PDTCA 2025

In this session, participants will explore innovative strategies for students to achieve high school English outcomes through immersive, authentic experiences and assessments through video games. Educators will gain insights into effectively guiding students in narrative development, purposeful writing for diverse audiences, research, and honing real-world presentation skills, all within the framework of video game development. Attendees can expect to leave equipped with practical resources and concrete examples, empowering them to seamlessly integrate these approaches into their own classrooms. Please note, this session is a repeat from last year due to popular demand.

Students need to learn and grow the near-world skills of critical thinking, literacy, and questioning through their experiences in an online (asynchronous or otherwise) learning environment. In other words, we are nurturing students to actively read, write, think, and create while leveraging AI to support, enhance, and fuel all this. No science can tell us what the future will be, so it is vital to ensure students have foundational thinking and learning skills.

How? By moving learning beyond worksheets and paper-based assessments.

Would you trust a doctor who scored highly on a paper test but failed all levels of practical assessment? No.

Our students deserve to move into life after high school with more than ‘paper learning’; they need to understand how to critically think, collaborate, innovate, create, learn from, question, and leverage AI to future-proof themselves in an ever-evolving world.

The Metis are a people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry with a distinct and rich culture different from other Indigenous peoples. Participants will learn about the historical impact and significance the Metis have had on the development of Canada. An understanding and definition of the Metis identity will be defined and the importance and significance of traditional Metis cultural items will be shown.

Information on the war efforts of Indigenous soldiers and their treatment upon their return to Canada. The session will also highlight the personal story of
Cpl. Alphonse St.Germain and his time spent as a POW in Italy and Germany. A story of resilience and determination to survive and create a stable life for his family despite many unique obstacles.

Does your school have robots but you’re not sure how to use them in your classroom? Strengthen your students’ problem-solving skills and engage creatively with the curriculum through robotic exploration! This session will provide you with the foundational knowledge to help your students code a robot through block-based coding. Learn how computational thinking skills such as pattern recognition, algorithm design, and debugging are necessary when coding and how to connect robotics to curricular concepts in any subject. Get hands-on experience with a robot and walk away with a few project ideas to use in your classroom!
The skills learned in this workshop will be transferrable to whatever robots your school has access to.

Devices will be supplied for this session.

Strengthen your students’ problem-solving skills and engage creatively with the curriculum by creating games in Microsoft MakeCode Arcade! This session will provide you with the foundational knowledge to help your students design their own video games, then bring those games to life through block-based coding. Learn how computational thinking skills such as pattern recognition, algorithm design, and debugging are necessary when coding and how to connect games to curricular concepts in any subject. This session explores connections to the Computer Science curriculum for grades 4 and up.

A laptop, Chromebook, or tablet is required for this session.

Teachers are a demographic in our workforce that are distinctly unrecognized for the work they do and the support they provide. When there is an industry that is underappreciated, it means those working in it are often under-supported, which can lead to varying impacts of burnout. When we struggle with burnout, it can be paired with self-criticism, feelings of loss of control, grief and this can impact both careers and lives outside of being a teacher.

Burnout for teachers can come from long days of being emotionally available to a variety of people, unpaid work to get everything done in a school year, and constantly adapting to the environment and the capacity of the students around them. Being adaptable is a quality that makes teachers amazing at their jobs, however, it can also give teachers no time to listen to themselves. Grief plays many roles in our lives, whether it is in our immediate realities or in those around us.

When we discuss the high impact of teachers' jobs, we also need to be able to remove them from the title of their careers and look at them as people who have full, beautiful, and complicated lives outside of school. How do you deal with your own life within the context of supporting others so much in theirs?

When we feel like we have something to fix all the time, we tend to put it on the back burner, but when we put too many things on the back burner, it leads to house fires. So it is important to be proactive and not reactive in our health and wellness.

There are ways to acknowledge how our careers, personal lives, and the system impact us in a way that allows us to show up for ourselves and others. This comes through understanding self-criticism and learning self-compassion, making and finding meaning, understanding what is in our control and what is not, the ability to understand what is happening in our bodies when we are stressed and/or experience/supporting grief and understanding our capacity and learning to set boundaries.

My presentation will recognize the complexity of teachers' lives and the various roles they juggle in their careers and personal lives. It gives psychoeducation on how these external factors internally impact the individual and will explore strategies for managing stress and its sources, as well as the multiple facets of grief that affect individuals and how they provide support to others. Finally, it will conclude with insights and guidance on understanding and navigating the different stages of impact and burnout.

In my presentation, I delve into the intertwining realms of care, spirituality, and teaching practices, illuminating the pivotal role of educators as caregivers. I invite you to join me on a journey to cultivate a nurturing learning environment where every student feels supported and valued.

We embark on this exploration by delving into the significance of spirituality in health and wellness, setting the stage for its integration into our educational approach. As we progress, I share insights into the essential skills and qualities of effective caregiving, enriched by the infusion of spirituality.