BREAKOUT SESSIONS - DESCRIPTIONS

1A
Boys and Girls Learn Differently
Michael H. Reist

How Gender Differences Influence Learning and Behaviour

Gender differences have a profound influence on learning and behaviour. Boys’ brains and girls’ brains develop and operate very differently. Current brain research has revealed fascinating differences between the way males and females think and communicate. The implications for teaching and raising boys and girls are profound. Teachers and parents of both genders will benefit from this entertaining and enlightening workshop.

Michael Reist is a teacher with over 25 years of experience in the classroom. He is currently head of the English department at Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School in Caledon East. He is a frequent speaker to local parent groups and education conferences where his workshops on bullying and how boys and girls learn differently have drawn large crowds and enthusiastic responses.

Michael is the author of The Dysfunctional School, Uncomfortable Truths and Awkward Insights on School Learning and Teaching. He has written numerous articles on education, spirituality and parenting for The Ottawa Citizen, Professionally Speaking, the Catholic Register, Catholic New Times, Companion, Words of Life, Education Today and Catholic Insight.

He has taught courses for the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), and the Continuing Education department at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto. Michael is also the founder of The Beach School, a democratic free school in Toronto.

1B
Safe, Compassionate and Healthy Schools
Dana Sheahan and JoAnne Shea

Maintaining a caring, safe and healthy school environment continues to be a focus for Catholic educators. In this workshop school administrators will have the opportunity to review changes to safe schools legislation and discuss strategies to implement progressive discipline. As well, strategies to be pro-active in preventing bullying and developing healthy relationships will be explored. By the end of this session participants will have a deeper understanding of the importance of cultural competency in issues of diversity.

Dana Sheahan spent 19 years in Catholic education with the York Catholic District School Board. She recently accepted a vice-principalship with the Peel District School Board at Glenforest Secondary School. She has worked in a variety of school communities as a physical and health education teacher, as an English teacher and as a department head of an e-learning school. Dana teaches online courses for Queen’s University. She was a member of the 2004 CPCO provincial development team for Shaping Safer Catholic Schools as well as a presenter. Dana was a contributing member on the development team for this workshop as well.

JoAnne Shea has been an administrator with the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board for the past 11 years. She is currently principal of St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic Secondary School with a population of 1325 students. Her multiple experiences include teaching in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, and California. An avid believer in professional development, JoAnne recently completed her Supervisory Officer’s qualifications. JoAnne also teaches the Principal’s Qualification Program Part II for the University of Windsor and has helped develop and present CPCO workshops since 2001.

1C & 2C
English Language Learners: What Administrators Need to Know
Elizabeth Coelho

This session will enable administrators to understand and fulfil their responsibilities as outlined in the Ministry’s new policy on English Language Learners.

Questions that will be addressed in the session include:

• Who are English Language Learners?
• What programs and services are available to support them?
• How are they doing?
• What do schools and school boards need to do?

Elizabeth Coelho teaches pre-service teacher candidates at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. She has also worked as a Student Achievement Officer with the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat of the Ontario Ministry of Education, and as the District Coordinator for ESL/ELD in the Toronto District School Board.

Elizabeth has provided many workshops for teachers and administrators in elementary and secondary schools and has presented at conferences in Canada, the United States, and Spain. Special interests and areas of expertise include immigrant education, second language learning, and teaching and learning in multilingual and multicultural classrooms. She has published several professional books and articles in these fields, as well as student materials for co-operative group activities.

Her book Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Schools: An Integrated Approach (Multilingual Matters, 1998), focusing on the social environment of the school, has been adopted as a course text in various teacher education programs. Her latest publication, Adding English: A Guide to Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms (Pippin Publishing, 2004) is used as a course text in many Additional Qualification courses in ESL.

1D & 2D
Aboriginal Awareness through Education
Bryon O. Brisard

This session will focus on how school administrators can support the Ontario Aboriginal Education Strategy which is designed to help more First Nations, Métis and Inuit students achieve their full potential. Discussion of this strategy will include an overview of the initiatives that support learning and achievement for Aboriginal students.

Some of the topics within the strategy include:

• encouraging parents to get more involved in their children’s education;
• integrating information about Aboriginal culture, histories and perspectives throughout the Ontario curriculum to increase knowledge and awareness among students; and
  
• building partnerships with Aboriginal communities and organizations to develop strategies to support student achievement.

The First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework and Aboriginal Student Self-Identification will be highlighted along with the Aboriginal Toolkit for students, with curriculum links for grades K-12.

Bryon O. Brisard is an education officer for the Aboriginal Education Office (AEO), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities. He works in the Sudbury-North Bay Regional Office, Sudbury. Bryon’s responsibilities include working on the development of collaborative initiatives between and among education stakeholders, including First Nations communities, to support the learning, engagement and achievement of First Nations, Métis and Inuit students across Ontario. Bryon has the AEO lead in the area of curriculum.

Bryon is from the Animbllgoo Zaagl’lgan Anishinaabek First Nations, located north of Thunder Bay. His career includes teaching in First Nations and public schools, principal of First Nations schools and teaching at Nipissing University in the Aboriginal education summer programs (special education and education psychology). He has also served on council for his First Nations in the capacity as chief and band councilor.

1E & 2E
Social Justice In Action - The Nicaragua Experience
Gary Connolly, Kevin Anderson, Suzanne Ropityzky, Melanie Oliveira

This session will include a PowerPoint presentation of our most recent trip to Nicaragua. It will be followed by questions and answers about how to organize such an experience in your secondary school and/or how to support such a counter-cultural journey in your elementary school. The importance of this program is its aim to help young people think in terms of common global needs and interests that are just and fair. It also provides opportunities for building bridges and learning from people who are less fortunate than most Canadians.

Program Objectives:

• to assist participants in gaining a global perspective on social justice issues;
  
• to facilitate an understanding of global social, economic and political structures and the forces that influence these structures; and
  
• to provide young people with the opportunity to learn about and experience the international linkage that affects the lives of everyone in the world.
  

Gary Connolly has been a teacher for 33 years. He is a co-facilitator of Louis Riel Teachers’ Brigade to Nicaragua in 1986. He has been a facilitator of the North South Awareness Project (NSAP) since 1995. Gary is a former 1st vice-president of the Dufferin-Peel Secondary OECTA unit, a religion department facilitator since 2006, member of Amnesty International and a former chair of the Educational Aid Committee of OECTA provincial.

Kevin Anderson is a Catholic educator who has taught in Canada and the United States, and spent 3 years of ministry and human rights work in Latin America. He is a member of Amnesty International and a facilitator of cross cultural programs since 1992. He encourages students to ask questions that broaden our perspectives and values to include others who live on the periphery of our familiar world, particularly the poor and marginalized.

Suzanne Ropityzky has been a mathematics teacher for 25 years. For three years she worked in Venezuela with the Maryknoll Lay Missionary Program. She has been a facilitator of the R.F. Hall Catholic Secondary School’s NSAP since 1996.

Melanie Oliveira has taught science at the secondary level for the past two years. She is a member of Development and Peace, a facilitator for NASP and the R.F. Hall Environmental Committee. She is also the facilitator of the R.F. Hall AIDS Committee.

2A
Inclusion Through Intentional Community
Toinette Parisio

For people with intellectual disabilities and their families, the challenge continues to be for others to recognize the rights of people who cannot always speak for themselves. Achieving inclusion for this group of people depends not on the provision of accommodations and services but on the transformation of communities.

At the heart of L’Arche communities are relationships between people with and without intellectual disabilities. A respectful relationship between people who treat each other as of equal value provides security, allowing for growth, personal development and freedom to become more fully the people we want to be. Most importantly, mutual relationships foster the acceptance of each person as a unique and valuable individual, whatever his or her abilities or disabilities. This workshop will describe some of the experiences of L’Arche London in its attempt to build intentional community.

Toinette Parisio is the community leader and director of L’Arche London. L’Arche London is a member of the international organization of faith-based communities creating homes and programs with people who have developmental disabilities. Toinette has been associated with l’Arche for more than 25 years in France, the Middle East and Canada.

2B
Conflict Partnering: A New Approach to Conflict Mediation for Catholic School Leaders
Carol Bacci

This is a dynamic and interactive session designed to help principals with conflict situations or differences of opinion. This session will help you to lead those around you through conflict. We give practical solutions to real instances of conflict and help you to bring about the best solution with all stakeholders feeling they have been heard and the solution is a part of their decision-making. As well we will practice thinking outside the box for the solution and building partnerships within our community. There are eight tools we need for success: Integral Vision, Innovation, Bridging, Conscious Conversation, Inquiry, Presence and Systems Thinking. We will define and show how to use these tools to our advantage.

This presentation will explore:

• conflict and conflict partnering;
• new approaches to managing conflict or differences;
  
• making connections to foundational skills of mentoring/coaching;
  
• strategies and skills to transform differences into opportunities; and
  
• deepening understanding of skills through role play and practice.

Carol Bacci is currently the principal at St. Anthony School in Brampton. She was a vice-principal for 7 years prior to this appointment and a teacher for 12 years prior to that with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. She has been trained in conflict management by the team at CPCO and has been using the newly learned skills in her school.