The Bulletin - Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association

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Up Front from the President On behalf of your P r o v i n c i a l Executive, allow me to extend to you my very best wishes for 2009. May the coming year be one of good health, cheer and prosperity for you all. A number of initiatives in the area of special education have been ongoing since the release of the Commission Report on ISSP/ Pathways and the subsequent recommendations that have been adopted by government through the Department of Education. The NLTA Provincial Executive has met with Mr. Dan Goodyear, Director of Student Support Services at the Department and will continue to monitor the progress of these initiatives along with having NLTA representation on those committees that are pertinent to improving the system for students and teachers. An “On-line Resource Committee” was formed last spring and continues to meet developing resources for teachers involved in Pathways 4 courses. These resources will be posted on-line as soon as they are fully developed. In addition, a website has been constructed so that students with print disabilities will be able to have on-line access to audio versions of textbooks. Alternate format materials are available on the Department of Education website for students diagnosed with a specific learning or physical disability. Further to meetings held in May and June 2008, discussion groups have been held in each school district to get input from teachers (classroom, guidance, special education and administrators) regarding a new allocation model/approach for special education teachers. You may recall that this was one of the major components of both the Pathways and Teacher Allocation Reports that required further study. The discussion groups should complete their work by the end of February, if not before, and will hopefully be recommending further enhancements to special education allocations, especially for our classrooms where “remedial” students – Pathways 2 and those not diagnosed with an identified exceptionality, continue to be in great need of special education support. The Educational Psychologists’ Working Group has been meeting over the past number of months and the Guidance Counsellors’ Working Committee has been scheduled to meet, as per the accepted recommendations 65 and 67 of the Commission Report. Part of the mandate of these groups is to review the demanding roles and responsibilities expected of both these specialists, with a view to recommending changes that would decrease their workload, making it more specific and thus more effective. The Newfoundland and Labrador Counsellors and Psychologists’ Association, under the capable leadership of their Council President, Trent Langdon, has been fully involved in this process already presenting a preliminary list of concerns and recommendations to the Director of Student Support Services at the Department. Government is also currently involved in the process of establishing a working committee to address those accepted recommendations that refer to department heads for special education, specifically recommendations 8 and 10 of the Pathways Report. The NLTA will be invited to sit on this committee to ensure that our voice is heard concerning these recommendations as well. School administrators should also have a good sense of the number of units which should be deployed by the districts to their schools as per the new teacher allocation model, keeping in mind that new class maximums will be introduced for grades 5 and 8 this coming September, at 25 and 27 students respectively. As I mentioned in my December message, the school administration and staff, in consultation with district personnel, may conclude that there still exists a very legitimate staffing need at their school after the baseline allocation has been determined, based on the teacher allocation model. If such occurs, then a needs-based profile can be developed by the school and sent to district office along with an explanation of the need(s) to be addressed with data to support that request. As per the new allocation model, this school profile of needs would become part of the “District Report” that would, in turn, be delivered to the Department of Education ahead of any final cabinet decisions relative to government’s budget for education for 2009-10. I would strongly encourage any school that is anticipating additional needs for 2009-10, beyond what the class size maximums and specialist ratios should provide, to consider preparing this needs-based profile for submission to their district, if not already done so. Once again, all the very best to you and your families for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009. Sean the bulletin 2 january/february 2009
CONTENTS Lesley-Ann Browne Editor Michelle Lamarche Editorial Assistant Linda Babstock, John Bishop, Elliott Green, Louise King Design • Printing • Distribution Linda Farrell Online Services The Bulletin is published eight times a year during the school year by the Nfld. and Labrador Teachers’ Assn., 3 Kenmount Road, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, A1B 1W1. Tel: 709-726-3223; 1-800-563-3599 Fax: 709-726-4302; 1-877-711-6582 labrowne@nlta.nl.ca www.nlta.nl.ca Unless otherwise indicated, materials used in The Bulletin may be reproduced or broadcast without permission. Advertisements and/or notices of resources carried in this publication do not imply recommendation by the Association of the service or product. Advertising inquiries should be directed to: Michelle Lamarche, Ext. 227 mlamarche@nlta.nl.ca Subscription Rate: $16 per year. For subscriptions and address changes contact Printing Services, Ext. 249. Features 12 Benefits & Economic Services Substitute Teachers – Things to Know by Steve Brooks 14 Are You Thinking About Retiring? Information You Need to Know by Perry Downey 15 NLTA Health and Wellness Promotion Pilot Project Update by Manuel Ball 16 Living Well Can We Afford Inaction? by Claudette E.S. Coombs 18 Professional Development Eric Jensen Conference: “Teaching With the Brain in Mind” … A “Big” Success by George Tucker 20 40 ans d’immersion française…presque par Paula Couglan 22 Virtual Teacher Centre Get Connected; Start Sharing @ www.myvtc.ca by Jim Murphy 24 Research Research Study Results: Opening a Can of Worms by Dr. Kimberly Maich 26 Media Education New Learning Tool Teaches Children to Navigate the Online World by Matthew Johnson 28 How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook by Ann Cavoukian 31 Equity Issues Am I Homophobic? by Maureen Wrice Departments Up Front from the President 2 On Location News 4 In Memoriam 11 Calendar back cover Deadlines for material are: April Issue: March 2 May Issue: April 1 ISSN-1189-9662 Member of the Canadian Educational Press Association, International Association of Business Communicators, and the Canadian Association of Communicators in Education. Printed on Recycled Paper Members Only Section of the NLTA Website The Members Only Section of the NLTA website was launched to all teachers during the week of January 26th, 2009. A user name and password was emailed to all teachers on January 26th. If you have not received a user name and password please go to www.nlta.nl.ca and complete the NLTA Member Profile form and return it to the NLTA office. We cannot email you if you do not provide an email address. The address for the NLTA website is still www.nlta.nl.ca. Much of the information previously available to any person visiting the site is now only accessible on the Members Only Section. In this way we can provide private and confidential information to the membership through the NLTA website. the bulletin 3 january/february 2009
Page 1: NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR TEACHERS
Page 5 and 6: ON LOCATION Park biologist John Gos
Page 7 and 8: ON LOCATION coloring sheets and wor
Page 9 and 10: ON LOCATION ers and students attire
Page 11 and 12: IN MEMORIAM Raymond Andrew Palmer,
Page 13 and 14: BENEFITS & ECONOMIC SERVICES Sick L
Page 15 and 16: BENEFITS & ECONOMIC SERVICES NLTA T
Page 17 and 18: LIVING WELL is not taken, the effec
Page 19 and 20: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PAID ADVER
Page 21 and 22: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Parfois, l
Page 23 and 24: VIRTUAL TEACHER CENTRE To become a
Page 25 and 26: RESEARCH get all the things we’re
Page 27 and 28: MEDIA EDUCATION the top choice for
Page 29 and 30: MEDIA EDUCATION Profile: This page
Page 31 and 32: EQUITY ISSUES Am I Homophobic? by M

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