Making Learning Visible

ECEC 2008 Conference – Nov. 6, 7, & 8th

West Edmonton Mall Conference Center, Edmonton

Keynote Speakers:

Carlina Rinaldi from Reggio Emilia, Italy
This keynote address will be broadcast live on Friday morning and will be the launch for the Conference theme. Carlina will address listening, researching and learning from documenting the work of young children.

(See Carlina Rinaldi’s biography)

Ruth Ohi from Toronto, Ontario

Our Saturday luncheon speaker will be the prolific Canadian illustrator, Ruth Ohi, who has a bibliography of over 40 books. Award winning books include: "Me and My Sister", CCBC Our Choice 2006; "And You Can Come Too", CCBC Our Choice 2006; "Bottled Sunshine", CCBC Our Choice 2006; "Naomi's Road", CCBC Our Choice 2006; "The Sidewalk Rescue", 2004 Blue Spruce Nominee and 2005 Shining Willow Nominee, CCBC Our Choice 2005; "Beneath the Bridge", 2005 Blue Spruce Nominee and CCBC Our Choice 2005; "No Monsters Here", CCBC Our Choice 2005; "Pants Off First", CCBC Our Choice 2001; "Two So Small", 2000 shortlist Mr. Christie and
Amelia Francis Howard-Gibbon Award shortlist; "Into My Mother's Arms", 2000 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award and CCBC Our Choice 2000; "The Bye-Bye Pie", 1999 Our Choice and Blue Spruce winner; "Ooo-cha!", 1999 shortlist McNally Robinson for Young People Award; "Tess", 1995 shortlist Governor General (text) and Mr. Christie Award shortlist.

To see samples of her books, visit her web site at http://www.ruthohi.com

John Simmons, humorist, from Calgary, Alberta

Thursday evening 7:00 – 8:15 p.m.

Growing Young: The Natural Wisdom of Childhood

John will help us celebrate our choice to work with young children, tap into the children’s humor to renew and rejuvenate ourselves, keep a healthy perspective on the challenges ahead; and rededicate ourselves to shaping the future through your work with young children.

To find out more about his presentations and book, The Power of Humor , check out his website: http://www.john-simmons.com

Debbie Diller from Houston, Texas

Debbie is the author of several books, including Making the Most of Small Groups, Literacy Work Stations, Practice with Purpose, and Beyond the Names Chart. She has several videos on literacy work stations and small group instruction. Her newest book, Spaces and Places: Designing Classrooms for Literacy will be been published by Stenhouse this summer.

Debbie will be with us for the full day Friday, offering two half day sessions. Her website is http://www.debbiediller.com/ for further information.

Miriam Trehearne from Calgary, Alberta

Miriam will be with us on Saturday to address Reading Comprehension. To see a list of her books, check out the website: http://www.etacuisenaire.com/miriamtrehearne/miriam.jsp

Joanne Currah and Jane Felling from Edmonton, Alberta

Box Cars and One-Eye Jacks are always a hit with teachers of young children. Joanne and Jane will present two sessions – one on math and the other on literacy. Their website is http://www.boxcarsandoneeyedjacks.com

Tracey Kuffner from Brooks, Alberta

Tracey is the author-illustrator for two children’s books: “When Max Became a Mom” and “Isabelle’s Sheepdog.” To see her work in more detail, check out her website: http://www.woolmine.com

Louise Raymond from Nelson, B.C.

Artistic Director of Malicounda Dance Company is specialized in dance and music education. She teaches West African dance and drum workshops for children and adults presented in French and English. She also offers professional development for early childhood educators, elementary and secondary school teachers on Motivating Children through Music, Movement and West African Cultures. She also organizes successful team building session across Canada. For her website with drumming audio sample, check out http://www.malicoundadance.com

Other Speakers:

Reggio Topics:

· Representing Learning Through Visual Journaling – Donna Brown, Donna Lawson, and Jennifer Gray – to inspire teachers to use visual journals in classrooms to represent students’ learning in a variety of ways; to demonstrate techniques for visual journaling

· Pigeon Project – Melissa Johanson and Diana Rose – sharing highlights of this year long project about pigeons; showing how meaningful learning connections can be built through an extended project using emergent curriculum, documentation, and project based learning

· Reggio: The Road Home… - Jeane Hewes, Cindy Reimer and other staff from MacEwan’s Demonstration Child Care Center – learn about this staff’s experience of traveling to Reggio on the study tour; the dialogue and professional practice which inspired new directions in the preservice diploma program for early childhood professionals; how the ongoing attempts to make meaning of he Reggio philosophy in day to day practice with children and families and in educating early childhood professionals; a primary focus will be on the use of pedagogical documentation in early learning

· Capturing, Assessing and Celebrating – Jesse Hillas – practical strategies of how to use documentation panels to capture childhood experiences, assess student learning, and celebrate the work of young children

· Reggio Emilia: Considerations for inclusive education – Dr. Tim Loreman – examine the philosophy of inclusive education in one of the world’s leading early childhood education systems in Reggio Emilia, Italy; parallels with, and differences between, the systems in Reggio Emilia and Canada; discussions of practices Canadians might want to devote to improve their work with young children in inclusive contexts

· Pedagogical Documentation: Teachers, Student Teachers and Children Learning Together – Pat Tarr, Laurie Androsoff, Theresa Lewis – sharing the results of an investigation into the supports teachers and student teachers need in order to make pedagogical documentation a sustainable and integral part of their practice; sharing questions and issues that emerged for teachers as they began to document learning within their classrooms, and strategies for addressing concerns around time, tools and the need for collaboration in engaging in the documentation process

· What is the Big Idea? Reflections from Reggio Emilia, Italy – Nancy Thomas – to show how the Reggio ideas relates to our work with young children within a Canadian context; highlights of the visit to Reggio infant-toddler and preschool centres and focus on the main BIG ideas that seem to matter most

· Giving a voice to Our Many Creative Languages – Lee Makovichuk and Jessica Yawnghew - from U of A Child Study Center – highlights learning processes where children are actively involved both physically and through the use of natural and recycled materials for periods of time; to discuss the role of the teacher in making decisions about how to extend children’s learning experiences.

Fine Arts Topics:

· Motivating Children through Music, Movement and West African Cultures – Louise Drummond – participation workshop with 50 drums, featuring movement, singing, drumming and theory; participants will focus on a foundation of rhythm patterns, techniques, movements, stories and songs in French and African languages; a unique cognitive approach to multicultural knowledge and awareness, helping to stimulate children’s creativity and intellectual development.

· Clay for Kids – Karen Birch – for a basic working knowledge of clay and the firing process; to gain basic hand building techniques

· Using Drama in the Classroom – Nancy Bromley – to enhance literacy and social awareness through the use of drama with young children

· Puppets as a Language – Nancy Bromley – learn how to guide your students through the process of creating puppet shows and more skillful manipulation of puppets

· Self- Portraits – Jenny Culbertson and Monique Draudson – to demonstrate the use of line, shape, colour, and value; to create unity and balance in a portrait; to study the portraits and philosophies of Van Gogh and Gauguin

· Making Learning Visible Through the Arts – Carole Brosseau – explore the painting process to discover your creativity; using children’s literature as inspiration, making connections with nature to motivate students to explore the art process

· What is Dramatic Learning? – Alyson Connelly (from Citadel theater) – to provide teachers with new dramatic skills to enhance curriculum

· Illustrating with Wool (The Art of Felt-Making) – Tracey Kuffner – using raw colored wool from Tracey’s sheep, participants will turn it into a small piece of felted fabric with a simple design; teachers will then feel comfortable in teaching it to their students

· Literature and Music: A Sound Approach – Tim Paetkau – using music to enhance literacy learning; using music and literature to develop literacy skills; use of songs to enhance oral language skills

· Stained Glass Sensations: Making Learning Transparent – Melanie Mazurek – create stained glass master pieces using painting techniques

· From Pulp to Paper And So Much More – Pat Milan – participants will learn how to create an easy paper frame, various papers, and a number of creative ways to use the new made paper

· Drawing as a Language – Pat Tarr – explore drawing as a language for thinking and representing; opportunity to explore diverse drawing media and to become familiar with ways that drawing may become incorporated into the curriculum

Literacy Topics:

· Creating Visual Stories – Ruth Ohi (Sat. luncheon keynote) – through slides showing the creative process and lots of interactive drawing demonstrations showing specific techniques, Ruth will share her work as illustrator and author/illustrator in this lively presentation

· Play on Words – Joanne Currah and Jane Felling – active, hands-on workshop to explore a wide variety of manipulative, multi-sensory games to enhance literacy development in learning disabled/second language learners

· Teaching Comprehension Strategies Through Read-Aloud – Elva Jones – develop comprehension strategies through reading aloud to your students; select comprehension strategy you wish to focus on; model and teach it through the questions and Think Alouds

· Extend Your Students’ Comprehension During Shared Reading – Choose a book for Shared Reading, choose a comprehension strategy for focus and have fun! Let your students become engaged in their learning a comprehension strategy through directed discussions

· Link Your Word Work to Your Shared Reading – Word Work comes from the Shared Reading you do with your class; discover ways to focus your word work on the reading that your students do, so that they can make meaningful connections with words (phonological and phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, high-frequency words, word building and solving, and language predictability)

· Learning to Listen to Children’s Visual Stories – Anna Kirova – to demonstrate a new-arts based method of engaging children in story-telling

· Building a Strategies Toolbox for Struggling Readers – Cathy Pettapiece and Andrea Cooper – to look at how primary teachers can choose strategies that will best fit emergent reader profiles as outlined in psycho-educational reports received from reading specialists and psychologists

· Assessing and Teaching Reading Comprehension: Practical and Proven Strategies and Engaging Mini-lessons and Student Activities that Work! – Miriam Trehearne – research-based strategies for assessing reading comprehension and how to use the assessments to drive instruction; strategies and mini-lessons for teaching comprehension including critical thinking and critical literacy and vocabulary; small group student activities for developing reading comprehension

Math Topics:

· Shuffling into Math – Joanne Currah and Jane Felling – play and learn card and dice games that help your youngest primary students achieve success in basic numeration, place value, addition, subtraction, graphing and more

· Building a Problem Solving Community – Marilynn Reid – to extend teachers’ repertoires of interesting problems, and share strategies to build student confidence and enthusiasm for math problems

· Implementing Nelson Math Focus K-2 – Tricia Soroski – this hands-on workshop is just for you if you’ve just started using Nelson Math Focus K-2; look at instructional design and features; short- and long-range planning; assessment; differentiated instruction; mathematical literacy; and problem solving.

Movement Topics:

· Ballet in the Early Childhood Classroom – Laura Esler – to show a simple and fun way to teach creative movement and ballet concepts; visual and movement representation of The Nutcracker

· The Need for Education in P.E. – Dr. Clive Hickson – to assist in understanding the importance of physical education programs; the role of learning in physical education; the provision of a program that promotes cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning in the aim of developing physically educated children

· Cooperative Activities for Young Children: A Developmentally Appropriate Approach –Dr. Clive Hickson – an activity session leading participants through a variety of cooperative activities

· Yoga Pretzels – Cheryl Shinkaruk – explore how yoga can be integrated into your Physical Education program or classroom; you can develop core strength and flexibility as well as inspire a sense of confidence and self-esteem; active engagement in a variety of poses, breathing exercises, relaxation and group/partner exercises; focus on balance, stability, coordination, rhythm, confidence, and internal focus

· Building Literacy Through Movement – Cheryl Shinkaruk – opportunity to participate in games and activities that actively engage students in gross motor activities to increase literacy skills; activities will teach and reinforce alphabet skills, sight words, decoding, and other vocabulary through game-like activities that encourage movement and fun

Technology Topics:

· Working with SMART Boards in the Primary Grades – Tonya Byrne and Lyndsay D’Agostini – to inform teachers of the benefits of using SMART Board technology; to demonstrate how it increases student interaction, participation and motivation in learning; and to show the vast amount of resources available for SMART Board technology

· Digital Portfolios – Isabel F. Cox School panel – Kendra Oxamitny, Alaina Campbell, and Frances Barnes – a demonstration of how ePearl software can be used to store digital collections of student work and learning; examples will be shown from JK through Gr. 3

Social Topics:

· Making Language Visible- Alison Oakley-Edgelow – Examine different ways to make language come alive through pictures, sign language and symbols; explore how to use visuals to develop language; enhance writing skills through the use of visuals and language

Science Topics:

· The Power of Making Scientific Understanding Visible – Amy Swinkels – practical hands-on workshop that will allow teachers to explore hands-on science lessons and tasks that can be used in whole class/small group and learning center settings; look at how literacy and art can be linked to science outcomes

Miscellaneous Topics:

· Early Learning and Development: Using Maps to Make Early Childhood Outcomes Visible – Susan Lynch – this presentation will show, through colourful maps of Edmonton, the developmental outcomes of early childhood and how these maps are being used to understand and improve development in the early years.