Our Team

Administration

John Waterhouse

Executive Director

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John Waterhouse

Executive Director

john.waterhouse@arpdc.ab.ca

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John Waterhouse is passionate about continuous professional learning and building the capacity of all those who serve the educational needs of students. John’s professional career includes having a being a teacher and department head for 5 years, vice principal and principal for 21 years, Deputy Superintendent responsible for Human Resources and Professional Learning for 8 years and is currently in his 3rd year as Executive Director of the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium.

John also served in many professional leadership roles including Vice President of the ATA and President of CASS. John has served on various provincial education committees including the Advisory Committee and Working Group for the development of the Teaching Quality Standard, The Leadership Quality Standard and the System Leadership Quality Standard. John has a breadth of depth and experience and expertise with a focus on supporting professional learning at all levels.

Areas of Expertise

  • Instructional Leadership
  • Professional Learning Communities
  • Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
  • School and System Improvement
  • Professional Practice Standards

Session Offerings

  • Ministerial Order on Student Learning
  • Instructional Leadership
  • Professional Practice Standards
  • Pedagogy as Informed Practice
  • Teacher Clarity in Professional Practice
    Alberta Curriculum
  • Alberta Assurance Model

Irene Gibbons

Program Coordinator

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Irene Gibbons

Program Coordinator

irene.gibbons@erlc.ca

Irene’s professional career began as a Licensed Practical Nurse. It was with her 7 years working in the Education Department with the Good Samaritan Society that she found her passion for learning. Irene went on to obtain her Diploma in Business Management at NAIT. Irene worked for Sturgeon Public Schools for 7 years as a school Finance Clerk. Currently Irene is serving her first term as Trustee for Sturgeon Public School Division. Irene has always had a calling for learning and is thrilled to share her passion at the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium.

Tricia Mason

Program Coordinator

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Tricia Mason

Program Coordinator

tricia.mason@arpdc.ab.ca

Tricia Mason joined ERLC in the fall of 2023. After being a stay at home mom of 3 to 10 years, Tricia became an Educational Assistant for 7 years. Then Tricia transitioned into the automotive and health care industries. Tricia is excited to work in education again and helping you grow as an educator through professional development.

Margaret Savage

Finance Coordinator

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Margaret Savage

Finance Coordinator

margaret.savage@erlc.ca

Margaret has over 20 years of experience in business management, human resources, marketing and analysis. In June 2008, Margaret joined the ERLC team in the role of Financial Coordinator.

Always up for a challenge, Margaret enjoys the ever changing demands of the ERLC office and the need to support educators in the province. A task orientated worker, Margaret enjoys providing sound customer service to both participants and employees of the ERLC.

Brennah Robinson

Communications Coordinator

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Brennah Robinson

Communications Coordinator

brennah.robinson@arpdc.ab.ca

Brennah Robinson joined the ERLC team as their Communications Coordinator in July 2021. She is a graduate of SAIT’s New Media Production and Design program, and has over 6 years of industry experience in graphic design, branding, and social media management. She has worked with a variety of different companies and organizations in that time, including Red Iron Labs and Alberta Health Services. Brennah now enjoys having the opportunity to bring out ERLC’s own personality and flare in all the work she produces for the Consortium.

Professional Learning Leads

Our professional learning leads support the region according to Alberta Education priority areas and identified regional needs based on jurisdictional three-year educational plans. To request district day support from ERLC or engage with our learning leads, please visit Request a Session or District Day.

Adelee Penner

Professional Learning Lead

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Adelee Penner

Professional Learning Lead

adelee.penner@erlc.ca

Download Profile   View Available Sessions 19   Follow @adelee38

Adelee Penner comes to ERLC having most recently served as an Assistant Superintendent of Schools. Adelee started her career in Manitoba and moved to Alberta in 2005. Her career has evolved over the years through working in several school jurisdictions, in both the private and public system, and from working for Alberta Education supporting school systems in Field Services. Adelee is a passionate lifelong learner. Using the provocation from Seth Godin, “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”, Adelee works with others to create a culture for learning that is comfortable taking risk, trying new things and considers alternate perspectives.

Areas of Expertise

  • Instructional Leadership – School Administration and Learning Coaches
  • Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment Implementation
  • Assessment strategies for both online and face-to-face learning
  • Coaching to support Design Thinking strategies to create new learning experiences or reporting school success
  • Assurance Model for School Systems and Schools
  • Stakeholder engagement, both the planning and facilitation of events
  • Inclusive Education – Design planning and successful practice
  • System and School wide Wellness Implementation
  • Mental Health Literacy
    Considering differentiation in constructing learning opportunities
  • Leveraging technology and data to support all learners
  • UBD/UDL
  • CTS/CTF

Session Offerings

  • Assurance Model – What is my place in this new framework?
  • Using Data to Inform Practice in our Classrooms and Schools
  • Using Design Thinking in the Classroom
  • Assessment Strategies for Online Learning
  • Assessment Strategies for Face-to-Face Learning
  • Mental Health Literacy
  • Ministerial Order on Student Learning
  • Why Certain Learning Experiences have Extraordinary Impact?
  • Making Thinking Visible

Candace Ketsa

Professional Learning Lead

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Candace Ketsa

Professional Learning Lead

cketsa@gsacrd.ab.ca

With 30 years of experience, Candace Ketsa has taught from Kindergarten to Adult Education with the majority of her years with high school and junior high school aged students.

Although she has taught physical education, coding and sciences, her passion and education is in mathematics. She started her career in H. A. Kostash, then Radway, Alexis Elementary, Jr. & Sr. High School, Yellowhead Tribal College, Storefront School, Vincent J. Maloney and finally St. Gabriel Education Center.

She has taught high school math with experience in both a traditional setting and online learning, but really embraced building numeracy skills with junior high math students.

Within these years of teaching, she was also seconded to write resources for ERLC and Alberta Education and last year was the Numeracy Lead teacher for Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools helping Division 1 teachers implement, and the Division 2 teachers pilot the new Mathematics curriculum.

This year she is excited to return to teach high school math and physics with St. Gabriel Education Center half time while working with the ERLC.

Dianne McConnell

Professional Learning Lead

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Dianne McConnell

Professional Learning Lead

dianne.mcconnell@erlc.ca

Dianne began her career as a teacher with Parkland School Division. She has completed her PhD. in Special Education and is also a registered psychologist. She has worked as a Vision Consultant (Teacher for the Visually Impaired), Director of Student Services at multiple school divisions, led the Alberta Provincial Initiative for Inclusion (Setting the Direction) and has been the Associate Superintendent with Parkland School Division over the past eight years. While her career accomplishments is indeed extensive, perhaps more important has been her role as a parent. She is also the mother of three children, two of which have complex health conditions, including vision loss. She has been involved in advocacy in the field of Blindness and Visual impairment at both the provincial and national levels for over 30 years. Dianne brings a unique perspective to this subject matter. Through her experience as an educator and a parent of children with severe disabilities, she is well-versed on the ongoing challenges families and practitioners face in dealing with complex situations. She has worked as a service provider and has also been the benefactor of service provision. She has been a dedicated advocate throughout her career and is passionate about making a difference for children and their families.

Gwendolyn Shone

Professional Learning Lead

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Gwendolyn Shone

Professional Learning Lead

gwendolyn.shone@erlc.ca

Gwendolyn Shone is an Albertan educator who values plurality: having raised three daughters in a Francophone minority context, an immigrant father, and two Indigenous sisters adopted during the Sixties Scoop. She holds a Graduate certificate in Administration et leadeurship scolaire and a M.Éd. from Campus Saint-Jean, University of Alberta. Her experience includes Francophone and French immersion teacher, Alberta Education curriculum consultant, Francophonie newcomer services, French education researcher, new French teacher consultant, and Assistant Professor of pre-service Francophone and French immersion teachers.

Irene Heffel

Professional Learning Lead

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Irene Heffel

Professional Learning Lead

irene.heffel@erlc.ca

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Irene Heffel is a literacy consultant and educator with over 35 years of experience at all levels. She has worked with both elementary and secondary teachers to implement best practices in curriculum, assessment and Backward Design.

Areas of Expertise

  • Curriculum Planning
  • Assessment
  • Rubric Development
  • Backward Design
  • Teacher Planning
  • Reading Instruction
  • Writing Instruction
  • Group Facilitation
  • Reading Instruction Across Curriculum
  • Literacy Leadership

Session Offerings

  • Rigour and Routine
  • Essential Learning Outcomes
  • Essential Learning Outcomes and Next Steps
  • Backward Design
  • Literacy Principles
  • Assessment in Reading and Writing
  • Performance Assessment Development

Janet Bell

Professional Learning Lead

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Janet Bell

Professional Learning Lead

janet.bell@erlc.ca

Download Profile   View Available Sessions 30   Follow @janetbell

An English teacher originally, Janet’s career evolved over the years from classroom teacher to consultant, co-leading edtech integration across the province as a member of the award-winning 2Learn.ca and ARPDC provincial teams, to school and district leadership as a Department Head at Lillian Osborne High School and a TIPS (Technology Integration & Planning Supports) Consultant with Edmonton Public Schools. A Google Certified Trainer and SMART Certified Trainer and Innovator, these days Janet brings over 25 years of vision, practical strategies and all round edtech experience to help support system and school-based integration of Google Workspace for Education, Lumio and other reputable applications, makerspaces, digital citizenship and more, within today’s shifting learning spaces. In her spare time, she enjoys the four generations of her family.

Areas of Expertise

  • Technology Integration Planning and Professional Development
  • G Suite (Google Apps) Integration
  • SMART Learning Suite Integration
  • Makerspaces
  • Digital Citizenship
  • Emergent Technology Integration Practices

Session Offerings

  • Any Place, Any Time Learning with SMART Learning Suite Online
  • Technology and the TQS – Leading Change from Within’
  • Appy iPads in Schools and at Home
  • Digital Citizenship in a Post-COVID Age
  • Robots in my K-6 Classroom?Absolutely!
  • Learning from Home? Let’s Help Parents Help Us Help Kids!
  • Make Assessment more FUN and Functional than ever with Free or Low-Cost Online Tools!
  • GSuite Series (no prerequisite)
    • GSuite Strategies 1 – Processes and Resources for You and Your Students
    • GSuite Strategies 2 – Processes and Resources for You and Your Students
    • Sites to See!3-2-1 Launch!
    • Plan for a Great Year Ahead!
    • ‘Slide’ into Engaged Learning with Google Slides

Kelly Gibbs

Professional Learning Lead

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Kelly Gibbs

Professional Learning Lead

kelly.gibbs@erlc.ca

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Kelly has spent her educational career supporting students with a variety of needs and supporting staff building instructional strategies. She wanted to know more about how students learn and why they had difficulty learning…so back to school she went! As a teacher and a Reading Specialist, Kelly holds a Masters degree from the University of Alberta in the area of language and literacy development and specialized assessment. She built her knowledge of UDL through her work at the University of Manitoba. Her work as a Consultant supported teachers in building inclusive practice in all divisions. She has in-depth experience doing professional development, with a focus on instructional strategies and implementation of such strategies. She has taught pre-service teachers at the University of Alberta for the past year.

Kelly’s joy has been found in supporting staff in the use of research-based strategies that make teaching and learning intentional and meaningful.

Areas of Expertise

  • Language and Literacy
  • Specialized Assessment
  • Reading Specialist
  • Structured Literacy
  • Programming Support, Implementation and Coaching
  • Instructional Strategies
  • Inclusive Classrooms; Building Community
  • Support for Students at Tiers 1, 2, and 3
  • Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Session Offerings

  • The Respecting Diversity Program
  • Learning Disabilities – What it is, Who it is, What happens?
  • Learning Challenges – Let’s Plan Together
  • Specialized Assessments – What am I Looking At?
  • Flipping the Classroom
  • Guided Reading for Educational Assistants
  • Structured Literacy – Rethinking Your Approach of Literacy for All
  • Building and Instructional Strategy Handbook
  • Equipped for Reading Success
  • Executive Functions in the Classroom
  • English Language Learners in the Inclusive Classroom
  • Universal Design for Learning – A Pedagogical Understanding
  • Direct, Explicit Programming and Instruction – It’s A Thing
  • Plasticine Writing
    How to Group for Learning
  • Sound Walls
  • Let’s Build a Cohort
  • How to Create Interventions in Your Classroom

Marylou Gammans

Professional Learning Lead

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Marylou Gammans

Professional Learning Lead

marylou.gammans@erlc.ca

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Initially working as an artist in residence for various schools and industries, Marylou later brought her passion for building relationships to the classroom, becoming a teacher, and later a consultant. She facilitates professional learning and works with many school districts in French and English. Areas of focus are Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction (CBCI), Intensive French (ANL) and her own Embodied Cognition Programme using drama strategies to explore ways to create lasting meaning through authentic links with the curriculum and daily
life.

Marylou has always used a combination of innovative strategies to help people build significant relationships in our interconnected world.

Areas of Expertise

  • Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction (CBCI)
  • Intensive French – A Neurolinguistic Approach (ANL)
  • Embodied Cognition – Movement and Theatre for Deeper Understanding
  • French Literacy – Language Development Skills and Assessment
  • Social & Emotional Learning

Session Offerings

  • Parler françaisla découverte langagière continue même à lamaison!
  • Help!My child is in French Immersion and I don’t speak thelanguage!
  • Le théâtre pour promouvoir la communication orale et l’interactionsociale
  • L’intimidation:Un plan d’action
  • Pause cerveau:pour mieux se concentrer
  • Concept-Based Learning for Understanding: An Introduction
  • Concept-Based Learning for Understanding: A Deeper Dive
  • Concept-Based Learning for Understanding: A Focus on Various Strategies
  • Concept-Based Learning for Understanding:Implementation inVarious Contexts

Stephanie Dodyk

Professional Learning Lead

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Stephanie Dodyk

Professional Learning Lead

stephanie.dodyk@erlc.ca

Download Profile   View Available Sessions 15   Follow @mrs_d_9

Stephanie Dodyk is a Language Consultant with over 15 years experience in teaching and resource roles. After completing a Bachelor of Education degree in Secondary Mathematics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in German Literature, Stephanie later went on to finish a Master of Education specializing in Teaching English as an Additional Language.   In her work, Stephanie continually reflects on her journey of identity development and language learning while growing up as a second-generation Canadian and how it relates to students who are now adding English and Canada to their linguistic and cultural repertoires.

She is passionate about the empowering impact language and story have on building community. Her practice focuses on embracing the rich stories students bring with them as they add English to their learning journey and empowering educational professionals to hear them.

Areas of Expertise

  • AB K-12 EAL Proficiency Benchmarks
  • Disciplinary Literacy
  • Intercultural Awareness
  • Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
  • Oral language
  • Plurilingual Pedagogical Approaches
  • Second Language Acquisition
  • Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP Model)
  • UBD and UDL Frameworks

Session Offerings

  • AB K-12 EAL Proficiency Benchmarks
  • Oral Language Development Strategies (Elementary and Secondary)
  • Creating an Inclusive, Language-Rich Environment
  • What is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Does it Matter to Multilingual Learners?
  • Vocabulary Development Strategies
  • Culturally Responsive Teaching:  It’s more than just food and holidays
  • Understanding Language Acquisition for Language Learners (designed for Educational Assistants)
  • Planning for Language Development (Elementary and Secondary)
  • Developing Reading and Writing Proficiencies for Multilingual Students
  • Discourse:  Let’s talk about it
  • Tools and Routines to Support Beginning EAL Students in the First Weeks of School (Elementary and Secondary)
  • Multilingual Family Engagement
  • SIOP (Making Content Comprehensible for Multilingual Students)
  • Developing a Multi-Tiered System of Supports for Multilingual Students

Tammy Leslie

Professional Learning Lead

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Tammy Leslie

Professional Learning Lead

tammy.leslie@erlc.ca

View Available Sessions 3   Follow @tammyleslie218

Tammy is a Designer of Professional Learning in the area of Math and Numeracy, with a focus in elementary math. She has been in education for over 30 years in a variety of roles. Her goal is to support educators in their continued efforts to build positive mathematical mindsets and incorporate impactful strategies into the classroom.

Tammy aims to co-construct meaningful professional learning to guide instruction and maximize student learning.

Areas of Expertise

  • Unpacking the Aberta K-6 Curriculum
  • Planning and Assessing Student Actions in the K-6 Curriculum
  • Building a Guided Math Framework
  • Assessment in Math
  • Math Talks
  • Fluency with Basic Facts
  • Building math resources to support teachers

Session Offerings

  • Building a Guided Math Framework
  • Going Deeper with Guided Math
  • Creating Environments of Numeracy
  • Targeting Math Vocabulary
  • Primary Math Games
  • Upper Elementary Math Games
  • Choice Boards
  • Assessing for the Well Taught Math Classroom
  • Early Learning Count Principles (K-2)
  • Building Mastery with Addition and Subtraction (Gr. 1-3)
  • Building Mastery with Multiplication and Division (Gr. 4-6)
  • Change in the Mathematical Mindset to Enhance Student Learning
  • Math Journaling
  • Using Math Manipulatives
  • Creating a Culture of Numeracy

Tannis Niziol

Professional Learning Lead

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Tannis Niziol

Professional Learning Lead

tannis.niziol@erlc.ca

Download Profile   View Available Sessions 20   Follow @tanrit57

Tannis is currently supporting Alberta teachers as a Professional Learning Facilitator with the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium. She recently served as a curriculum consultant for the Edmonton Catholic School Division. Throughout her 30-year career as an educator, in both Edmonton and Winnipeg, Tannis remains passionate about teaching and learning, and the need for explicit literacy apprenticeship at all levels in all subject areas.

Tannis is a voracious reader who believes all students deserve access to rich, diverse reading experiences and to a safe equitable space to talk about what they see, hear, think and feel. She is on a journey to disrupt and bring clarity to the conversations that drive our planning and assessment practice.

Areas of Expertise

  • Language Arts 7-12
  • Literacy 7-12
  • Readers/Writers Workshop
  • Disciplinary Literacy
  • Understanding by Design
  • Conceptual Understanding
  • Assessment

Session Offerings

  • Making Meaning: Embedded Literacy across the Curriculum
  • Talking to Learn: Talk Routines that Build Understanding
  • Texts in ELA 7-12: Windows, Mirrors and Sliding Doors
  • Rethinking the Language Arts Classroom 7-9
  • Book Clubs: Choice, Collaboration, Confidence
  • Words Matter: Building Academic Vocabulary
  • Leveraging Mentor Texts in the ELA 7-12 Classroom
  • Planning with the End in Mind
  • Assessment For and As Learning: Best Practices in the Secondary Classroom
  • Reading the World:Engagement and Agency in Secondary ELA
  • The Art of Academic Conversation:Creating a talking and thinking classroom

Ted Zarowny

Professional Learning Lead

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Ted Zarowny

Professional Learning Lead

ted.zarowny@erlc.ca

View Available Sessions 15  

Ted’s educational journey took him through three provinces. He began his career as classroom teacher in Saskatchewan, and spent many years in British Columbia on the North Coast and interior as a teacher and principal. He returned to the prairies and a principalship in the Capital region where he currently remains.

Ted’s passions include instructional pedagogy such as learning for transfer, conceptual learning and the instruction of thinking skills. Trained in Control Theory and Restitution-Self Discipline, a restorative justice approach, Ted has extensive experience with approaches and techniques that address classroom management and student behaviour. He also has extensive experience working with gifted students while being the principal of a school for gifted learners for fifteen years. Ted is excited to share his skillset with others to help them refine practices and mindsets that enrich the learning experiences of students.

Areas of Expertise

  • Effective Instructional Approaches
  • Learning for Transfer & Conceptual Learning
  • Social Emotional Learning
  • Managing Student Behaviour
  • Gifted Education

Session Offerings

  • Curriculum Implementation

Tim Coates

Professional Learning Lead

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Tim Coates

Professional Learning Lead

tim.coates@erlc.ca

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Tim began his career as a high school social studies teacher, receiving an Excellence in Teaching Award in 1993. In 1994 he was seconded to Alberta Education, serving first as a Diploma Examination Manager, and later as the Director of the Diploma Examination Programs Branch. Tim has also worked in the ministry as the Curriculum Developer for high school social studies. Tim has offered professional development presentations throughout Alberta, the United States, and most recently in Hong Kong and Macau.

Currently, Tim is a Sessional Instructor at the University of Alberta, and since 2009 has taught a course in classroom assessment to students preparing for their first round of student teaching. In his spare time, Tim is completing the construction and landscaping of a home he and his spouse have built on an acreage south of Edmonton.

Areas of Expertise

  • Enhancing classroom assessments and assessment practices
  • Preparing for and understanding the results of provincial assessments
  • Aligning assessments with programs of study expectations
  • Putting into practice the principles for fair classroom assessment

Session Offerings

  • Understanding and Applying the Principles for Fair Assessment
  • Building Better Assessments: A Hands-On Workshop
  • Creating High-Quality Multiple Choice Questions
  • De-stress rather than Distress: Preparing for PAT’s and Diplomas
  • Interpreting Diploma Examination Results as a Formative Tool for Teachers
  • I am open to the possibility of customizing a session related to assessment, based on the needs of a school authority

Ulana Soletsky

Professional Learning Lead

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Ulana Soletsky

Professional Learning Lead

ulana.soletsky@erlc.ca

Download Profile   View Available Sessions 4   Follow @soletsky

Ulana Soletsky has been an educator for 37 years, and is passionate about all things that are math from Kindergarten to Grade 9. She spent 26 years in a classroom and for the past 11 years has held the position of AISI Coordinator, and most recently Math/Numeracy Consultant for Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools. During the past 13 years she has also been seconded to the ERLC as a Consultant offering Professional Development in the area of Math and Numeracy, providing sessions primarily in the area of how we can get the best results in our math classrooms.

A key component of her work at the school division level involves collaboration with school administration teams and at-elbow support to K-9 teachers. Her focus is primarily around curriculum support as well as planning for staff development and school improvement. She is a certified facilitator in the First Steps in Math and has provided PD in the Number, Number Operations, Measurement strands of First Steps in Math.

Areas of Expertise

  • Diagnostics and Interventions
  • First Steps in Math
  • Early and Middle Years Interviews
  • Strategies for Basic Facts and Number Operations
  • Spatial Reasoning in Mathematics
  • Numeracy across Subjects

Session Offerings

  • Addition Fact Strategies for Parents
  • Administrator “Look fors” in a Math Classroom
  • Basic Facts – Strategies for Addition and Subtraction
  • Basic Facts – Strategies for Multiplication and Division
  • Building Choice Boards in Math
  • Building Formative Assessment Tasks in Math
  • Building Number Sense
  • Building Operation and Computation Sense
  • Building Spatial Reasoning in Mathematics
  • Developing Essential Numeracy Skills in Grades K-2: What Teachers of Young Students Need to Know
  • Diagnostics using Early Years Interviews or Middle Years Interviews
  • Education Assistants as Numeracy Supports
  • First Steps in Math – Measurement or Number Sense and Operations
  • First Steps in Mathematics Introduction Fractions
  • Grade 3 Numeracy SLA’s
  • Measurement in Junior High
  • Multiplication Fact Strategies for Parents
  • Numeracy Across all Curriculum K-3, 4-6, K-6, or 7-12