A powerful opportunity for like minded educators to connect and learn from each other, the Connects Unconference is a yearly opportunity to share, compare and benefit from the curation of a wealth of experiences, ideas and resources.

2020 IMPACT REPORT

1: Future Readiness Supporting our schools by sharing our collective expertise 3: UN SD Goals

44 17 140 #CISOPD

4: Game-Based Learning & Gamification CIS Schools Session Experts Educators in Conference Participated Sharing Attendance Hashtag 2: Wellness Dashboard

LEARNING ACTIVATING SHARING

What an amazing day to learn from experts in our own Powerful discussions and tangible takeaways. Collaborative experience that allowed us to share our community of schools. ideas and utilize our expertise and grow as life long Amazing opportunity to connect, level up my practice, learners. Thought provoking and engaging journey through the and get inspired to implement new ideas! concepts of 21st Century Skills and Gamification. An amazing opportunity to think in a new way, consider Wonderful to hear from other CIS educators about what is I got some great take-aways to apply instantly, and also the interactions of what happens at school and how currently being implemented, what could be implemented, some larger thinking items that will take time. each interaction can be looked at to achieve wellness and what the future of our classrooms might look like. and future readiness. I loved listening to everyone's ideas. I loved learning about Great networking. Empowering to be surrounded by the different initiatives that are taking place beyond my knowledgeable, thought provoking and forward thinking own school walls. Many other talented educators are individuals. working through the same problems that we are and I Conference would love to learn and hear more! SESSION SLIDES SESSIONSOUNDBYTES SLIDES from the exit survey data 11 Future Readiness Tips, Tricks & Advice GUIDING How might we authentically embed 21st century skills across the Curricular • Think Big, Start Small - with systems and/or QUESTION and co-curricular programs in order to develop future-ready students? structures (i.e. timetables, club offerings, etc…) • Future proofing is about human creativity and connection and less about tools • Engage in Learning Communities for collaborative • Incorporating language such as “What can we professional inquiry Answers & Insights learn from listening?”, “F.A.I.L. is “First Attempt • Innovate their pedagogical practice oriented toward student in Learning”, and See “challenges” as There is a loud call to action coming from business and development of global competencies and deeper learning. “opportunities” industry that asks K-12 educators to help equip students Pedagogical innovations should be informed by the Learning • Engage parents in educating them about the with a future ready skillset. The world beyond school needs Sciences, ongoing classroom formative assessment data, future or work and the future of post-secondary creative knowledge workers who have the skills to design, and understanding of the Future of Work. collaborate, communicate, embrace ambiguity, and take • Try to Integrate age groups and subject areas agency over their learning. What schools should be doing: where you can. You’ll be surprised with what • Evaluate how their current professional learning model is happens! What students should be doing: structured to meet the above outcomes • Align their PD with strategic planning • Nurture formal connections with universities, • Experiencing deeper learning and the fostering of global industry, and community partners competencies. This can be done by expanding our focus on • Consider how future-ready skills are defined, articulated, and nurturing the cognitive development of students, to include shared in your community interpersonal and intrapersonal development. • Review how to assess and report on these skills. Encourage • Be given the opportunities to build Social Emotional the exploration of competency-based models, and look to Learning (SEL) and Executive Functioning skills (EFL), as formative, growth and developmental reporting, not SESSION SLIDES well as the ability to curate and reflect on their learning numerical reporting. • Be trained in collaborative inquiry (e.g., Knowledge Building, Integrative Thinking, Design-Thinking, etc.) in order to de-silo the application of skills from different disciplines, and foster deeper learning across curricular areas. Expert Presenters: • Stephanie Stevens - HTS What educators should be doing: • Cresencia Fong - UTS • Encouraged to play the role of Teacher-as-Researcher • Derek Doucet - LCS • Be supported in nurturing their own global competencies • Julia Hunt - Pickering Room Facilitator: • Garth Nichols -

Resources Schools to follow up with to follow up with

OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 New Pedagogies for Deeper Learning • UTS - Creative Destruction Lab Student • Holy Trinity School - Design Course with Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (NPDL), & their Deep Learning Experience as an example of intentional future-ready opportunities - Global Competencies Competencies (6Cs) Future-Ready experiences for students • - Off-grid week World Economic Forum - “Schools of Ministry of Education - 21st • Lakefield College School - Harkness as a • Havergal College - Global Learning and the Future” Future Ready skill building experience Leading Diploma initiative in its pilot Century Competencies “Humans Wanted” - RBC Report • Pickering College - Global Citizenship year Program 2 Wellness Dashboard Tips, Tricks & Advice • Build a Wellness “team” that has member(s) GUIDING How might we best measure, collect and evaluate student wellness data? sitting at the leadership level is crucial to QUESTION successfully implementation of initiatives. • Relationship Mapping is a powerful practice that can help surface important gaps When Sharing Data: • Stick with a framework (3 - 5 years) Answers & Insights (“When you have the right data you can act) • Develop a common language for key terms and • Connect sharing to broader strategic initiatives concepts • Knowing how kids are feeling is just as important as When Capturing Data: (“What we measure matters”) • Turn data into information that will lead knowing if they are learning • Observation and anecdotal is a reliable and valid form of knowledge building throughout the school and data, rubrics help in making it quantifiable inform practices • Align measurables around mission and impact • If students are “doing well” they will, “do well”. • Ensure tools measure what you want them to. • Adapt vs Adopt - Take on a existing tool whole or take from many different tools SESSION SLIDES • Wellness and wellbeing starts with the humans in the buildings, be human centered in your design Expert Presenters: • Expert presenters: When Analysing Data: (“Kids who are doing well DO WELL”) • Elissa Kline-Beber - York • Balance data from a variety of sources, but don’t oversurvey. • Maria Almiron - WHEN is just as important as WHAT • Sue Easton - Ridley College • Teams/Committees dedicated time to the schedule are a must • Mark Bunting - TMS to succeed in implementing wellness plans within school • Lisa Grassa - Mabin • Libby Dalrymple - LCS Room Facilitator: • Justin Medved - York

Resources Schools to follow up with to follow up with

Positive Education Tools Casel.org - Collaborative for Academic, - Flourishing at School is the leading • Lakefield College School - THRIVE programme Social, and Emotional Learning preventative mental health software Assessing Wellbeing in Education (AWE) and framework (CASEL) platform for secondary schools across - Awesome Schools the globe • Third Path Schools - The Mabin School, IPEN - International Positive Education Mindfulness Tools Kingsway College,Montcrest School, Network Experts & Partners Thrive Framework • Schools that employ a Director of Wellness - Character Education Tools Marty Seligman Mind Up Curriculum , Ridley, HTS, UCC Nisbet Research Lab The Third Path - Dr David Tranter • Sterling Hall - Panorama Ed Data Roots of Empathy - programme Wellness Tools Flourishing Scale Second Step - Social-emotional learning School Mental Health Ontario • St Andrew’s - “Circle of Care” - Looking for www.midss.org/ wellness breadcrumbs throughout the day (SEL) that allow to children thrive. www.flourishingatschool.com/ 3 UN's Sustainable Development Goals Tips, Tricks & Advice • For best results optimize for student voice and GUIDING How might we best leverage these goals to enhance learning outcomes choice QUESTION across academic and non-academic programming? • Start small and celebrate milestones with the larger community • Use community experts (leverage alumni, existing • Be aware of action bias (empathy before action) Answers & Insights partnerships, parent community) to model, support and exemplify commitment to addressing UN SDGs • Remember: It is an awareness of the world’s vision of a global community not just a school vision The UN SDGs provide an authentic context to practice SEL • Document, celebrate and share both classroom and whole and integrate transdisciplinary thinking into curriculum school journeys • Be explicit about the ‘why’ to the students delivery. It is important to develop a common language in • Create and support opportunities for action, education and • Rather than starting something new, make schools around , diversity, equity, etc… and their awareness beyond fundraising intentional connections to what is already meaning in the context of your school’s mission, vision and values. To do this effectively, it is recommended that schools • Alleviate eco-anxiety and fatigue related to big climate issues happening in your school through support for small personal action assess what curricular and co-curricular, as well as • Go deep into one or two SDGs as opposed to community-wide initiatives are already happening on an feeling the need to address all goals at once on-going basis.

• Leverage ongoing initiatives in your school (service learning, SESSION SLIDES PBL, experiential education, student leadership, etc.) to spark ideas and help to connect SDGs to impact the real world • Develop a common language around key terms (eg. Expert Presenters: sustainability, decolonization, equity, etc.) • Leanne Mladen - RSGC • Throughout school community, model action and listen to • Marc Brims - UTS students’ ideas and suggestions • Kim Bartlett - Pickering College • Create opportunities for cross-curricular connections • Sarah CowanSESSION - HTS SLIDES

Room Facilitator: • Brie Dundas - HSC • Lara Jensen - UCC

Resources Schools to follow up with to follow up with Heads Up Resource - Dr. Karen Pashby Facing Historyandourselves.org UN SDG - website • University of Schools re: whole (Manchester Metropolitan University) @SDGAction World's Largest SDG Lesson Resource school approach to SDGs and linking to KIVA - real-world sustainable develop- Young Reporters for the Environment UNESCO - resources Mission, Vision and Values ment projects that could benefit from - platform for journalism Litterati - photograph local litter, post • Royal St George’s College - Integration into funding through micro-financing Factfulness: Hans Rosling (book) it to the site and use the crowdsourced the arts Downie-Wenjack Fund - Legacy Schools Manitoba Council for International data to inspire change • Pickering College re: whole-school approach Math That Matters - David Stocker (book) Cooperation and links to Global Leadership Program 4 Gamification Tips, Tricks & Advice • Don’t be afraid to use games that are not GUIDING How might we best integrate and apply game based pedagogies, strategies tech-based. QUESTION and technologies to enhance learning outcomes? • Use game design as assessment • Remember the distinct difference between Benefits of it? gamification and game-based learning. • Gamification turns the entire learning process into a game Answers & Insights • Start small - expect to fail at the beginning and often uses dashboarding, XP (experience points), What is it? badging as motivation tools. (i.e. Classcraft, Duolingo) • Consistency of teacher input is important or • Game based learning incorporates interactive game • Personalized profiles showing XP (extrinsic motivation) students lose interest. mechanics and play to teach discrete content and concepts • Games can be used as formative assessment and sources • Use exponential (rather than linear) XP quests (“Play-bour”) of ongoing feedback. (super-quests) to spice up the most important • Games can be immersive and engaging, empowering • Students have good insights to what makes a good game. skill development and lessons students to explore, solve problems, ask questions, and Involving students in the building process can be a big win. investigate the world. • In gamification, XP (experience points) increase as a • Using games as assessment - keep iterating until • Game based learning is generally intrinsically motivating student learns vs. traditional grading out of 100%. With XP you become good at the skill and gamification is generally considered extrinsically students always see growth regardless of results. motivating • Participatory over ‘passive’ play - GenZ expects interactivity, not spectating. We are no longer in the movie generation, SESSION SLIDES our students want to do, not see.

Why do it? • All teachers collect formative data to track development, why Expert Presenters: not dashboard / gamify it to increase its value? • Mark Hoel - UCC • Student motivation is maintained with the regular input of • Mike Farley - UTS fresh data data. • Paul Deravasi -RSGC • Games prove to be excellent provocations and motivators. Room Facilitator: • Mark Ferley - UCC

Resources Schools to follow up with to follow up with

Sites to PLAY with: Gamesforchange.org Gametek • College - gamification and game based learning Classcraft Changegamer.ca Super Better Walden Video Game - Social Studies. Game jam Explore like a pirate • Montcrest - gamification Gameof5.com Code.org What Video Games Have to • UTS - game based learning Teach Us About Learning and Duolingo Books to read: • Pickering College - escape room / badges Heylistengames.org` Literacy Reality is broken • Mabin Live action games and role play Lucidlearning.org • RSGC - Game fueled cours