Program Info

Building Bridges Together (Grades 7-9 Math/Science)

Presented by: Wanda Dechant, Jackie Ratkovic & Ulana Soletsky

Located at:

Online

About the Session

TARGET AUDIENCE: GRADES 7-9 MATH AND SCIENCE TEACHERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND

Beginning this fall, ARPDC is hosting new Collaborative Communities entitled Building Bridges Together. There is need to balance physical distancing with effective pedagogical practices (ie. small group work, using manipulatives). Join us to learn, alongside other educators, to brainstorm a variety of ways to best support your students in various learning formats (online, in-person, hybrid). 

Our monthly Zoom sessions will allow teachers to collaborate and share ideas, resources, strategies and successes. You will meet and share with colleagues across school authorities to navigate the future uncharted landscape of learning with physical distancing in mind.

The monthly Zoom meetings will include collaboration and conversation around topics that are relevant to the group members, with the first topic being Mental Health. Additional topics to be determined by the interest of group members.

If you took part in our online and Facebook groups this past spring, we hope you will join us again. If you haven’t participated before, we are keen for you to co-create with colleagues and support each other in rising to the challenge of teaching in our new Alberta context. All educators are welcome, if you are an experienced teacher or a first year teacher, come and join in on the conversations.

About the Presenter(s)

Wanda Dechant is a Designer of Professional Learning with the Calgary Regional Consortium. Her role includes supporting teachers, E.A.’s, school admin, learning coaches and parents in the area of K-12 Math. Wanda began teaching math and science in 2000, her teaching experience extends from grades 7 – 12. For the past 6 years Wanda’s work has included a focus on K-6 Mathematics. Three critical aspects of learning that Wanda embeds into her sessions include:

Increasing student (and teacher) self-confidence in math
Students engaging in visible learning with their peers
Students as mathematicians

Wanda is part of the development team for the Elementary Math Professional Learning project.

http://learning.arpdc.ab.ca/

Jackie Ratkovic

currently works as an independent consultant and instructional coach to teams of teachers, over the past 18 years, in a number of districts across the province. Her work is focused on unpacking the Alberta Program of Study in ways that honor and value its intent of a student centered approach to learning, which allows each student to become capable and responsible for their own learning.Making sense of the use and abuse of concrete materials, understanding the importance of visual spatial reasoning for the development of number sense, problem solving skills, and learning to ask good questions are four areas that greatly intrigue Jackie.

Ulana Soletsky

has been an educator for 37 years. She spent 26 years in a classroom and for the past 11 years has held the position of A.I.S.I. Coordinator, and most recently Math/Numeracy Consultant for Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools. During the past 13 years she was on a secondment at the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium as a math and numeracy consultant offering Professional Development in the area of Math and Numeracy. A key component of her work at the school division level involves collaboration with school administration teams and at-elbow support to K-9 teachers in the area of Math and Numeracy. Her focus is primarily around curriculum support as well as planning for staff development and school improvement. At ERLC, Ulana has provided many Professional Development sessions over the last 13 years primarily in the area of how we can get the best results in our math classrooms. She is a certified facilitator in First Steps in Math and has provided PD in the Number, Number Operations, Measurement strands of First Steps in Math. Ulana is passionate about all things that are math from Kindergarten to grade 9. She loves speaking and leading professional development. Her current passions include helping teachers use diagnostics and interventions in math and engaging all students in a math classroom. I also love mentoring new teachers and math teacher leaders. Her dream is to see all teachers and students motivated and successful in mathematics.