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KiHS Planning Workshop in Winnipeg

February 18, 2003 - 8:13pm | by Anonymous

The KiHS teachers and administration attended a plenary workshop in Winnipeg last week.

The focus of these sessions was to work on developing the virtual high school into an even more dynamic and successful program in the 13 communities in its partnership agreements. Those in attendance participated to come up with concrete suggestions and a plan to address some of the issues facing Aboriginal Education as brought up by the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs in his National Working Group on Education Report (http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/nr/prs/j-a2003/2-02248_e.html) released last week.

The week started with a keynote address by Richard Morris, director of Education at Lac Seul First Nation. He gave the staff a good background on some of the issues relating to Aboriginal Students and why we face certain challenges. He gave a very informative briefing of some of the experiences related to the residential school system and how we need to approach things with that knowledge. The session ended with a question and answer period. The staff found the session very valuable and went away with insight that will be a benefit to their community classroom.

The week continued with sessions that were presented by the staff. The sessions started with a short discussion of the issue and how it was a challenge in our communities. Then we broke into groups of three and brain stormed ways that we could address these issues and challenges. After the brainstorming the large group reformed and evaluated the suggestions. We ended up with a list of ideas that could work at making the deliverables, that KiHS has determined necessary for the program, a reality. The information that came from these sessions is very valuable to the program and should provide an improved delivery.

Some of the topics discussed were:

  • Student Attendance
  • Parental and Community Involvement
  • Student Enrollment and Recruitment
  • KiHS and Local School Relationship
  • Communication within KiHS
  • Student Achievement
  • Teacher-Student Rapport and its influence on Student Achievement
  • Interactive Lessons
  • Course Development/Aboriginal Culture and Curriculum
  • Ministry of Education Expectations of Private Schools
  • Staff Retention
  • Role of the Classroom Assistant
  • Mentor Roles

Each of these topics generated suggestions that will be used by KiHS to further develop its program and delivery. The aim of KiHS is to provide the students, who choose to remain at home to earn Ontario Secondary School Diploma credits, a rich and varied experience that will be invaluable to their future success.

The future looks bright at KiHS and we want our students to shine.

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