A Place To Start | inquiry-project

START WITH WHY...

The arrival at and the development of the current goals has been a three-year process. The staff at Reconnect Alternative Program has been very focused on creating an environment that is support-based rather than conformity-based. The result is that we have done some amazing work in improving school connectedness and we have strong feedback concerning students feeling safe and supported in coming to our school.

Core Values (Roots of our Why Vision)

●We believe that when individuals have equitable and just access to opportunities and their basic needs are satisfied, they will be able to reach their potential and contribute to their communities

●We believe that being attached and a part of a community is necessary for growth and change and is an essential human need

●We believe in creating trusting relationships and that we should always be accepting; treating each other with dignity, respect, compassion and integrity

●We believe in restorative practices and the circle process: doing things people rather than them

●We believe that involving stakeholders in decision-making leads to better outcomes.

●We believe in respecting Aboriginal cultures and traditions

Principles of Teaching (Roots of Our How Vision)

●We believe that differentiatedinstruction improves learning

●We believe in using the community and local environment as the classroom

●We believe in recognizing and providing a variety of ways for students to express their learning

●We believe in a collaborative teaching, where we continuously develop, implement and review best practices in teaching to improve engagement and learning

Principles of Learning (Roots of Our How, Vision)

●We believe that everyone is unique, learns in different ways and at different rates

●We believe that learning requires active participation of the learner

●We believe that learning is both an individual and a group process

●We believe that learning is most effective when students reflect on the process of learning and set goals for improvement

Our Why: (Our Values)

In everything we do: We beleive that together, we can make a difference.

Our How: (Our Vision)

How we make a difference is we are an inclusive caring community that supports learning adaptive skills and academics in innovative, relevant and personalized ways.

Our What: (Our Mission)

What we do is create places where all students have a more equitable chance to succeed with dignity, purpose and options.

Discovery

1. What do you most love about this school? What drew you to it and what has most encouraged you to stay?

2. What do you consider some of the most significant trends, events, and developments shaping the future of this community?

3. What has inspired you to get engaged in your role at school? What do you hope you can contribute?

4. What differences were you able to make working together?

5. As an engaged member of this community, there are inevitably high and low points, successes and frustrations. What stands out for you as a high point when you were part of an outstanding community effort here?

Envision

Imagine a time in the future when people look to our community as an exceptional example of a healthy, thriving community where all students feel connected and are engaged in their learning.

1. In this exciting time in the future, how are staff and students engaged in the community and in their learning?

2. In this exciting time, how do staff work together to make a difference in the lives of our students?

3. What are truly engaged staff and students? What sustains their engagement?

4. What are truly healthy and thriving staff and students? What sustains their health and wellness?

Design

The goals for next year and beyond...

1. What do you feel are the most promising areas that we have worked on in which to expand into next year and beyond?

2. What are the big ideas for creating connected, engaging learning environments where we know (and they know) that all of our students are learning?

3. What are the big ideas for creating connected, healthy and thriving communities where all students know a sense of belonging and are healthy physically, socially, emotionally and mentally.

4. Who could we get to act as partners in accomplishing our next steps?

Co-construct the Future

1. What are some ideas for an academic learning foundational goal for our students? This one we consider a non-negotiable. Like “All students can read by grade 4.” This goal should reflect something that we can widely asses and teach to everyday.

All students will demonstrate growth in effective communication (verbal, written and visual).

Is this enough? What about adding another part, a reading part? We talked about using the performance standards here for writing, there are 4 standards for 4 different types of writing, do we want to use all? How will we measure verbal and visual? Is this goal user focused? How will decide what strategies we will use?

2. What are some ideas for an academic learning process goal? This is a learning process or competency that we would like to focus one next year. Like “students will express creativity blah blah blah”. Or “students will show critical thinking skills in blah blah blah.”

Students will take initiative for their own learning and articulate and develop passions via personal reflection and active collaboration.

Breakdown:

1. Students will take initiative for their own learning.

2. Students will articulate and develop passions

3. Students will reflect

4. Students will collaborate.

What will it look like when students can do this?

How will we measure our progress?

3. What are some ideas for a health, wellness, belonging, thriving goal? This goal(s) is to be related to mental wellness and/or emotional, social, physical health and belonging or connectedness.

Students will be able to recognize the current state of their physical/mental well-being and be able to actively implement strategies that promote healthy living (physical, mental and interpersonal).

Is this important?

What strategies could we use?

How do the school goals address achievement for ALL students?

The goals address the needs of all students so that they can be successful. Communication is a common skill that is used in all areas of life and being able to communicate effectively increases your chances of success in everything you do. Experience in problem based or inquiry based work develops the skills necessary for today’s world: Critical thinking, collaboration, initiative, curiosity and imagination. Health and wellness are foundational. Without this foundation, success will not be possible. The health of our students has always been a concern and something we have always felt important to address.

All students will demonstrate growth in effective oral, written and visual communication. (LEARN)

All students will demonstrate growth in authentic and relevant problem or inquiry-based tasks that require critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, initiative, entrepreneurship, curiosity and imagination. (COLLABORATE, CONTRIBUTE, CREATE AND INNOVATE, THINK CRITICALLY)

All students will demonstrate growth in their state of mental, physical and social health and wellness. (LEARN)