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Math and Coding Professional Development for SNCDSB Educators

Math and Coding Professional Development for SNCDSB Educators
Posted on 03/01/2021

In June 2020, the Ministry of Education announced that the Ontario Mathematics curriculum was to be revised for the first time since 2005, implementation to start at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. The Mathematics Team at Superior North Catholic District School Board (SNCDSB) was entrusted with providing professional development around these revisions for educators in a two-phase rollout.

The Ontario Curriculum Math

Source: The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Mathematics

The first phase of professional development took place at the beginning of the school year as a one day training session; providing an overview of the key changes to the mathematics strands and report card grading scheme. Special focus was given to new components of the Mathematics Curriculum including:

Strand A - Social Emotional Learning (SEL) skills,

Strand C - Algebra; Coding and the Mathematical Modelling process and,

Strand F - Financial Literacy expectations.

The SNCDSB Math Team also highlighted key changes such as the combination of Geometry and Measurement strands under Strand E - Spatial Sense. Principals, teachers, educational assistants (EAs) and Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) were also given the opportunity to explore the Ministry of Education's website that houses the digital mathematics curriculum and it's supporting documents and resources.

The second phase was broken up into six days of training that took place in January and early February. SNCDSB teachers participated in targeted professional development that focused on their specific grade level assignment with a special emphasis on the new coding expectations (Strand C - Algebra). The SNCDSB Math Team enlisted the help of coding expert Lisa Anne Floyd to deliver hands-on training on multiple coding platforms for each grade. Lisa Anne showed the teachers how these platforms meet the new coding expectations and support the coding skills from the previous and upcoming grade levels. Teachers were extremely pleased with the coding professional development as it was rich in delivery and allowed all educators to become comfortable and confident in the new coding expectations.

Nested Events

The January and February Math & Coding PD days also featured guest presenters from the TVO outreach team. The Ministry of Education and TVO have partnered together to offer Ontario educators, parents and guardians a wide variety of high quality learning platforms to meet the needs of students across the province. All the resources featured during the PD Day are available to educators at no cost and align with the 2020 Ontario Mathematics Curriculum revisions. Teacher's learned how they can integrate these resources into their classrooms to support the new curriculum and enrich their students' learning journey both at school and at home. A summary of the resources shared by the TVO outreach team can be found below and on their website https://www.tvo.org/education-tools .

TVO Support

SNCDSB has been working very hard to provide in-depth support for educators K-8 and Special Education teachers, including principals, as part of the new Ontario Mathematics Curriculum implementation. The Math Team wanted to establish a high degree of knowledge, skills and understanding of the curriculum and the new expectations allowing educators to proceed with confidence, resources and a well-developed toolkit for teaching mathematics. The professional development opportunities provided to the staff of SNCDSB will contribute to student learning and achievement in new areas of the Mathematics curriculum. Educators will be able to better meet the needs of their students and address the next steps required to enhance their understanding of key concepts and skills. To learn more about the new Ontario Mathematics Curriculum and how it supports students' journeys visit the Ontario Ministry of Education Website.

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