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ALDI Update-January 2024

Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, and abundant 2024! 

Upcoming Professional Development:

Please read through this section to find out about professional development opportunities offered by ALDI, in collaboration with the Centres of Excellence.

Topic: New Pyramid of Interventions: Applications and Considerations Workshop 
Facilitators: Heather Scott (ALDI) and Catherine Korah (CEBM)  
Date: January 22, 2024, 1:00-3:00. 
Format: Online, free, and will be recorded 
Target Audience: Open to all 
ALDI Teacher release funds are available. Contact hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca by January 15, 2024, 4pm. 
Registration: For more details and to register, click here 
 
Topic: The Universal Design for Learning Toolkit Learning Series  
Facilitators: Heather Scott (ALDI) and Joanna McKay (ISN) 
Dates:  
Session 1: February 6, 2024 from 9am-12pm 
Session 2: April 3, 2024 from 9am-12pm 
Session 3: April 17, 2024 from 9am-12pm 
Session 4: May 3, 2024 from 9am-12pm 
Format: Online and free  
Target Audience: Open to all 
Teacher release funds are available. Contact hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca or jmckay@rsb.qc.ca one week prior to each session. 
Registration: For more details and to register, click here 

ALDI Four-Question Survey:  

In light of the recent Plan de rattrapage release by the MEQ, I prepared a brief anonymous survey pertaining to how consultants can best support teachers in determining which students have academic needs (reading, writing, etc). The second question pertains to the evidence-based practices recommended to meet those needs. There is also a section to sign-up for collaborative working sessions so that we can support teachers with evidence-based tools and resources throughout this process. Please complete the survey by Jan. 19th, 2024. Click here to access the brief survey.  

MEQ Documentation:  

The MEQ has recently released a new Referential on Writing. This document is designed to support the writing skills of students in early elementary school. The document was created for classroom teachers, teachers of resource, consultants, or anyone working on writing with early elementary school students. The document is in French as is titled, Les défis des jeunes scripteurs au début de l’école primaire. You can access the document here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tTUVX9mMtZxBh64pJLEXAAat_ntrUJuj/view?usp=sharing 

Upcoming Events hosted by the Centres of Excellence:  

On behalf of the Centres of Excellence, I am sharing the information regarding their upcoming events. Please use the link provided or contact the centre directly for more information. 

The Centre of Excellence for Mental Health (CEMH)
The CEMH is hosting Katie Andersson for a full day conference on The Engaged Brain: Consciously Creating Successful Learning Environments. The date is January 26, 2024. You can find out more about this in-person conference directly on their website. To register: 
https://theenegagedbrain.square.site/ 

Centre of Excellence Autism Spectrum Disorder (COE for ASD): 
The COE for ASD will be hosting Kaelynn Parlow for a one-hour complementary webinar that is open to all. The online session is called Insights from the Inside and will be on January 26, 2024 at 9am. You can find more information about this session directly on the COE for ASD website. To register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd7d6rr6eIN2uY72TsNJIF0KhYBGS0YQhHsAAuDlDG5YDQlPQ/viewform?usp=sf_link 

Should you have questions or ideas for a collaborative project, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Heather Scott, ALDI Coordinator
hscott@swlaurierb.qc.ca
Facebook: Inclusive Education Services Quebec

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ALDI Update-August 2023

Welcome back 2023-2024

In this Blog you will find three sections:

  • Updates to the ALDI Website
  • Coming Soon
  • Contact Information

 Updates to the ALDI Website:

As we start a new school year, it seemed important to update the ALDI website. As exploring the whole ALDI website is not feasible, this blog post focuses on highlighting some new, useful and ready-made tools that can be found on the website.  These tools have been selected and categorized to support you and the teachers that you work with. I hope that these curated resources help you and your teachers get off to a great start! 

Differentiation:  

On this page you will find Diffit for Teachers. This tool allows you to maintain similar content for students but you can adjust the level of the text to differentiate. It is as simple as copying and pasting a passage or a web address into the toolbar.  

Individualized Education Plans: 

Scroll down the page to access Ontario Teachers’ Federation: Teachers’ Gateway to Special Education or use the hyperlinks below. 

Within the Teaching Strategies & Resources tab, you will find a bilingual bank of strategies and resources grouped by student need. This site may be helpful when lesson planning or creating IEPs. 

The Key Special Education Practices tab may provide you with some guidelines to consider as professional goals for the 23-24 school year. 

Assistive Technology: 

Récit and LEARN have created a page on assistive tech functions to support students with various aspects of reading and writing tasks. The short videos show you exactly how to use the tool and to get started in your classrooms! 

Provincial Handbook:  

This page contains The Comprehensive Instruction Guide, a digital resource designed to support teachers who wish to offer comprehensive instruction within the inclusive classroom setting. It provides tools to align resource support with classroom practice. 

This section also includes the role of the elementary remedial teacher.  

Literacy:  

Morphology:  

Continue down to the Vocabulary and Morphology section. The Root Repository contains ready-made downloadable word cards. A new root and its meaning are posted every week. Download them weekly to build up your collection of lessons. 

Screeners:  

In the Assessment/Screening Tools section you will find a link for CUBED 3. These research-based screening and progress monitoring tools are designed to assess decoding and language comprehension separately. I was thrilled to find a screener on language comprehension! 

Coming Soon!

Upcoming events hosted by ALDI & Partners:  

-Accessible technology 

-Inclusion, equity and diversity in the classroom

-UDL Toolkit 

ContactsInformation:

For further support, please contact me to collaborate.   

Heather Scott, ALDI Coordinator 

hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca  

Social Media: Inclusive Education Services Quebec (IES) Facebook page 

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ALDI Update-February 2023

This edition of the ALDI Update contains information for upcoming professional development opportunities. 

Last call!  Special Needs Network of Anglophone Professionals (SNNAP) Special Meeting -UDL and SEL: Feb. 22nd

9:00-10:00 Online Presentation by Novak Education-Meeting the Needs of the Whole Child-Where UDL and SEL intersect. This session will be recorded.
10:00-11:30 Online discussion groups to further our learning
For further details and to register, click here. 

ALDI Literacy Series 2022-2023 

Designed for new teachers, but open to all, this series on literacy will support teachers in adopting evidence-based instructional practices by looking at the different components of reading instruction. This is the last call to register for the workshop on Vocabulary and Background Knowledge on Feb. 21st (4pm) and Feb. 22nd (12pm). To see the workshop description and to register, use this link: ALDI Literacy Series 

RSS Learning Community hosted by CoE SLD and ALDI: March 28th, 9-3pm  

 

Join the Centre of Excellence for Speech and Language Development (CoE SLD) and I for a full day workshop on oral language development. Topics include Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and how to best support students with strategies and resources. We will also explore aspects of language comprehension and related resources. This session will be hosted on Zoom. Click here to find out more and to register. 

A Reflective Decision-Making Process hosted by CEBM and ALDI: April 5th, 11:30-1:00pm 

A new resource has been created following the Collaborative Approaches to Address Behavioural Challenges Workshop hosted last fall. Join Catherine Korah from the Centre of Excellence Behaviour Management (CEBM) and I for a one-and-a-half-hour presentation to explore the new flowchart and to answer the question: How do we know when to move our support to the next tier of the intervention continuum? This session will be hosted on Zoom and it will be recorded. Click here to access the flyer  and to register. 

 

The Resource Symposium 2023: May 10th, 9-3pm

Dr. Karen Gazith will be back to present at The Resource Symposium on May 10th, 2023, from 9:00-3:00pm. The main theme will be literacy and will include evidence-based practices in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and morphology. Reading comprehension strategies and explicit teaching of reading in the content areas will also be addressed. This session is designed with remedial (elementary) and supporting (secondary) teachers in mind, but all are welcome to attend. This session will be hosted on Zoom. For more information and to register, click here. 

ALDI Update-November 2022

Content:

The November 2022 edition of the ALDI Update contains:

  1. Upcoming Professional Development
  2. New on the ALDI website
  3. Contact Information

1. Upcoming Professional Development:

Literacy Series 2022-2023

Designed for new teachers, but open to all, this series on literacy will support teachers in adopting evidence-based practices by looking at the different components of reading instruction one by one. The final workshop in May 2023 will be putting all the skills together into a lesson plan, to target instruction, based on student need.

To see all the workshops in the series and to register, use this link:

ALDI 2022-2023 Literacy Series

The next session is on November 14th on Zoom!

 

 

 

Resource Summer Symposium Follow-up: Learning Community #2

Even if you didn’t attend the Resource Summer Symposium back in July 2022, you are welcome to join the follow-up session on December 8th, 2022, from 9:00-3:00pm on Zoom. This day is designed for elementary remedial and secondary supporting teachers. Consultants are welcome too!

For more information on topics and to register use the following link: RSS Learning Community #2

2. New on the ALDI website:

In the Literacy section: Scroll down to the Texas Centre for Reading Disabilities heading.

It is worth checking out this website for any of your elementary and secondary literacy related needs. Use the left side of the site to navigate through various topics.

Use this link to access the ALDI website homepage: https://blogs.learnquebec.ca/aldi/ 

3. Contact information: 

Heather Scott, ALDI Coordinator
hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca 

Social Media 

@ALDICoordinator (Twitter)
Contributor to the Inclusive Education Services Quebec (IES) Facebook page

 

ALDI Update-August 2022

ALDI-Welcome Back 2022 

Contents: 

The August edition of the ALDI Update contains:

  • Upcoming professional development information
  • A SNNAP update
  • New items on the ALDI website
  • Contact information

Please continue reading to find out more.

Upcoming Professional Development:

To start the year, four professional development sessions are being offered in September and October. To find sessions that meet your learning needs, check out the titles and descriptions below.

New Consultant Meet & Greet
Date & Time: Thursday, September 8th, from 2:00-3:00pm.
Description: If you are a new special education or inclusive education consultant, please sign up for this one-hour information session. It will be hosted via Zoom. I will introduce myself, explain ALDI’s services, and walk you through my top picks on the ALDI website.
Registration: Click here.
Deadline: Tuesday, September 6th, 4:00pm.

Phonics Instruction
Two identical sessions will be offered for your convenience. Please select only one session.
After-Hours Slam Session:
September 12th, 4:00-5:00. Click here to register.
Lunch and Learn:
September 13th, 12:00-1:00. Click here to register.
Description: This workshop is designed for teachers new to the remedial role but is open to all remedial teachers that would like a refresher in phonics instruction. The importance of teaching phonics will be reviewed followed by the presentation of ready-made evidence-based instructional routines and screening tools. This session will be hosted on Zoom.
Deadline to Register: Thursday, September 8th, 4pm

Resource Summer Symposium Learning Community-Session 1
Date & Time: September 20th, 9:00am-3:00pm
Description: This online session is the first of three sessions to be offered over the 22-23 school year. This is a follow-up to the July 2022 Resource Summer Symposium.

Topics will include:

  • Revisiting the distinction between sight words and high-frequency words and exploring related evidence-based practices for instruction
  • The definition of full inclusion, special education services, and how they complement one another
  • The majority of session 1 will be spent on revisiting strategic teaching (in theory and in practice)

Release time may be provided by contacting hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca prior to the registration deadline.
Click here to register.
Deadline to register: Friday, September 16th, 4:00pm

Phonemic Awareness Instruction
Two identical sessions will be offered for your convenience. Please select only one session.
After-Hours Slam Session:
October 11th, 4:00-5:00pm. Click here to register.
Lunch and Learn:
October 12th, 12:00-1:00pm. Click here to register.
Description: This session will be hosted on Zoom. This workshop is designed for teachers new to the remedial role but is open to all remedial teachers that would like a refresher in phonemic awareness instruction. The importance of teaching phonemic awareness will be reviewed, suggested activities will be presented followed by formative assessment tracking forms for progress monitoring.
Deadline to Register: Friday, October 7th, 2022, 4:00pm

SNNAP Update:

What is SNNAP?

SNNAP stands for Special Needs Networking of Anglophone Professionals. As an ACES* sub-group, we meet four times a year to discuss special education topics that align with the ACES yearly objectives.  Each meeting provides our members with opportunities to learn from one another, network and collaborate. SNNAP date selections have been sent out by email. Should you wish to be added to the SNNAP distribution list, please use the contact information listed below.

*ACES=Administrators of Complementary Educational Services

New on the ALDI website:

The ALDI website has been updated. All links to websites should be live and functioning.

In the Special Learning Needs section, you will find:

  • Two websites containing rich information on Developmental Language Disorders (DLD)
  • A Dyslexia and Other Learning Disabilities Webinar by Linda Siegel
  • A Working Memory Webinar by Todd Rose

In the Provincial Handbook section, you will find:

  • An updated version of the Role of the Remedial Teacher document has been uploaded to the ALDI website.
  • The Comprehensive Instruction Guide, a digital tool created to align resource support with classroom practice.  It is with permission from Marjolaine Quer and Jennifer McNeil that I can offer the guide through the ALDI website. Thank you!

Use this link to access the ALDI website homepage: https://blogs.learnquebec.ca/aldi/ 

Contact information: 

Heather Scott, ALDI Coordinator
hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca 

Social Media 

@ALDICoordinator (Twitter)
Contributor to the Inclusive Education Services Quebec (IES) Facebook page

ALDI Update-June 2022

ALDI-June 2022

As the 21-22 school year ends, I cannot help but reflect on the influences of the pandemic and the school team shortages. As with many of my colleagues, my position was adjusted to address the pressing needs within schools. For those that had ALDI events canceled, thank you for your flexibility and understanding.  Returning to the classroom was an enriching experience and one that will influence and strengthen all ALDI workshops.

Resource Summer Symposium-Important Updates and Deadlines

Today is the last day to register for the Resource Summer Symposium scheduled for July 4th and 5th, 2022. So far, over 100 participants have registered for the free online event! Join us by using this link to register: https://forms.office.com/r/gjLiUkr1GM The link also contains presenter names, session details and times.

If you have already registered for the symposium, you should have received a confirmation email on June 21st. A final email will be sent to you in the form of a digital flyer by Thursday, June 30th.

Fall Professional Development

The topics addressed at the Resource Summer Symposium will kick-start a 2022-2023 inter-board learning community. An email with dates and details will be sent to participants in August.

As we move into the summer holidays, plans for next fall are being confirmed. To start the year, here are some suggested workshop topics:

  • Inclusive Co-Teaching Models
  • Key Features of Reading Development and teaching routines (Phonics, Phonemic Awareness, High-frequency words, etc.)
  • Differentiation (flexible pedagogy, adaptations and modifications of QEP expectations)
  • Role of the Remedial Teacher
  • Increasing the understanding of the Universal Design for Learning principles to reduce barriers to student learning within the classroom.

Should these topics (or others) seem right for your resource teacher network, do not hesitate to contact me.

Enjoy the kick-off to summer, tomorrow’s Fête Nationale du Québec festivities and a well-deserved summer vacation!

Contact information: 

hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca 

ALDI website 

https://blogs.learnquebec.ca/aldi/ 

Social Media 

@ALDICoordinator (Twitter)
Contributor to the Inclusive Education Services Quebec (IES) Facebook page

 

ALDI Update-February 2022

February 2022

As we move through the winter season and the 5th wave of the pandemic, I am grateful to be working with such brillant and uplifitng partners. It was heartwarming to see a write-up of  ALDI and QPAT’s collaborative work in this month’s edition of the LCEEQ Newsletter. 

Professional Development

Motivating and Supporting Secondary Students with Response to Reading Networking Session

The Motivating and Supporting Secondary Students with Response to Reading networking session is open to all Secondary ELA and Supporting Teachers from across the province. Use the following link: March 11th Secondary Literacy  to learn about session details, to register, and to access the Reader Response Toolkit for Secondary Teachers. 

LEARN and ALDI’s Bilingual Literacy Networking Session

On March 30th from 4:00-5:00pm LEARN and ALDI will be collaborating to offer a neworking session on vocabulary instruction. This session is open to all educators, from preschool to adult education. Registration information will be sent out the week of March 7th. An email will be sent to Special Education/Inclusive Education Consultants and be posted on various social media websites (see social media contacts below).

Upcoming Events

Special Needs Network of Anglophone Professionals (SNNAP) Meetings

Dates for the year:

March 16th April 13th May 11th June 1st

All meetings are scheduled from 9:00-12:00. The goals of our meetings are to share our respective initiatives and expertise, build collaborative networks, and learn from one another. Should you wish to attend SNNAP meetings, contact me to ensure that you are added to the distribution list.

IEP Subcommittee Recruiting

We are currently seeking Special Education/Inclusive Education Consultants to join out IEP sub-committee. This sub-committee is responding to a need established by the SNNAP committee during the 2020-2021 school year. The current members (Consultants from ETSB, NFSB, RSB, and ALDI), have established a first mandate of receiving training to share with SNNAP colleagues and the teachers that we support. If this is a dossier that you are currently working on, join us to work collaboratively.

We are currently looking for 1 consultant from each of the following school boards:

CQSB CREE SB EMSB ESSB
LBPSB CS Littoral SWLSB WQSB

Contact me by Monday, Feb. 14th to find out more, or to join our sub-committee.

New Consultant Meet & Greet

I will be hosting a Zoom ‘Meet & Greet’ for new consultants. If you are new(ish) to your position, join the meeting to find out what ALDI can offer you and your teachers as support.
Meet & Greet Topics include:
  • Getting acquainted and learn about our respective dossiers and goals
  • Discussing past and upcoming PD initiatives designed to support resource teachers.
  • Planning for eventual collaborative projects
  • Exploring a few key resources on the ALDI website to share with your teachers.
Please use the hyperlinks to confirm your attendance by Friday, Feb. 11th.

New on the ALDI Website

Powerful Literacy Practices

The Powerful Literacy Practices website contains ready-to-implement lesson plans for dialogic reading, interactive read-alouds, and instructional phonics routines. These lesson plan templates are ideal for teachers in Cycle 1 and remedial teachers in Cycle 1 and 2. The goal of this site is to encourage the adoption of these evidence-based literacy practices and to align classroom and resource support for student success. You can access the site by clicking here and scrolling down.

Happy teacher appreciation week!

Please use the contacts below should you have any questions, or if you wish to be included in the blog post distribution list. 

Contact information: 

hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca 

ALDI website 

https://blogs.learnquebec.ca/aldi/ 

Social Media 

@ALDICoordinator (Twitter)
Contributor to the Inclusive Education Services Quebec (IES) Facebook page

ALDI Update-October 2021

ALDI Update-October 2021

Here is an overview of professional development initiatives, past and current. New resources are available through the ALDI website. Use the links to access them.

Word cloud of co-teaching key wordsOn August 23rd, 2021, ALDI hosted an Inclusive Co-teaching Workshop. This workshop provided resource teachers with a step-by-step guide on how to work collaboratively with classroom teachers to support students through independent and small group conferencing. We discussed Individualized Education Plan (IEP) conferences and the use of double conference tables to maximize support to students. This session was repeated at the QPAT Annual Convention on October 14th, 2021.

On August 30th, 2021, ALDI collaborated with New Frontiers School Board (NFSB) Consultants
to host the first Resource Teacher Networking Session of the 2021-2022 school year. This session focused on early literacy practices, The Comprehensive Instruction Guidebook, and the role of the resource teacher. Over the 2021-2022 school year, remedial and supporting teachers from NFSB will learn about specific topics pertaining to resource and have an opportunity to network with colleagues. Our next session will be at the beginning of November and will be about IEPs.  

On September 29th, ALDI and LEARN collaborated in hosting a bilingual Literacy Networking Session. The focus was on Misunderstandings and Facts about Literacy. These one-hour afterschool sessions will be offered multiple times over the 2021-2022 school year. Our next session will be on Nov. 24th from 4:00-5:00pm. Information and registration forms are sent out to Special Education/Inclusive Education Pedagogical Consultants and through various social media websites (see social media contacts below). Watch for the LEARN blog post (Coming soon!) for a complete write-up of the Sepember session. Archived material is posted on the ALDI website under Literacy. Click here to access the material. 

ALDI, Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board and LEARN are collaborating and have released a Reader
Response Toolkit. The toolkit is designed to support Secondary English Language Arts and Supporting Teachers by providing them with a bank of engaging reader response activities. A follow-up networking session will be provided in early 2022 for Secondary Teachers wishing to provide feedback on the toolkit, share their expertise and discuss how they implemented the reader response activities to support student learning. The toolkit has been added to the ALDI website under Literacy. Click here to access the toolkit.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 is still among us. Should your class close, resources are available to support you. Click here to access the resources.   

Please use the contacts below should you have any questions, or if you wish to be included in the blog post distribution list. 

Contact information: 

hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca 

ALDI website 

https://blogs.learnquebec.ca/aldi/ 

Social Media 

@ALDICoordinator (Twitter)
Contributor to the Inclusive Education Services Quebec (IES) Facebook page 

ALDI Update-June 2021

As the 2020-2021 school year quickly comes to a close, take the time to rest and relax during a well-deserved summer break.

ALDI Spring 2021 Initiatives:

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Following the ACES initative, teachers from across the province were invited to two follow-up workshops on UDL. On April 6th and May 6th, ALDI and RSB (Valerie Dubuc, Consultant) collaborated to offer support to teachers on how to optimize learning through implementing elements of the UDL framework.

If your school or school board would like training on UDL, click here to add your name to a distribution list to stay informed on upcoming UDL initiatives.

Inclusion-Shelley Moore

On June 3rd, 2021 over 180 participants from across the province attended the Shelley Moore Workshop on Inclusion. Through storytelling, participants gained insight and practical strategies to take back to their school or school board. Shelley Moore provided many opportunities to reflect on our current inclusive practices. My greatest takeaway was that you cannot work on inclusion practices alone. We need to come together to support one another during this complex change in practice. We also need to trust and have hope that others will get “on the bus” and join us to better serve all of our students.

Summer 2021. Register Now!

Co-teaching model

As a remedial teacher, I experimented with many resource models. Co-teaching was my favourite method of supporting students because it is inclusive and effective. I have created an info-graphic of my experience to support remedial teacher and supporting teachers through their desire to learn more. Based on the info-graphic, a workshop will be offered on Zoom for Remedial Teachers, Supporting Teachers and their classroom teaching partners. Join me on August 23rd from 9:30-11am. For further information and to register click here. Facilitator: Heather Scott, ALDI Coordinator

*This session will also be repeated at the QPAT Teacher’s Convention. Details to come.

The Co-Teaching Resource Model infographic can be found on the ALDI website in the Inclusion section. Once on the Inclusion page, scroll down to the heading Inclusive Co-Teaching Model. Click here to access the document.

 

Remedial and Supporting Teacher Network for NFSB Teachers:

If you are a Remedial or Supporting Teacher and would appreciate the time to learn about specific topics pertaining to resource and have an opportunity to network with colleagues from across the school board, these networking sessions are for you! Fill in the Microsoft Form to ensure that the dates and meeting topics are delivered directly to your inbox.  Please note that our first session is on August 30th. This will be the first of 6 networking sessions over the 2021-2022 school year. Click here to provide us with feedback on topics and leave your contact information for updates. Facilitators: Heather Scott and Diane Donnelly.

 

ALDI 2021-2022 Initiatives:

Secondary LiteracyPupil In Class Using Digital Tablet

Secondary ELA Teachers and Supporting Teachers from all school boards are welcome to attend a half-day Zoom session on Reading Response. This initial workshop will be a series of four workshops on adolescent literacy to be held over the course of the 2021-2022 school year. To register for the October 15th workshop, or to receive information about upcoming workshops, use the following link.
Facilitators: Heather Scott and Dan Hedges

Literacy Networking: A collaboration with LEARN

This is an opportunity for Quebec (English & French) educators to network, troubleshoot, innovate, plan and explore ideas related to literacy. This is an open invitation to anyone who works in the area of literacy (teachers, consultants, etc.). These Zoom sessions will vary in format depending on the needs identified by the group. Please fill in the survey to demonstrate your interest, help us select dates and topics. Click here to access the survey. Facilitators: Heather Scott and Monic Farrell.

Follow ALDI events:

Twitter: @ALDICoordinator

Inclusive Education Services (IES) Quebec on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/IESQuebec/

ALDI Update-February 2021

The goal of this quarterly blog post is to keep you informed of the current ALDI initiatives and the new resources available on the ALDI website.  


ALDI Initiatives

ALDI Initiatives are flexible in design. They can be adapted to meet the various pedagogical needs of your team.                                                                                                                                                     

Distance Learning Support

  • This learning community would create emergency lesson plans in prevention and preparation of a class closure. These one-week “back pocket” lesson plans outline specific remedial or supporting teacher roles to help students online. They answer the question, “Who is doing what in the case of a class closure?” In addition to stress reduction, another advantage is that these lessons are versatile and can also be easily adapted for in-class use. You can see a sample lesson here. A rich professional development opportunity is created when a team comes together to design instructional lessons aligned with targeted support.

Literacy

  • With regards to reading skills, what are remedial and supporting teachers most concerned about? This learning community would listen to podcasts, read selected articles, and watch instructional videos about the science of reading. The focus would then shift to the best way to support struggling readers. The project will end with a toolkit of research-based resources.

Differentiation

  • This session is designed to understand the difference between flexible pedagogy, adaptation, and modification. The practical application of each definition will then be explored.

MEQ-Learning to be Prioritized

  • This learning community will start by exploring the documents released by the MEQ. (Learning to be Prioritized and the Progressions of Learning) Together, let’s explore what needs to be taught, what can go wrong for students, and how to support learners with specific intervention practices.

New-to-Resource Teacher Handbook

  • The main purpose of this handbook will be to support new teachers. This tool will enable them to answer the question, “How do I start this new school year?” The resources produced through collaboration will be useful to all remedial and supporting teachers, as the content will focus on material that is currently lacking. If you see this as a need, let’s work together!

If you are interested in any of these initiatives, contact me to collaborate.

hscott@swlauriersb.qc.ca


ALDI website

Distance Learning Resources

New additions include:

1-Elementary Cycle 1 Lesson Plan Template for distance learning. These resources were created to support teachers in the case of an abrupt transition to distance learning. The lesson plan template outlines the role of the remedial teacher within the lesson plan framework. Anticipating student difficulties and incorporating support is a key component to student success.

2-Virtual Library Resource

This virtual library offers a wealth of online books to be used in the case of a class closure. Once on the website, I recommend scrolling down to watch the short instructional video first.

Literacy

In the literacy section, you will now find the Academic Word Finder. When teaching vocabulary, it is important to select Tier 2 words. These are high-frequency in nature, are used across several subject areas, and are important for students to learn. After uploading a text, this tool enables teachers to receive a suggested list of the Tier 2 vocabulary words for word study. The Academic Word Finder is free but requires a sign-up.

Heather Scott, ALDI