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PA Day Activities & Agendas

PA Day Activities & Agendas

UCDSB schools have several professional activities (PA) days during the school year. During these days, students stay home but schools remain open as school staff focus on professional development.

The purpose of PA days is to improve student success. Educators have the opportunity to discuss challenges, review research and collaborate to create lessons, activities and assessments for their students.

The Ministry of Education’s regulation states that school boards must designate three Ministry Directed PA days and may designate up to four additional PA days per school year.

Here is a breakdown of what PA Day activities are happening for the 2024-2025 school year.

Date

Topic

Presenters & Description

September 3, 2024

Welcome Back -

Mental Health, Bullying, Supporting Students, Technology and Safe Schools

(All Schools)

Welcome Back - Overview of Director’s Work Plan and Student Achievement Plan with Eric Hardie, Executive Superintendent

Mental Health with Lisa Livingston, Mental Health Lead

Mental Health with Penny Raabe, Compensation and Wellness Specialist
 
Bullying and School Safety with Marsha McNair, Superintendent of Safe Schools

Supporting Children and students with prevalent medical conditions, Cell Phones, Vaping with Bill Loshaw, Superintendent of Operations

Technology Use and Student Safety with Brian Reid, Principal of Digital Learning

Safe Schools Training Software
October 25, 2024

Literacy Professional Development
















Mathematics Professional Development

















Mandatory All Groups - Health and Safety – Violence Prevention Training





Optional Student Success / Technology & Skilled Trades In-Person Workshops

Sessions include:

-  data interpretation and next steps with Acadience screening.

- an overview of the assessment tools available to support the Science of Reading in the FSL Class.

- an overview of the importance of using writing success criteria and explore how to co-construct criteria with students.

-  training on the new D2L OSSLT Preparation and Practice platform.


Sessions include:

Getting Started with Knowledgehook: understanding the role of Knowledgehook in improving formative assessment data.

Becoming and Advanced User of Knowledgehook: how to use formative assessment as a tool to analyze student learning.

Building Thinking Classroom: allows teachers to actively participate in a Thinking style task and learn strategies to promote student thinking and learning. Led by Al Overwijk.


All staff are expected to attend this session Topics to be discussed include: Online Violent Incident Reporting Notification of Potential Risk of Injury Safe Schools Online Reporting Safety Plans Violence Aggression Debriefs.



Skills Ontario Competitions – Skilled Trades Carousel – Participants will be introduced to
Skills Ontario Competitions, in which teachers can have their students can participate in, including  Intermediate Construction, Technology, and Green Energy Ontario Skills Competitions, TV/Video Production & Photography, Secondary VEX Robotics Skills Competitions and CWB Welding Certification Training.

Experiential Learning Related to Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Pathways for Students: For Guidance Counsellors and Student Success Teachers – Participants will take a hands-on approach to exploring the skilled trades, apprenticeships, and local opportunities for students. Hosted by UCDSB and St. Lawrence College.

November 22, 2024
Mathematics Focus














Literacy Focus
- Supporting educators to be able to prepare all students to succeed in core academic skills, focusing on math.

- Effective use of digital tools to support classroom learning.

- Fluency routines.

- Components of an effective mathematics classroom including look-fors based on the UCDSB professional learning plan. 


- Supporting educators to be able to prepare all students to succeed in core academic skills, focusing on reading and writing using high impact practices for structured literacy.

- Analysis of screening data to work with teachers to determine next steps in instruction to support all students. 

- Supporting planning for next steps in tiered instruction.

January 31, 2025 TBD
TBD
April 11, 2025
TBD TBD
May 30, 2025
TBD TBD
June 27, 2025

TBD

TBD

 

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