School for teachers

Near North District School Board teachers will be going to school before school starts. Further information is included in the following news release issued by the board this morning:
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Approximately 300 Near North District School Board teachers will be attending professional training sessions in the next two weeks. While many teachers avail themselves of Additional Qualifications courses or similar during the summer, teachers will be attending two special programs offered by the Board.

For four days, beginning Monday August 23rd, elementary teachers will be attending literacy and numeracy training programs sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Local staff are involved in the delivery of the programs and the training will take place at Almaguin Highlands Secondary School.

The following week the Near North District School Board will continue its tradition of offering a summer institute for teachers. Workshops will be offered for up to three days (August 30 - September 1) in a wide range of topics. Literature Circles, Big Ideas for Little People; Literacy and Numeracy in the Kindergarten; Non Violent Crisis Intervention; Music in Education; and Applied Mathematics are a few of the workshops to be offered. Most of the workshops will be held at Almaguin Highlands Secondary School. We are pleased to report that once again the Canadian Ecology Centre will host Gr. 7-12 teachers for a workshop on Geographic Information Systems and Global Positioning Systems. Teachers will have a ìhands onî opportunity to use the hardware and software that our students now encounter in their elementary and high school geography programs.

A feature of the Summer Institute will be a keynote address by Bill Carr, a nationally known commentator, stage performer, writer and director. Mr. Carr will be the featured presenter for the Character Education component of the Summer Institute. The Near North District School Board welcomes Bill to our District as staff and students continue to develop and implement Character Education teaching and practices.

The public is welcome to visit these locations to gain some insight into our staff development activities.