Red Deer Advocate, March 19, 2016

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TEEN CHARGED WITH MURDER OF GIRL

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B7 COMPANY PITCHES SYSTEM TO LINK VETS WITH JOBS

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Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff

Westpark Elementary School teacher Brianne Lindsay does a guided reading program with students Paiton Hodge, Nevaeh Norton, Maria Ilina and Haleigh Brando during class this week.

THE RED DEER PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT IS BEING DRAGGED KICKING AND SCREAMING INTO THE NEW PROVINCIAL BARGAINING MODEL, WHICH CHALLENGES ITS INDEPENDENCE BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF You won’t see all 18 students in Mrs. Lindsay’s Grade 3 class sitting in their desks, pouring over the same story book during their language arts session. Scattered around the West Park Elementary School classroom at tables, on the floor and at desks, students are involved in a variety of literacy activities. Each week students get to chose most of their reading activities. On Wednesday, one student read aloud to a classmate at a small table; a group of four practiced their writing by making homemade Pokémon cards; a few wore headphones to listen and read along to a story on their laptop; some did a

reading exercise with an education assistant; four others gathered with their teacher to talk about a book on baby beavers Nipissing and Nipigon. Students either quietly concentrated on their computer screens, chatted together, answered questions, wrote or read. “When I started there were still a lot of traditional ideas towards teaching. Students in desks, in rows, all the time. Everyone doing the same activity,” said Brianne Lindsay who has been teaching for 10 years. Anyone would recognize the printed and cursive alphabet sequence posted on the Grade 3 classroom wall, and possibly the mini library tucked into the corner of the room with plastic tubs filled with books. But shaking up classroom activities

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has grabbed the attention of students. Lindsay said giving students more choice in the tasks they do in class is very important. They came up with the idea to create their own Pokémon cards which allowed them to be creative while working on their writing skills. It does take some time in September to get students familiar with the literacy system and classroom expectations, but it has plenty of advantages, she said. “I get to have very specific time with students to work on their instruction and everyone is engaged in an activity they want to do.” She said students learn in different ways and progress at different rates and the system allows her to meet each student at the reading level he or she

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is at. “Students flourish in this environment. I see success every day from them, which is awesome. It makes me want to keep doing it and find better ways to help them in others areas.” Sharing ideas with other teachers is one technique used in Red Deer Public Schools to build momentum in the classroom. “We are so much better together than if we are a silo in our classroom. We learn from each other. You see so many great ideas that are happening around the school. It’s contagious. Collaboration time we have is invaluable to our programming and our planning,” Lindsay said.

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