OUR GOAL 2011/12: To further increase student creativity across the curriculum.
FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF ACTIONS TO SUPPORT THE CREATIVITY GOALACTION: Continue to share articles, activities and ideas about creativity with parents, staff and students to further develop understanding of creativity through newsletters, assemblies and student-led activities.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success? What are your targets?
Student designed surveys administered in the fall will provide a baseline for student awareness of the creativity goal. This survey will be given again in May. Our target is that all students will know what our school goal is.
ACTION:Students will continue to self- assess their growth in creativity. Teachers will work on an assessment tool for creativity that includes the standards and strategies that have been identified as effective.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
The student surveys designed and used last year have been used to determine baseline data for 2011/2012 school year. This year, the survey will be readministered to measure knowledge and exposure to creativity-building strategies.
- Undertake second survey in May 2012 to measure growth.
- Students will demonstrate awareness of the creativity areas.Use leadership student-designed surveys to gather data from peers.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
Students’ understanding of working creatively together and implementing innovation will improve. Surveys will establish benchmarks for year to year improvement.
ACTION: Continue to use Creativity and Innovation standards to guide our strategies this year. These are:
1. Think Creatively
2. Work Creatively with Others, and
3. Implement Innovations
Identify accompanying strategies that will be the focus of one school term and will be promoted by classrooms, assemblies, bulletin boards, newsletters and over the PA announcements.
Possible areas of focus are literacy and numeracy.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
Students will be able to describe one or more strategies/standard and will be able to apply them to different subject areas as measured by the teacher designed assessment.
ACTION: Continue to utilize Adrienne Gear’s 5 Reading Powers: Connect, Question, Visualize, Infer and Transform in classroom reading instruction. Set aside time each day for guided reading instruction featuring strategies such as descriptive feedback, self-assessment and goal setting.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
A baseline will be set usinG Benchmark, GB+, Alberta Diagnostic comprehension results. More ÉMJS students will demonstrate that they can Connect, Question, Visualize and Transform by fully meeting grade level reading comprehension expectations. Student’s creative thinking before, during and after reading will increase by the use of these strategies as measured by the student self assessments using the creativity and Innovation standards.
ACTION: To increase opportunities for building “Reading Power” skills purchase more leveled reading books and novels in French and English with learning resource money to enrich student choices.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
ACTION: Students will be able to pursue personal interest areas and apply concepts of creativity when interacting with text. Target areas include high interest, low vocabulary books. Method of assessment, teacher observation and qualitative data.
Use story-telling, creative story-writing, and theatre to build and reinforce the following literacy skills:
Recognize, locate and retrieve supporting information
Be able to use information from the story to connect 2 characters
Develop inferencing skills so as to be able to:
- interpret information so as to infer the main idea and the intended audience of a text (story, fable, poem…)
- take meaning from a visual image or a quote
- interpret the author’s viewpoint and make a generalization
- identify an opinion or the reasons for an opinion
- connect and interpret information from 2 articles
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
A baseline will be set using Benchmark, GB+, Alberta Diagnostic comprehension results.
More ÉMJS students will demonstrate that they can Infer by fully meeting grade level reading comprehension expectations. The students’ comprehension will be reassessed in May 2012.
ACTION: Teachers will use self-assessments of all students. These will be done at least once per term to guide creativity activities.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
Students are able to set personal goals based on their self-assessments. Teacher observation and qualitative data will be used to assess progress in this area.
ACTION: Explore the possibility of having Oak Bay High School students (as an Oak Bay Family initiative) teach ÉMJS students to build and use classroom Blogs.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
- Students will know what a blog is and how they can use one for personalized learning
- Students will use blogs to support their creative endeavors.
- Monitor use of classroom blog.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
Students will be able to find and log onto the school Blog. This will be measured by the volume of content and type of usage as well, a benchmark can be established based on student and staff usage.
ACTION: Survey the parents on the school goal of Creativity to raise awareness of our goal.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
Parental awareness and support of the creativity goal will result in student growth in their ability to apply creative thinking to a wide variety of areas.
ACTION: Using the PAC survey results, which includes questions about areas of expertise and interest in being involved, request that the PAC support ways to build creativity by spearheading the establishment of activities such as a Lego club, Science club or FAME club.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
At least one club will be established this year.
ACTION: Request that the PAC assist in the purchase of 10 document cameras to provide opportunities for creative lessons and presentations within the classroom.
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
Students in pilot classrooms will become familiar with and use a document camera.
ACTION: Continue to create opportunities for older students to work with younger students to develop creativity. Possible areas of focus: reading mentors, writers’ workshops
How are you or will you monitor and evaluate success?What are your targets?
- Students will become coaches and mentors.
- Students will demonstrate increased engagement in learning about creativity and its application to personalized learning.
- These activities will be highlighted on the school blog (when up and running), the newsletter and in the school showcase.
- Monitor number of mentorship programs.
