The Times Advocate, 2006-12-06, Page 31Wednesday, December 6, 2006
TIMES—ADVOCATE
31
CLASSIFIED
Catholic board
looks at methods
of teaching
By Stew Slater
SPECIAL TO TIIE
TIMES -ADVOCATE
DUBLIN —
"Differentiated learning"
and "precision teaching"
are the catchphrases of
the Huron -Perth Catholic
District School Board's
updated approach to
serving students with
special needs, and
trustees took part in a
discussion about the
strategy at their Nov. 27.
The strategy was devel-
oped in response to an
Ontario Education
Ministry initiative entitled
"Education for All."
According to Huron -
Perth education superin-
tendent Martha Dutrizac,
that 2005 initiative com-
mitted the funds neces-
sary to allow school
boards to put supports in
place to meet all stu-
dents' needs in an inclu-
sive classroom environ-
ment.
"(The `Education for
All') document upholds
the belief
that all stu-
dents are
valued, cele-
brated and
can achieve
high stan-
dards given
sufficient
time and
support,"
stated a
report to
trustees at
the Nov. 27
meeting.
The first
element of
the Catholic
board's effort towards
this goal was a presenta-
tion last year to elemen-
tary teachers by author
Carmel Crevola. Crevola
is an expert in the "preci-
sion teaching" concept,
which aims to enable
teachers to tailor their
methods and expecta-
tions depending on the
student.
"One of the ways to do
this is for teachers to
become more comfort-
able with and more at
ease with differentiated
learning," explained
Dutrizac. "The precision
part of it is really learn-
ing what the student
requires ... Where we're
going is we're digging
deeper in helping the
teachers learn more
about the learners."
The second element of
the strategy, completed
this year, was the cre-
ation of a team of six ele-
mentary teachers from
various schools who will
eventually take on the
task of spreading the
concept to other teach-
ers. Once the so -named
Precision Technology
CLASSIFIED
CLASSIFIE
Team goes into action,
the teachers will leave
their own classrooms one
day out of every three
weeks to assist their
counterparts.
"The team will provide
hands-on support to
assist teachers with
implementing strategies
for the effective use of
assistive/instructive tech-
nology and quality differ-
entiated instruction,"
states an information
bulletin about the board's
Precision Teaching
Project.
Other elements of the
project include training
for educational assistants
and resource teachers,
and tuition support for
Huron -Perth teachers
interested in upgrading
their own qualifications
to include courses in
Special Education.
Precision teaching and
differentiated learning
were also topics of dis-
cussion earlier in the
Nov. 27 meeting, when
trustees heard a report
from six ele-
mentary prin-
cipals who
participated in
a professional
exchange to
the United
Kingdom bor-
ough of Wigan
in June and
July 2006.
The princi-
pals gave high
marks to the
British system
for emphasiz-
ing differenti-
ated learning.
One trip par-
ticipant spoke of seeing
an instructor use four
different methods of
teaching the same con-
cept, all at the same time
in the same classroom,
with different students
succeeding through dif-
ferent methods.
They also had praise
for the widely adhered -to
practice of encouraging
individual students to set
individual goals for their
day's lessons as well as
for their entire school
year.
The report of their trip
wasn't entirely rosy,
though: the principals
reported seeing almost
all special needs students
segregated into special-
ized schools, with little or
no socialization with stu-
dents who are more suc-
cessful learners in a tra-
ditional classroom envi-
ronment. After compar-
ing with the facilities in
the UK, they also
expressed gratitude for
the quality of Ontario's
school buildings, libraries
and computer technology
systems.
"(The `Education for
All') document
upholds the belief
that all students are
valued, celebrated
and can achieve high
standards given
sufficient time and
support,"
STATED A REPORT TO
TRUSTEES AT THE
Nov. 27 MEETING.
Bake sale
— Noah
Pratt from
the Hensall
United
Church
Youth Group
was prepar-
ing recently
for the Craft
and Bake
Sale that will
be held Dec
9 at I I a.m.
to benefit
Habitat for
Humanity
Huron
County.
(photo/sub-
mitted)
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