7/25/2019 SRTA Newsletter June 2016 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/srta-newsletter-june-2016 1/16 Dear valued members of the Associaon, It was another banner year for our ‘small but mighty’ Associaon. In no parcular order, our year was one which saw the opening of our new oce in Ste. Anne, the racaon of an extension to our current collecve agreement (which now extends unl July 2018), new regulaons regarding maternity and parental leave which eliminates the ‘mommy/parent gap’ service decits, the successful hosng of the MTS Golf Tournament at Oakwood Golf Course, Federal and Provincial elecons which saw sweeping changes in the ruling party, and some signicant changes in our Local execuve. It was, without a doubt, one of the busiest years I’ve experienced as your President and as a teacher of een years in this division. So here we are, sll standing with and for each other, looking forward to a resul summer break so that we are recharged and ready to go in September. Rest assured, your colleagues on the SRTA Execuve have been counng down the days just as many of you have, and they have already planned a great start to 2016 - 2017. Of note, we are adding another social event to our calendar in a welcome back trivia night to be held in September. I will be working closely with our new Health and Wellness Chair Paul Grosskopf to create what we hope is going to be a fun event for all, and in parcular, for our new teachers, who I will be personally inving to the event so that they can meet their colleagues in the division. We also have planned a fantasc SRTA Council Orientaon to take place in late September, and we hope any of you put your names forward to be a council representave in 2016-2017.It is always my honour and privilege to be able to say my annual thank-yous in the June edion of the newsleer. Please join me in thanking the following wonderful people and organizaons we have worked so closely with in 2015-2016.Thanks to Rebecca Brown who was an amazing leader who worked with passion and enthusiasm on behalf of members. As our Vice-President/Equity and Social Jusce Chair, Rebecca poured her heart into the work of the Associaon, and was instrumental in organizing our delegaon at the MTS AGM. Thanks to Cindy Mason for doing such a great job in her rst year as our Secretary. It didn’t maer what was going on behind the scenes in Cindy’s busy life —she was quick to pull together minutes from our many meengs this year. She brought great perspecve from her high school, something I really appreciated this year. Thanks to Eric Lindquist for managing our bank accounts, ensuring that our nances are in order and that Members are being reimbursed for expenses as soon as possible. It was not an easy year for Eric, as we switched banking instuons and bookkeeping soware, but he handled everything with a smile. Thank you, Dan Lagacé, for dedicang your me and energy to two porolios. As Collecve Bargaining chair, Dan was instrumental in geng our extension for 2017 -2018, and he already has his sights set on the next round of bargaining. As Resoluons chair, he has helped me do a complete review of our governance documents in preparaon for a revamping in 2016-2017 —no easy task to be sure.Many thanks to Jason Sparling for many years as our Educaon Finance chair. Jason’s team of teachers did such an exemplary job presenng our ideas at the SRSD budget consultaon this year, our superintendent Mike Borgord sent me a text message with his appreciaon of their work. As Jason stepped down from the role earlier this year, I’m thankful that Jenn Lapkinstepped up, and in a big way. Jenn is already in contact with our contacts at MTS, and her love of spreadsheets will serve her well in her new role.Thanks to Ashley McKague, who was new to the Execuve this year as our Employee Benets chair. Ashley was a posive voice at all meengs, and she did a great job organizing our annual Maternity and Parental Benets Seminar. Ashley has also stepped down from her porolio as she will be expecng a child(cont ’ d on page 2)President ’s MessageSEINE RIVER TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATIONNEWSLETTER June2016Volume 11.6
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I had the opportunity to aend the Nike Championship Basketball Clinic from April 29— May1 in Las Vegas. This clinic is designed for coaches of all levels and provides theorecal and
praccal learning about coaching the game of basketball. Nike brings in some of the best
NCAA coaches and former NBA players to speak on a variety of topics. Some of the more
notable coaches who presented were: Roy Williams (North Carolina), Mark Few (Gonzaga),
Sco Drew (Baylor), and of course Bob Knight (now in Basketball Hall of Fame).
As much as these coaches presented great topics such as transion, oensive & defensive
concepts, & compeve pracces, the most valuable part of their presentaons was to see
them interact with the players on the court. They are so clear in their instrucons and command such a presence that the pla yers
are hanging on every word and it's easy to see how they have won so many championships.
For me, the "lesser known" coaches spoke on topics that related more to what we do in our small high school programs. We are
currently developing a 10 month basketball program in Ste. Anne so the presentaon of "Full Year Player Development" provided
a lot of strategies for tness, and individual skill development and was extremely valuable.
On top of all these great sessions were two sessions that weren't necessarily basketball specic but more for coaches of any
sports program. They were "Developing Core Values" and "Building Culture". I personally found these very interesng as I nd
that geng your players to play the way you want them to is the biggest challenge each season.
I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to aend this clinic for the second me and would not hesitate to aend it again
in the future as the presenters and topics are always changing. I would also highly recommend this event for basketball coaches
at any level.
Associaon for Special Educaon Technology (ASET Ontario):
Advancing Assisve Technology in Ontario Schools
by Janet Walker, DTS
The ASET conference held in Niagara Falls, Ontario focused on using common technology to assist
students with exceponal needs within the classroom. There were numerous sessions to choose from
which made it easy to nd sessions applicable to my own learning goals.
The rst session I aended was 'BYOD and Assisve Technology' which focused on students bringing their own devices from home, and
how we all use assisve technology day to day. The idea of "Good for all, necessary for some" resonated throughout the session. In the
past, students have been embarrassed to use their assisve tech, fearing they look dierent. Now, programs are so widely available, and
discrete, that more students are using them daily. We looked at the use of voice to text, graphic organizers and text to speech on ipad/
iPhone, Chromebook, and Android to see how all devices could provide the same supports within the same classroom seng.
The second session I aended was 'Google for All, a Google SEA Soluon' which taught about how the SEA program in Ontario started
and how it has evolved to where it is today. The companies involved showed how they use Google Chrome products to bring assisve
technology to students in an eecve and scally prudent manner. We were shown how the Google products can aordably replaceproducts such as Kurzweil which have been used in the past, while allowing students to use mainstream devices.
Finally, I aended the 'iDevices in the Inclusive Classroom' which showed how to ulize iDevices to their fullest capacity. We were
taught about numerous apps for assisve tech and learning, while learning more about a School Board approach to board purchased
devices. They provided a ow chart used to determine which apps could be added to Board purchased devices and how sengs were
managed for large groups using these devices.
Overall, this conference was very informave. The sessions were applicable to today's classroom needs, and conversaon with our
Ontario colleagues enabled us to have a beer understanding of other school systems. It has been benecial to learn more ab out BYOD
and assisve technology in the classroom. If anything, sessions could have been longer as a lot of informaon was condensed into
shorter sessions. The organizers of the sessions indicated that they would like to expand the conference, one day bringing it to the
Thinking About Theory: A Framework for EAL Instrucon
by Jacquie Dion, LBC
In this class, we examined various approaches to second language learning and teaching and learned that
there isn’t a single right way to teach a language. A communicave approach to language learning with a
focus on task-based instrucon was emphasized in this program. As students, we discussed principles of
adult learning (Andragogy – M. Knowles) and student-centered instrucon. We then learned to apply these
concepts to an adult EAL classroom. A variety of textbooks and authenc resources were reviewed. We
discussed culture and stereotypes and how this could aect the classroom. It was also emphasized that as
an EAL teacher/instructor, it is your responsibility to ensure that you share the Canadian culture with new
students.
Cooperave learning strategies and methods that incorporated mulple learning styles were taught, so that
we would be prepared to use these strategies in our own independent teaching pracce. Finally, wedemonstrated our comprehension of the above objecves by compleng a presentaon and demonstraon
of a lesson, a summary, a reecve essay and a quiz.
Professional Development Fund Updates
by Kaitlan Robertson, SRTA PD Chair, and Jonathan Waite, SRTA President
Usage in 2015-2016 (current to June 29):
(Note: negave amounts indicate use of surplus from 2014-2015)
In 2016-2017 the PD fund will be administered in a similar fashion to how it has been in the past, with the
following changes:
Applicaon process will be done through website only (www.srteach.org/PD) - applicaons
accepted starng at midnight on September 8, 2016.
Allocaon for In-Area and Out-of -Area will be increased by $5,000
Improvements to reimbursement process should result in more ecient sending of cheques