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SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 | Volume 29 No. 108
YES, THEY DID LET THE DOGS OUT
YOUNG GUNS TODAY’S WEATHER Sun and clouds High 20 C Low 9 C
BACK TO SCHOOL 2016-2017
Blazer youth impresses in pre-season tilts
Photos from the Kamloops Kennel Club show
A29
A11
A new curriculum to start school year PERSONALIZED LEARNING, RATHER THAN ‘SIT AND GET’ IS FOCUS Robokids Hunter Galbraith (left) and Ryan Watson explore the world of possibilities as they build computer-assisted robots and learn coding at the Big Little Science Centre during the last school year. Such activities are good examples of teaching methods under the new curriculum. Turn to page A5 for more.
DALE BASS STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
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THE NEW SUPER:
Alison Sidow succeeds Karl DeBruijn as SD73 superintendent and talks about her role as the school year begins. PAGE A4 FEWER STUDENTS:
The KamloopsThompson school district forecasts a dip in enrolment as classes begin. PAGE A6 REPORT CARDS ON WAY OUT?:
Parents are being asked what they feel is the preferred method of learning about their child’s progress. PAGE A6
he new curriculum students will be exposed to this school year is a way for the province “to ensure that we stay on top of the world,” in the view of Education Minister Mike Bernier. For Jamie Robinson, the KamloopsThompson school district’s new director of instruction, the curriculum coming into place for students in kindergarten to Grade 9 is a way for students to learn by following their curiosity, by doing rather than by just sitting and listening, by creating rather than only reading textbooks. The new curriculum will also be expanding to grades 10 to 12. This year is considered a transition year in which teachers will be testing concepts that help build it for implementation in the coming years.
With three key focuses — thinking, communication and developing personal and social skills — the new curriculum is personalized, giving teachers more flexibility in how they teach. It moves away from the pedagogy of years gone by, Robinson said, when a teacher would stand at the front of the classroom talking about a subject, with students then reading about it and then completing a worksheet. “Kids can get information,” Robinson said. “They know how to Google. The mandate we are following is to produce educated citizens with intellectual capacities, personal and social competency and the ability to think. We are doing it so kids can build the core competencies.” Robinson said it is learning by doing, rather than the system when he was in school, “where we sit and we get.”
KTW FILE PHOTO
Your view
What do you think of the new curriculum? Email kamloops thisweek.com Robinson doesn’t believe the changes will be a challenge for longtime teachers because the new curriculum was created by teachers working with the ministry. Bernier said the ministry, working with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, is allocating $7 million in teacher training and to help districts buy computers and equipment that may be needed. Bernier noted in a recent press conference that additional
computers and related equipment may be required because coding is another component of the new curriculum. “The technology out there now has been here for a while, but we want to make sure that our students are prepared and our students are ready for everything that’s changing in the world,” Bernier said. “So, coding was a big part of it and making sure we had a financial commitment
to help teachers be ready to teach coding, which is also just as important. That doesn’t mean the three Rs are being ignored. Reading, writing and ‘rithmetic remain foundation skills and will be part of all learning. “With the new curriculum, it really allows what we’ve been talking about. It’s that collaboration and communication, skills that are so needed in today’s society,” Bernier said.
“When you look at trying to get a job, when you look at moving to post-secondary, whatever you choose to do after kindergarten to Grade 12, you need to have those additional skills,” he said. “This new curriculum really enhances — on top of the core competencies, broadens those opportunities to make sure they’re ready to graduate and move on where they choose to go in life.”
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