Teacher Participant Final Report

TLLP Teacher Participant Final Report Form To be completed by teacher participants and due to the board’s director of education/supervisory officer of school authority by June 30, 2009 Participant/Group Leader Information Participant Name: Patricia Murdoch School Phone #: 905-836-5951 School Email Address: [email protected] Alternate Email Address: Name and Address of Current School: Park Avenue Public School 36 Sunrise St. Holland Landing, ON L9N 1H5 Name of School Board: York Region District School Board Participant Report: 1. Name of Project: Exploring Gender Based Learning and Instruction 2. What was (were) the professional learning goal(s) of the project? 1) to reduce the gap in academic achievement between girls and boys 2) to provide opportunities to increase staff awareness of the research into gender differences 3) to increase the repertoire of teacher skills to include more gender specific strategies, particularly those related to literacy 4) to increase parents' awareness of gender based growth and development of children 5) to promote professional dialogue among Park Avenue teachers, teachers from other schools (and boards), within the Park parent community 3. Did you achieve this (these) goal(s)? What measures did you use to determine this?

(These correspond to the numeration in question 2.) 1. Our EQAO, OWA and Report Card data for Writing show a reduction in the gap. YEAH!!! 2. Our staff book club, information items in the Week At A Glance calendars, and presentations at staff meetings have increase staff knowledge. Teachers’ attendance at a lecture by Barry MacDonald, and a lecture by Leonard Sax was covered by the grant. 3. Teachers chose specific strategies from our professional development sessions, and with teaching partners implemented these methods. We were able to generate a list of strategies that were found to be the most effective. 4. Parents took part in a book club studying boys adrift by Dr. Leonard Sax. Information was included in the Monthly School Newsletter. During ‘Literacy Night’ parents were able to see the products generated by the teachers’ practicum. Parent attendance at a lecture by Leonard Sax was covered by the grant. 5. Time at staff meetings was devoted to sharing the results of the practicum. Park Ave. hosted a meeting for other schools interested in gender issues. 4. Who did you share this learning with and how did you do it? We presented the project in a carousel format at the board office. With literacy teams from other schools at the Literacy Fair. The local newspaper (ERA Banner), ran an article about our Parent Book Study book, which all of Newmarket and surrounding area would read. Members of the team went to Network meetings with

both elementary and high school participants. Presentations have been made to other schools, and will be made at the Principal’s meeting end of August (all Administrative Staff in the board will have access to this presentation). 5. How did the people you shared with benefit from this learning? What measures did you use to determine this? The students benefited from this learning, and this evident in the data we have collected based on the Ontario Writing Assessment results and the Writing Strand of the Report Card (final results to be assessed when June reports are complete, and in fall we will be able to use the EQAO writing data as well. Teachers have benefited as well, as evidence in their personal reflections on how their practice has changed as a result of the school focus on gender and writing. 6. How will this project have an impact on student learning and development? This has been answered in #5, but an important component will be students’ self-advocacy. They are better able to ask for the changes, tools and topics that they know they will find engaging. 7. What challenges did you face in your project? Our staff was keen to work on this project, as it included a very generous amount of support for release time and supplies. The challenges we faced were small. It was difficult to get all the artefacts from the teachers, and teacher participation in the book study began to wane by the end of the book. We also had teachers who were not comfortable with the technology of making blog entries. 8. Were you able to overcome some or all of these challenges? If yes, how? Through persistence, a helping hand, and re-establishing deadlines we were able to gather practically all the artefacts. We set up the computers so the teachers just had to type in their entries. 9. Were you unable to overcome some or all of these challenges? If yes, why? We lost participation by the end of our book study, but were able to make better plans for next year. We will try to do a different medium such as pod-casts or videos instead of a text.

Participant(s): I/we declare that the above statements are accurate.

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