I would just like to reflect on today's social issues day. First, I found the plenary session in the morning to be most interesting and useful. I feel the survivors experiences made me realize the true devastations of the Holocaust and provided some excellent insights on how the Holocaust could be presented in a classroom and its relevance to today. Further, the resource package provided to us, I feel is an excellent way to further our individual knowledge and feel more confident about teaching the subject.
In the afternoon I had the opportunity to attend the introduction to TRIBES workshop. I felt the guest speaker was excellent in presenting the material, and came with an extensive background knowledge and experiences to share with us. In addition he provided us with some great activities that we could use in our own classrooms. Lastly, I thought the resource package contained even more great ideas and effective strategies that could be brought into almost any classroom. Let me know if you would like a copy of this booklet.
The Contemporary Moral Issues for Catholic Teachers was the other workshop I attended. The presenter was wonderful and brought with him excellent answers to any questions we had concerning moral issues that we may be faced with in our classrooms. He was most helpful in assisting us construct useful and positive responses to questions our future students may present us with.
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I have to agree that the morning was very beneficial to our growth as educators. As for the TRIBES workshop, I really wanted to attend, but missed out and attended the stress management shop instead. Although I appreciated the experiences in the other shops, I felt that I could take nothing from them. So congratulations on finding use in what you were taught, because I will be learning vicariously through those who attended good workshops.
I would agree for the most part with post regarding the morning sessions. I did appreciate the package we received and the holocaust survivor but do not feel that I came away with much from Carson's speech. I just don't feel he taught me information that I could take into the classroom.
TRIBES was amazing and feel that it is a workshop that should have been supplied to all pre-service students. Definitely gave me some ideas that I can take into any age group and build communities in the classroom.
The second session I went to in the afternoon was the Safer Schools/Safer COmmunities: Youth with Mental health (or a title of that sort). It was very interactive and provided me with new ways to look at and approach mental health in a school setting.
Hello Friends
The Holocaust survivor that spoke on Wednesday morning was incredibly brave. I found his speech to be very moving. I think that the Faculty of Education should continue to bring in guest speakers who can share their personal experience with all of us. The booklet that the presenter gave us is very beneficial because I feel that it touches upon subjects that he didn't get to speak about, such as what we can do in our classrooms to be sensitive to these kinds of issues.
In the afternoon I went to presentation "Gay Students in Schools? No way!" I felt like I did not really come away with anything from this presentation. They showed a short video of teachers talking to grade four and five students about the topic of homosexuality. I would have liked to know more about the presenter's own personal struggles and what she wished her teachers could have done for her or her children.
All in all it was a great day...nice change of scenery.
Great posts everyone!! I found this last workshop very interesting aswell. I did not sign up for the TRIBES workshop, however it definitely looks like an interesting technique to use in the classroom. I attended the workshop regarding the awareness of immigrants in the classroom. The presenter of the workshop was good, however the information provided was pretty basic. As a postive, it was interesting to hear from a women who experienced some of the difficulties associated with immigrants joining into the school system (since her and her children are immigrants). It is our job as educators to be aware of all of these differences and challenges that students may go through.
Well, I agree with Ms. G...All in all, it was a great day!
I also really enjoyed Social Issues Day II. I've always had an interest in the Holocaust, and I felt that the morning presentation was very intriging. In the afternoon, I attended the workshop about immigrant children in the classroom. While I thought the guest speaker had a great hook (she spoke to us in another language in order to let us experience how immigrant children may feel in our classroom), I was expecting more from the workshop. It seemed more of a "get to know one another" workshop instead of being more informative. I also attended the TRIBES workshop where I found the guest speaker to be a little odd, but the whole aspect of TRIBES is an excellent tool for developing a cohesive classroom group. I will most definitely be using some of the TRIBES strategies in my classroom!
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