#UGignite: UGDSB Learning Fair inspires staff
August 28, 2017
GUELPH, Ontario – Upper Grand District School Board staff gathered in St. Catharines, Ontario, on August 23 and 24 to participate in the board’s annual Learning Fair.
The event kicked off with breakfast and enthusiastic teachers and staff catching up on what they did over the summer. After a brief welcome and introduction of events, Colinda Clyne, the UGDSB’s First Nations, Métis, Inuit Education Curriculum Lead, addressed an Acknowledgement of Territorial Lands and introduced the opening Keynote Speaker, Dr. Sean Lessard.
Dr. Lessard’s home community is the Montreal Lake Cree Nation of Northern Saskatchewan. As a child, a non-Aboriginal family in rural North Battleford, Saskatchewan, adopted Lessard. Frequent trips between both worlds allowed him to develop strong attachments to both communities, which shaped his sense of self. Lessard came to realize that there is not one singular story of identity, which now makes up the heart of his research. Lessard’s keynote address had the audience critically thinking about “creating space” in our schools. Lessard’s address was funny, heartfelt and left the audience communicating with each other throughout the day.
Amanda Lindhout presented the closing keynote address. Lindhout is a Canadian-born humanitarian, public speaker and journalist. Kidnapped in Somalia in 2008 and held for 15 months, she has since embarked on a philanthropic career. Author of the bestselling book A House in the Sky: A Memoir, Lindhout now devotes her time to speaking engagements and charitable organizations. During her Keynote address, Lindhout inspired staff and really captured the message of the freedom in forgiveness.
Keynote addresses were not the only events keeping staff thinking and discussing as the fair was filled with many engaging breakout workshops. Organizers of this year’s Learning Fair were overwhelmed when they received over 70 applications from internal staff asking to be workshop presenters.
Presenters included UGDSB staff as well as presenters like, Sandra Herbst, Heidi Siwak, Kathy Sommers, John McGowan and more. Workshops were delivered on a variety of topics that included the Primary Outdoor Classroom, Learning Skills and Behaviour Management, Leveraging Triangulation for Alternative Summative Evaluations, Stress Less for Tests, Android App Creation, Building Mentally Healthy Classrooms, an Introduction to Virtual Reality and so much more.
In addition to learning, the fair also included a dinner and dance, campfire and games room. Staff were so excited to be participating in the fair that the hashtag #UGignite made waves as it made the top ten trending hashtags in Canada on August 23.
Staff are already busy preparing for next year’s Learning Fair and are pleased that this year was such a success.
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