I had an odd week as I was out of the building for three consecutive days at two different professional learning sessions. On Tuesday, Wednesday, I was taking a course on the Leadership Quality Standards that all administrators in the province must have in order to hold their position. On Thursday, I attended Thinking Classrooms, a session led by Peter Liljedahl, a professor of math education at Simon Fraser University. Putting myself into the role of a student for three straight days was interesting to say the least.
On Thursday, Dr. Liljedahl modelled what a 'thinking classroom' can look like to a group of 42 adults who attended. I was uncomfortable, engaged, frustrated, excited, collaborative, competitive, and the list could go on. One aspect of the "Thinking Classroom" that I certainly remember is that time flew when I was engaged. Dr. Liljedahl made the astute point that when thinking isn't occurring, neither is learning. Getting our students to 'think' in our classrooms rather than 'mimic' or 'pretend' will accelerate engagement and learning.
As a principal, I would love to know that each classroom in our school is a 'thinking' classroom, where students are not spoon-fed the answers, where compliance and 'playing school' is not the end goal, and where students are stretched beyond their comfort zone and challenged to think and engage with the problems in front of them. I'm excited to see the 8 other staff members who attended the session bring some of these ideas back to their classrooms and engage on a thinking journey with me.
Have a great weekend!
Ryan
Congratulations to our November student of the month recipients, Josh and Hayley. Both students exhibit many of the traits that make awesome Chargers - terrific students, positive attitudes, and a willingness to get involved outside of the classroom. Thanks to Josh and Hayley for being great role models to others in the school!
Our Bert Church Invitational Basketball tournament runs again this weekend with 14 teams from Alberta and Saskatchewan meeting on the hardwood.
All four basketball teams were in action this week with the Jr. Girls and Sr. Girls defeating George McDougall in close games and our Jr and Sr. Boys coming out victorious against Bow Valley. Good luck at BCI kids!
Our Construction 30 students were proud of their hard work making some awesome chairs. Well done folks!
Bert Church High School is having its annual food drive again this December. The food drive will run from Wednesday December 4th to Wednesday December 18th. Students are asked to bring in a non-perishable food item to your advisory teacher on Fridays. Each Advisory with the most items/per grade will win a prize. Thanks for your support of this important initiative at an important time of year.
Final exams are starting soon after we return from our Christmas break. Ms. Tiemstra has created a webpage to help students and parents access resources to prepare and deal with the stress of exam season. Please follow this link for more information on how to have success at this time of year!
Nearly 10 of our students spent part of their week planning and then executing a trip to Cross Iron Mills mall. Students were responsible for navigating public transit to get to and from the mall. Great skills for them to know now and the future. Thanks Mrs. Dahl for leading this work - looks like fun!
Career Centre News December 13, 2019
‘Winter forms our character and brings out our best.’ ~ Tom Allen
Calaway Park – Upcoming Auditions for Dancers and Actors
Hiring 30 seasonal Entertainment cast members. Minimum Age: 16
Auditions: Saturday February 8, 2020
Dancers at 9:30 AM
Actors at 11:00 AM
Got to Employment at the Calaway Park Website www.calawaypark.com to get all the audition details.
Canadian Forces in Flex on February 25, 2020
Full time and Part-time opportunities.Possibility of Debt Free university education.
To learn more, sign up for Flex with Mr. Lucas on Tuesday Feb 25, 2020
Careers Next Generation – RAP Skilled Trade & ICT Fair
Students and parents learn about the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP), careers in skilled trades, and Information & Communication Technology.
Connect with 40 + Employers and Industry Associations; Post Secondary & Education Resources; Dual Credit & Exploratory Program
*February 19, 2020 (Wednesday) 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Lord Beaverbrook HS
*March 11, 2020 (Wednesday) 6:30 – 8:30 pm at Notre Dame HS
*April 8, 2020 (Wednesday) 6:30 – 8:30 pm at James Fowler HS
At 7 pm there is a short Careers Presentation on RAP and ICT
University of Alberta – Green & Gold Getaway- May 22 - 24
Open to Grade 11 Alberta students
20 spots available to test out U of A
Be reimbursed for travel to Edmonton, accommodation and whirlwind of exciting events
Applications accepted www.uab.ca/GGG until end of day on Sunday January 26.
GAP Year
Are you planning to delay your post secondary studies by a year? Make sure you plan what you want to accomplish during your GAP year.
VERGE is an online magazine for students with great resources if you want to do something travel related during your GAP year..
You can search according to where you want to go and whether you want to volunteer or work or have an adventure.
This month there is an article about rebuilding coral reefs with bottles. https://www.vergemagazine.com/
Summer Jobs
Jobs and Scholarships are both means to increase your pot of money for Post-Secondary Education.
Oftentimes, finding full time summer work is a real challenge. Spend some of your time applying for scholarships, but also spend an appropriate amount of time figuring out where the best summer jobs are. If you are lucky, you will find a full time job where you are hired back every summer until your post secondary education is complete.
Some of the plum summer positions are posted in December or January.
The Government of Canada has jobs for post secondary students. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-service-commission/jobs/services/recruitment/students/federal-student-work-program.html
The City of Airdrie hires students for day camp programs and for looking after parks and public spaces. If you don’t see a suitable ad the first time you go to the website, you can set up your profile and sign up for alerts for jobs that match your skills and interests.
Rocky View School Division has a few summer positions as well.
Bachelor of Humanities High School Essay Contest – Carleton University, Ottawa
You could win $500 by writing an essay on the following question: What is Literature For? Deadline: March 1, 2020
Schulich Leader Scholarship
Every high school in Canada may nominate 1 student per academic year.
The student nominee will be determined in the second week of January.
The nominee will be determined based on the nomination requirements in the Bert Church HS Scholarship Information pamphlet.
There are 25 $100,000 scholarships for Engineering. There are 25 scholarships for $80,000 for science, technology or mathematics.
Students planning a career as a medical practitioner or researcher are excluded from this competition. This scholarship is for entrepreneurial-minded innovators outside of the medical community.
More information on the Bert Church plone site and at the Schulich Leader website
Terry Fox Humanitarian Award
Terry Fox Scholars are ‘doers’ with the ability to inspire and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
Suitable candidates are those demonstrate the ideals of Terry Fox – True Humanitarians, individuals who are compassionate and altruistic in their intention to improve the lives of others and human welfare overall.
Serious consideration will be given to those candidates who have experienced and overcome what others might consider an insurmountable obstacle, yet are determined and dedicated to helping others.
Deadline to apply – April 30, 2020 www.stmu.ca for complete list of St. Mary’s University awards
Presidents Circle Scholarships are automatically awarded to new high school graduates who achieve an average of 80% or higher on the five grade 11 or 12 subjects used for admission