Interactive Webinar Series
With support from the Ministry of Education, BC’s Rural Education Advisory, UBC’s Edith Lando Virtual Learning Centre, and the Greater Victoria School District invite educators in BC to join in a shared conversation about literacy learning in the secondary years. Sessions will have a blend of current thinking, examples from practice, and time to process and personalize ideas. See how reading, writing and thinking grow from oral language.
Our three -part interactive webinar series will be led by Dr. Leyton Schnellert with special guests for each session.
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- November 7, 2022 – English First Peoples 10 – 12 – Denise Augustine, Emma Milliken, Erica Fitton
- February 6, 2023 – Learning Through Story – Sara Florence Davidson
- April 3, 2023 – Disciplinary Literacy – Heather Brown, Tammy Renyard, Vicki Roberts
Leyton Schnellert, PhD
Leyton is an associate professor in UBC’s Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy and Eleanor Rix Professor in Rural Teacher Education. He focuses on how teachers and teaching and learners and learning can mindfully embrace student diversity and inclusive education. Dr. Schnellert is the Pedagogy and Participation research cluster lead in the UBC Institute for Community Engaged Research and co-chair of BC’s Rural Education Advisory Committee. He has been a middle- and secondary-school classroom teacher and a learning-resource teacher for grades K–12. His books, films, and research articles are widely referenced locally, nationally, and globally.
For more information about Leyton visit: leytonschnellert.com or on twitter as @LeytonSchnell
Session Details
Denise Augustine, Superintendent of Indigenous Education
Denise Augustine (Swee’alt) is a Coast Salish woman with mixed ancestry. Both her and her husband, Greg, were raised in the Cowichan Valley and this is where they also raised their two girls Skye and Arianna. Denise has been an educator for over 20 years and has worked with children and youth from pre-school through grade 12. More recently, as the district principal of Aboriginal education, Denise has been working closely with teachers, administrators and support staff. In side-by-side coaching, action research, and experiential workshops, Denise carefully weaves story and research together, inviting adults to open their hearts and minds and imagine a community that values diversity and inspires innovation.
Emma Milliken, Teacher at Spectrum Community School
Emma Milliken is from the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in Ontario, with Anishinaabe and Scottish ancestry. She has been an Indigenous Education support teacher for fifteen years, and is a member of the Indigenous Education District Team in SD 61 (Greater Victoria). Emma is grateful to be working with Indigenous youth, and to have found a home with her own family on Lkwungen territory for the past twenty years. She is currently working on projects to support school staff in their journeys to understanding and practicing reconciliation personally and professionally. In her own teaching practice, her focus has been on both pedagogy and assessment, and how Indigenous approaches in these areas can benefit all children in our schools. Emma lives in Victoria, BC.
Erica Fitton, Teacher SD67
Erica is a English and Social Studies teacher at Princess Margaret in Penticton. For the past 8 years she has primarily been teaching English 10 and 12 First Peoples. She is passionate about building a strong community in the classroom, transporting her classes to land based learning experiences all over Penticton in a 24 passenger mini bus and helping student foster a knowledge of their role in Truth and Reconciliation. She is currently furthering her education through and MED at UBC in Curriculum Studies.
Session Recording
Sara Florence Davidson, PhD
Sara Florence Davidson (sgaan jaadgu san glans) is a Haida/Settler Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. She completed her PhD in Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, and her research focuses on Indigenous pedagogies, literacies, and stories. With her father, she is the co-author of Potlatch as Pedagogy: Learning through Ceremony and the Sk’ad’a Stories, a picture book series which is based on family stories and highlights Indigenous pedagogies and intergenerational learning. Sara is passionate about reading, writing, and listening to stories.
Session Recording
Tammy Renyard, District Principal SD61
Tammy Renyard is in her fourth year as a District Principal in the Greater Victoria School District. Tammy was seconded to the Ministry of Education prior to this role to support the implementation of the re-designed curriculum focusing on professional learning opportunities for the province. She is passionate about culturally responsive instructional design and assessment to support deep learning for all learners. Literacy has always been both a passion and a teaching focus. Tammy has led professional development and classroom-based learning rounds for middle and secondary educators in BC, Alberta, the YK and NT. Tammy also works as a mentor-coach with Vancouver Island University’s Master of Education in Educational Leadership.
Heather Brown, Vice-Principal SD61
Heather has taught junior and senior secondary math and science, predominantly Physics and Chemistry, in both urban and rural settings. Heather believes in supporting students in making their thinking visible using content to develop competencies. She values trust, humour, inclusivity and growth. Currently she is a Vice-Principal in a secondary school in SD61 on the beautiful lands of the lək̓ʷəŋən People near Victoria, BC.
Vicki Roberts, Principal SD61
Vicki is currently a middle school principal in Greater Victoria. Previously she was a vice principal for 6 years in middle and secondary school and on the District Learning Team. Before going into school leadership, Vicki was a teacher in middle school and elementary for 10 years. Vicki is passionate about creating literacy rich learning communities through authentic learning opportunities that bring students’ out of school and in school worlds together. Her work is grounded through her core values of connection, humour, gratitude, and equity. In her down time, Vicki loves to cook, read, and spend time at the beach.
Session Recording
