REMINDER...if you DID NOT pre-register for parking prior to February 15th, please remember to check in at the PARKING KIOSK tomorrow at the doors near security when you arrive in the morning! Thank you!
LUNCH SPECIALS at the MHC! Plan ahead for some good food and a sit down visit with friends!
THURSDAY
CRAVE BUFFET ($15.00) - Chicken Penne Alfredo, Caesar Salad & Garlic Toast, Vegetarian option - Mediterranean Penne CAFETERIA CORNER ($10.00) - BBQ Beef on a bun with Potato Wedges, medium fountain pop
FRIDAY CRAVE BUFFET ($15.00) - Pulled Pork on a bun with Cole Slaw Vegetarian option - Veggie Wrap CAFETERIA CORNER ($10.00) - Soft Tacos with Tater Tots, medium fountain pop
Of course the cafeteria will be open with a full menu! REMEMBER...MHC is CASHLESS!
Please NOTE: Pre-registration for Convention Parking is now CLOSED! If you need to register your vehicle for convention parking, please stop into the Courtyard room to use a parking Kiosk.
Please click on the link below to view ATA President Jason Schillings member address.
To create an account so you can make a personal schedule, click on the Login or Signup link at the top of the screen. To find out how to make your account private, manage your profile, and get the most out of SCHED, please click on the Information link below.
Message from ATA Conventions regarding inclement weather and safe travels...
“On the two school days of your assigned teachers’ convention, you have a legal and professional responsibility to attend Convention. If you are not able to make it safely to your assigned convention, however, your collective agreement may include impassable roads or inclement weather clauses that you can access. If your collective agreement does not include language specific to road conditions or weather, you may make use of the personal leave clauses of your agreement in most cases. Please be aware that using any of these types of leave may require you to pay substitute costs, forego a portion of your salary and benefits, or report to your school or another work location in your district. Refer to your collective agreement for more information. Should you require any additional information or if you need assistance interpreting your collective agreement, please contact Teacher Employment Services at 1-800-232-7208 or 780-447-9400.”
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Taking a look at music you may have heard a hundred times but never really listened to, this workshop will dive deeper into the meaning behind the melodies. Analyzing the different strategies we can learn from these timeless tunes, we will discuss techniques and examples to teach poetry, creative writing, and literary devices. Whether we’re looking at enduring classics or present-day pop hits, this workshop will give you an arsenal of toe-tapping material to pull the students into the literary arts.
Wondering how to spend your precious time teaching and practicing spelling? We will discuss spelling strategies like drilling words, copying lists down, rainbow writing, making big words, word sorts, Wordle, and more! We will examine what works, what doesn't, and why, so that you can make informed decisions to maximize time and impact with your students.
Marnie Heintz, B.A., B.Ed., has been an Instructional Coach for MHPSD for the past 5 years. Her focus areas of research to provide professional learning, modeling in classrooms and coaching for teachers include mainly: assessment, new curriculum and literacy. Marnie has a deep understanding... Read More →
Thursday February 20, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am MST
S154 (Cap 46)Medicine Hat College, 299 College Dr SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 3Y6, Canada
This session will explore possibilities of using faith-based fiction in the high school English classroom. Ben Galeski, teacher and author, will detail how Catholic fiction can be a powerful medium for faith permeation in the classroom by detailing his use of Michael O'Brien's The Lighthouse in his English 10-1 classroom. As well, Ben will go through the lessons he learned through the process of writing and publishing his own novels, Starvation Cove and The Good Heart.
“I don’t know what to write.” Has that sentence ever been uttered in your classroom? When it comes to story writing, so many students get stuck right at the beginning. I’ll share numerous classroom-tested activities specifically designed to move your young writers from stuck to story, while at the same time enhancing their understanding of basic plot structure. You’ll leave with enough creative, engaging ideas to keep the words flowing in your classroom for the rest of the school year.
CANCELLED - Picture books are an amazing resource for teachers in all subject areas and grades, offering students opportunities to explore their own lives and the world around them. Picture books are also wonderful mentor texts to inspire writers, giving them opportunities to take risks with their own pieces. Join me as I share some of my favourite picture books to use with students. This session, and prizes, are provided by the English Language Arts Specialist Council.
Poetry can be a tough sell to students who would rather be on Instagram or listening to the top 40. But what if they didn’t have to choose between the two? What if Instagram poets and chart-topping hits were studied alongside sonnets and haikus? What if it were less about teaching kids how to write poetry and more about learning the limitless styles there are to choose from? Whatever the style or personality of the student, this workshop explores how to create a versatile and open-ended poetry unit that allows these young poets to find their voice.
Explore ways to build a strong connection between school and home in order to impact literacy development. When schools and parents partner, the positive effects on students are great. This relies upon communication, relationships, and the right information and resources.
Marnie Heintz, B.A., B.Ed., has been an Instructional Coach for MHPSD for the past 5 years. Her focus areas of research to provide professional learning, modeling in classrooms and coaching for teachers include mainly: assessment, new curriculum and literacy. Marnie has a deep understanding... Read More →
Thursday February 20, 2025 10:30am - 11:30am MST
S154 (Cap 46)Medicine Hat College, 299 College Dr SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 3Y6, Canada
This session will explore possibilities of using faith-based fiction in the high school English classroom. Ben Galeski, teacher and author, will detail how Catholic fiction can be a powerful medium for faith permeation in the classroom by detailing his use of Michael O'Brien's The Lighthouse in his English 10-1 classroom. As well, Ben will go through the lessons he learned through the process of writing and publishing his own novels, Starvation Cove and The Good Heart.
Are the students in your class struggling with comprehension? Are they having a hard time putting their thoughts together when you ask them, "What was that about"? Use writing! Research has shown that writing instruction supports student reading, and has positive impacts on comprehension. Tim Shanahan says, "Readers, who are writers, can end up with insights about what authors are up to and how they exert their effects, something of great value in text interpretation." This session will provide you with 8 practical strategies to get your kids writing about their experiences as a means to build their writing skills and comprehension.
Optimal Learning Coach, Medicine Hat Public School Division
I have been teaching since 2009. In that time, I have had the opportunity to work in elementary schools in Edmonton and Calgary, focusing on students with special needs and learning disabilities in reading and writing. I joined MHPSD in 2021 as an Optimal Learning Coach, where I have... Read More →
Thursday February 20, 2025 1:00pm - 2:00pm MST
S154 (Cap 46)Medicine Hat College, 299 College Dr SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 3Y6, Canada
If the thought of a rap battle has your knees weak and arms heavy, this workshop can turn things around. Breaking down this seemingly off-the-cuff art form into teachable techniques, you will learn that it is more formula than freestyle. From writing rhyme charts to fabricating fill-in-the-blank lines, the appearance of improv can be backed by hours of preparation. This workshop is a glimpse into some activities and support materials that will give you and your students the ability to lose yourself in the music. Gradually scaling up from the foundation, this structure is meant to cater to even the most hesitant performers. The activity-heavy nature of the session will give you practical exercises to bring back to the classroom, starting with stressless behind the scenes work and moving closer to center stage with each step. Beginning with brainstorming and prep, allowing for group work and other social comforts, moving into shorter and more independent prep periods before the beat drops, and slowly scaling into full-fledged battle mode, the strategies are made to tiptoe seamlessly towards the mic.
“I don’t know what to write.” Has that sentence ever been uttered in your classroom? When it comes to story writing, so many students get stuck right at the beginning. This session will show you how to walk your students through a process that will take them from stuck to story. Not only will it get your writers unstuck, but it will teach them plot structure and character development at the same time. You’ll go through the process yourself, and leave with a complete teaching unit that you can begin in your classroom on Monday. (Or Tuesday, if you prefer.)
You arrive at school filled with enthusiasm, ready to mold young minds. But then comes ELA class. Story writing. “Woe is me!” you lament. “So many of my students hate writing. They just sit and stare at their papers! If only there was a former teacher who is now a writer who could help me.” Good news: there is! In this session, he’ll share creative tips for helping students get "unstuck" when it comes to writing, and you’ll leave with a bunch of ideas for immediate use in your classroom.
“You don’t bait the hook with what the fisherman likes; you bait the hook with what the fish likes." A Lethbridge, AB high school English teacher shares her experience creating, proposing, and delivering a Grade 10 ELA class with a sports-themed-texts focus in attempt to encourage students who don't read books because they “do sports” to “do books” that can help them “make connections, anticipate possibilities, reflect upon and evaluate ideas, and determine courses of action,” as required in the Program of Study (2003, p. 2).
The National Reading Panel has identified phonics as one of the 5 key pillars of reading instruction. Phonics teaches the relationship between the sounds in words and the letters that spell them. Once students understand these relationships, they can apply them when reading and spelling. Phonics instruction needs to be explicit and systematic. This means that teachers tell their students what they're going to learn, and model how they're expected to learn it. These skills and concepts are taught in a logical and progressive sequence that builds on previously learned skills, and teachers provide multiple opportunities for students to practice as they work towards mastery. This session will focus on the most impactful way to bring phonics instruction into your classroom, using a structured phonics lesson plan. We will discuss the key elements of a structured phonics lesson and how to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together to get your students on the road to reading and writing!
Optimal Learning Coach, Medicine Hat Public School Division
I have been teaching since 2009. In that time, I have had the opportunity to work in elementary schools in Edmonton and Calgary, focusing on students with special needs and learning disabilities in reading and writing. I joined MHPSD in 2021 as an Optimal Learning Coach, where I have... Read More →
Thursday February 20, 2025 2:30pm - 3:30pm MST
S154 (Cap 46)Medicine Hat College, 299 College Dr SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 3Y6, Canada
Taking up controversy can be so engaging but becomes so much work when things slide off the rails! In our pluralistic, conflict-driven society, teachers must often hold space in our classrooms for challenging topics and examining multiple views. In the face of increasing unrest in our globalizing world, how can teachers create safety in which students can risk voicing ideas and exploring difficult topics without creating conflict? If critical, argumentative dynamics and writing are the focus, how can we strike a balance and create an environment without ideological blow-outs? In this follow-up session to the DLA Theory, we shift from introductions, intangible framing, and boundary establishment to practical hands-on pedagogical planning. I’ll offer a series of practical ways teachers can begin to or further implement the safety/ risk taking paradox and provide time and support for planning something “dangerous” for your own students. Bring a challenging text to work from OR draw from ideas and texts I’ll share to build a learning process or product that fits YOUR students, and encourages them to grow into practiced evaluators, communications, and push their comfort boundaries when they feel safe to do so. Holding space for this important work while feeling supported and confident with current research instead of on edge or at sea will bring you new confidence in building safe foundations from which to teach dangerously and allow your students to take new risks in their communication. (If you joined me last year, this is Part II!)
Proper spelling is still a skill that is held important amongst many education professionals even in a world where text messaging seems to be a vocabulary that is taking over. This lesson will present you a variety of engaging activity ideas that will amuz ur stoodints (LOL) while keeping your parents and administrators satisfied. This session is meant for students in Div I or II.
