union office. |
INTERACTIVE WHITE BOARDS AND LAPTOPS DISTRIBUTION
This is the information we have:
– All Smartboards have been distributed (Secondary Cycle 1 and Elementary Cycle 3) and most have been installed
– Laptops have also been distributed to schools, but NOT all teachers will be receiving them at the same time. Laptops are distributed one laptop per board installation
LUNCH & LEARN
By now you must have heard of the new E.S.D. Lunch & Learn Series. Each school will be visited by the Educational Technology Consultants (They are NOT Information Technology Specialists). This lunch time presentation is OPTIONAL. They are there to inform you of the resources available to you, and this information can also be found on their website.
I.E.P.s AND EVALUATION
Please read the separate communication on I.E.P.s and Evaluation sent to your emails.
Documentation from M.E.L.S. on I.E.P.s is also available on the L.T.U. website under the tab Pedagogical Affairs, section on Special Needs – I.E.P.s.
NEW TEACHERS
For this school year, P.I.C. has continued to sponsor workshops responding to teachers’ needs. The latest was the Spencer Henry on classroom management that took place on October 11, 2013. This workshop was opened to New Teachers. They also benefited from a training session on September 20th, allowing them to better integrate into the teaching profession. The S.W.L.S.B. in collaboration with L.T.U. offer a mentoring program to all new teachers.
MENTORING PROGRAM
As was just mentioned, we are continuing with the mentoring program for the 2013-2014 school year. The program is open to all schools. Every school has a Lead Mentor that will be receiving some training sessions offered by E.S.D. in conjunction with an L.C.E.E.Q. P.D.S.C. initiative. Sessions will be organized for mentors to meet and discuss common practices and experiences. The first session will be a released day tailored for mentors only, no date has been determined yet (Possibly November 18th).
Release time is also available for mentors and protégés. Each one can take a half-day release in order to visit each other’s classes or conference together.
PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENT
Please read the separate communication on Professional Improvement sent to your emails.
REPORTING 2013-2014
– The M.E.L.S. has extended once again the possibility of not reporting a mark (or class average, therefore) for certain courses in either the first or the second term, so long as the school’s standards and procedures has taken this into account. The courses affected for elementary are Ethics and Religious Culture, Phys. Ed., any arts programs (music, art, drama, dance) and second language courses. In high schools, it applies to secondary 1, 2 and 3 courses that have 100 hours or fewer recommended in the Basic School Regulation (B.S.R.) (same as elementary, plus social science, and science sec. 1 and 2)
– It will be possible again this year to report on just one of the four cross-curricular competencies in either term one or term three, therefore it is not necessary to report on two of them in each of those terms
– November 20, March 15 and July 10 are the latest dates that report cards can be issued for each term, but distribution may be earlier. With respect to secondary 5 in particular, the M.E.L.S. recommends that schools establish a deadline that will allow the transmission of results for both terms one and two prior to CEGEP application deadlines
