Teaching in the Northwest Territories Thank you to all who have contributed to this work over the past years. Many experienced educators provided essential feedback and suggestions for improvement. We will continue to collect feedback and suggestions, and we appreciate your input. If you have any question, please contact the Educator and Mentorship Programs Coordinator: Ms. Colleen Eckert Professional Development and Instructional Improvement Coordinator Education Operations and Development Department of Education, Culture and Employment Government of the Northwest Territories [email protected] Phone: 867-767-9353, ext. 71262 Fax: 867-873-0338 NWT Teacher Induction Package 2018 2 Table of Contents Definitions ............................................................................................................................... 4 NWT JK-Grade 12 Education Renewal ............................................................................. 8 Foundational Statements........................................................................................................ 8 The NWT Educational Renewal Initiatives ............................................................................ 11 Context for Change ............................................................................................................... 13 The Global Need for Change ................................................................................................. 14 The NWT’s Need for Change ................................................................................................. 15 The Current NWT Context .................................................................................................... 17 NWT Educational Directives .......................................................................................... 24 NWT Ministerial Directive on Inclusive Schooling ................................................................ 25 Indigenous Language and Culture Based Learning ............................................................... 37 Early Childhood Education .................................................................................................... 47 Quality Teaching and Learning ............................................................................................. 48 Student Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting (SAER) ...................................................... 49 Classroom Assessment Approaches ..................................................................................... 50 NWT Educator Induction ............................................................................................... 54 Importance of Teacher Induction Mentorship ..................................................................... 55 Educator Induction and Mentorship Roles and Responsibilities ........................................... 57 NWT Educator Induction Program ........................................................................................ 59 Pre-Orientation ..................................................................................................................... 60 Orientation ............................................................................................................................ 61 Systemic Sustained Supports ................................................................................................. 63 The NWT Mentorship Program ............................................................................................. 66 APPLICATION FOR MENTORSHIP ........................................................................................... 67 Sample Mentorship Plans ..................................................................................................... 70 Resources ..................................................................................................................... 73 NWT Education Act ............................................................................................................... 74 Teacher Growth and Evaluation ........................................................................................... 74 Principal Growth and Evaluation .......................................................................................... 77 NWT Teacher Qualification for Certification ........................................................................ 80 Professional Development (PD) ............................................................................................ 88 Advice for Beginning Teachers ................................................................................................ 89 Advice from NWT Teachers .................................................................................................. 91 Resources .............................................................................................................................. 94 Internet Sites ......................................................................................................................... 94 References ............................................................................................................................ 96 NWT Teacher Induction Package 2018 3 Definitions Accommodation: Providing accommodation means providing measures that allow students to best gain access to and achieve success within expected learning outcomes, including those who experience obstacles to learning and those who require enriched opportunities for learning. Accommodations may include changing the teaching process, learning environment, time demands, assistance, evaluation and/or the ways in which a student demonstrates learning. Accommodations are recorded on a Student Support Plan yet do not represent changes to the expected learning outcomes as stated in curricular documents. Beginning teacher: A beginning teacher is a teacher who is in the first two years of the profession. Commission scolaire francophone: A publicly elected body drawn from French right- holders of Hay River and Yellowknife. The Commission makes decisions on planning, operations and staffing at their two community schools. The Commission scolaire francophone operates as the Divisional Board of Education for French minority language education in the Northwest Territories. Common learning environment: This term refers to an inclusive environment where instruction is designed to be delivered to students of mixed ability and with their peer group in the community school, while being responsive to their individual needs as a learner, and used for the majority of the students’ regular instruction hours. Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE): This department within the Government of the Northwest Territories consists of the following divisions: Early Childhood and Development, Teaching and Learning, Health, Wellness and Student Support, Education Operations and Development, Indigenous Language and Education Secretariat, Francophone Affairs Secretariat, Culture and Heritage, Public Library Services, Income Security Division, Corporate Management and Labour Development Standards. Differentiated Instruction (DI): Differentiated Instruction is an important best practice in education that recognizes and supports individual differences in student learning, wherein teachers actively plan and teach in order to address the diverse learning needs of their students. It is based on the understanding that students will attain learning outcomes by varying routes, at differing paces, while requiring a variety of supports. Aspects of teaching and learning that may be differentiated include: content, product/demonstration of mastery, instruction, assessment, task, grouping, resources, and/or process. Curricular objectives remain constant, while the teaching practices are flexible and designed to match student learning needs. District Education Authorities (DEA): DEAs are composed of elected and/or appointed individuals who represent their community’s interests in the planning and delivery of educational programming in their school(s). Divisional Education Councils (DEC): Each DEC is composed of one DEA member from each community within the region. There may be additional members representing regional organizations who also sit on the DEC. The DEC is jointly responsible for the governance and direction of schools in their region. DECs have been established for the following regions: Beaufort-Delta Dehcho South Slave Sahtu Commission scolaire francophone des Territoires du Nord-Ouest NWT Teacher Induction Package 2018 4 The Tłı̨̨̨̨̨chǫ Community Services Agency (TCSA) operates with the authority of a DEC and each Tłı̨̨̨̨̨chǫ ̨̨̨̨̨ ̨̨̨̨̨ community has representation on the TCSA. However, each Tłı̨̨̨̨̨chǫ community does not have a DEA. ̨̨̨̨̨ In Yellowknife, the Yellowknife Education District No.1 (YK1) and the Yellowknife Public Denomination District (Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS)) operate with the authority of a DEA. These are the only two education bodies with the ability to raise operating funds through taxation. The Dettah and Ndilǫ DEAs are the most recently established education bodies and they contract their superintendency services through YK1. Education body: DEAs, DECs, and the TCSA are considered education bodies and are referred to as such in the Education Act. Education program: This term refers to the program of education from junior kindergarten to grade 12 based on the curriculum established by the Minister.