Blog

Today as I visited classes in the school, I came across a class of students intent on working on their laptops. On first glance it appeared that they were listening to music or using garage band to create a musical masterpiece. When I talked to the teacher, however, she explained that they were editing stories they had recently written. In the past, she'd noticed that quite often the stories her students wrote did't make sense and the kids seemed unaware of this until she read the story back to them. Once they heard it out loud, it was like an epiphany for them as they realized what wasn't working in their stories. To solve this problem, this inventive, master teacher decided to have her students record their stories in garage band so they could listen to them being read back to them. By doing this, they were able to identify what didn't make sense and could explain what they were going to do to fix their stories. What an amazing example of the effective use of technology and engaging students in the 21st Century skill of learning to communicate effectively!

Creative and critical thinking – the most important skills we can equip today’s students for tomorrow. As we moved from the 20th century into the 21st century, we moved from an age where knowledge was the primary skill workers required to succeed to one where creative and critical thinking have become paramount. “Mere survival today depends on being able to do something that overseas knowledge workers can’t do, that powerful computers can’t do faster, and that satisfies …” the wants of people who live in an age of abundance (Daniel Pink, 2006). With the future success of our students hinging on possessing these capabilities, schools need to ensure that all students leave school with these thinking skills. Check out the following examples, to see how teachers at Dr. Brosseau are ensuring that our students possess these skills.

Listening to Student Voices

Religion

For four months, students at Dr. Brosseau read books to collect Cat Cash. For each book they read, they earned one Cat Cash dollar that they saved and used to bid on items at our February Reading Auction. It was obvious from the number of students who had Cat Cash that they had read a lot. Thank-you to everyone who helped organize this day and make it such a success.

This Christmas all students at Dr. Brosseau brought in food, toys and gifts to give to families in need. Above are pictures of some of the items collected.