Professional Activity Days

Thames Valley District School Board

The mandated Professional Learning topics provided to all staff in 162 TVDSB schools across the district on September 5, 2023, demonstrates Thames Valley's commitment to ensuring establishing and maintaining relationships, supporting student achievement and well-being and celebrating diversity and inclusion for the 2023-2024 school year.

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Morning

Building Positive School Culture and Climate
Supporting Student Mental Health
Creating Safe School Environments

This professional development will be led as an interactive presentation by School Administration for staff in person on creating positive school cultures and supporting student mental health. This Ministry of Education has mandated professional learning for staff on creating safe school environments. The materials are developed by the TVDSB Mental Health and Well-Being Portfolio based on School Mental Health resources.

Afternoon

Creating Safe School Environments, continued
PPM 128 Training – Provincial Code of Conduct and School Board Codes of Conduct to restrict cellphones and vaping in schools
Supporting Students with Prevalent Medical Conditions
Concussion Training

This Ministry of Education has mandated professional learning for staff on creating safe school environments. The Ministry of Education has also mandated training to restrict cellphones and vaping in schools. This professional development will be led as an interactive presentation by School Administration in person for all staff.

Training will also be provided to address topics to support staff in understanding how to support students with prevalent medical conditions, responding to student incidents (e.g., concussion) and strategies to support healthy and safe school environments. These learning opportunities are delivered in video format for staff to view in person. The materials are developed by the TVDSB’s Special Education and Health and Safety Department aligned with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour requirements.

The Professional Learning provided to all staff in all schools across Thames Valley demonstrate Thames Valley's commitment to building positive school cultures, supporting student mental health and well-being, and creating safe school environments for the 2024-2025 school year. 

Friday, June 28, 2024

Educational Assistants
Educational Assistants will participate in various professional learning opportunities. These opportunities will be specific to individual and site needs. Some of the opportunities include:

Behaviour Management Systems (BMS)
Self-Directed Learning Opportunities

Elementary Teachers and Early Childhood Educators
Elementary Educators will be engaged in various grade and division-specific professional development opportunities to support student achievement. This day will provide teachers with varied strategies that can be implemented in their classrooms in September.

Secondary Teachers
Secondary teachers will be engaged in various assessment and evaluation practices to support student achievement.

Friday, May 31, 2024

iPad training
EA training – Communication, Collaboration and Consolidation
Transition planning
Behaviour Management Systems (BMS)
Self-Directed Learning Opportunities.

Elementary Teachers and Early Childhood Educators
Educators will be engaged in various assessment and evaluation practices to support student achievement.

Secondary Teachers
Secondary teachers will be engaged in various subject-specific professional development opportunities to support student achievement. This day will provide teachers with varied strategies that can be implemented in their classrooms. Educators will have the opportunity to engage with industry partners, learn from and with subject specific peers, and network with colleagues.

Monday, April 8, 2024

Educational Assistants
Educational Assistants will be participating in a variety of professional learning opportunities. These opportunities will be specific to individual and site needs. Some of the opportunities include:

ASD 101
Connections over Compliance
Supporting independence through inclusion and technology
Grass-roots Leadership
Train your brain
Understanding Sensory Needs
Safe lifting presentation
Behaviour Management Systems (BMS)
Self-Directed Learning Opportunities

Elementary Teachers
Elementary educators will participate in professional learning related to curriculum implementation and high-impact instructional and assessment practices. School administrators will be leading this professional learning as it relates specifically to school mathematics.

Secondary Teachers
Secondary Teachers will participate in professional learning related to curriculum implementation and high-impact instructional and assessment practices. School administrators will be leading this professional learning as it relates specifically to school goals.

Friday, February 2, 2024

ASD 101
Universal Supports
Anti-Sex Trafficking
Behaviour Management Systems (BMS)
Self-Directed Learning Opportunities.

Secondary Teachers
Secondary Teachers will complete assessments and grade submissions for Semester One and prepare for the start of Semester Two.

Friday, January 19, 2024

ASD 101
Universal Supports
Anti-Sex Trafficking
Behaviour Management Systems (BMS)
Self-Directed Learning Opportunities.

Elementary Teachers and Early Childhood Educators
Educators will be engaged in a variety of student assessment and evaluation activities on this day.

Friday, November 17, 2023

Educational Assistants
Educational Assistants will be participating in a variety of professional learning opportunities, including Emergent Literacy Training, Mental Health, Communication Strategies and Well-being training, and multi-disciplinary training with Speech-Language Pathologists, Special Education Teachers on Special Assignment and Social Workers. These opportunities will be specific to individual and site needs.

Elementary Teachers and Early Childhood Educators
Elementary Educators will be participating in parent-teacher interviews. Please contact your local school for more details.

Secondary Teachers
Secondary Teachers will be reviewing their school specific Literacy Goals and Numeracy Goals, with a specific focus on using data to identify and support student learning needs. Teachers will make use of data sources such as student Individual Education Plans (IEPs), EQAO results, first quarter/early warning reports, Graduation Summary Reports, and moderated classroom work samples to develop classroom indicators of success.

This professional learning will build upon the previous Professional Activity Days, with a specific focus on key components of the School Improvement and Equity Plan. This demonstrates Thames Valley's commitment to improve student Literacy and Numeracy learning and achievement for the 2023-2024 school year.

Friday, October 6, 2023

Ministry of Education Mandatory Topic: Literacy

Educational Assistants
Educational Assistants will be participating in a variety of professional learning opportunities, including Behaviour Management Systems certification/recertification, Proactive Behaviour Management training, Emergent Literacy training, Mental Health and Well-Being training, and Multi-Disciplinary training with Speech-Language Pathologists and Social Workers. These opportunities will be specific to individual and site needs.

Kindergarten Teachers and Early Childhood Educators – Full Day

This professional learning day will focus on supporting and building educator capacity in the area of effective early reading instruction in Kindergarten. For half the day, educator teams will explore a variety of literacy resources and materials (e.g., Effective Early Reading Instruction, A teacher’s guide – Ministry of Education; phonological and phonemic awareness lessons; Sound Walls lessons) and review practical and effective strategies to support student learning with a focus on early reading and evidence-based systematic and explicit reading instruction. The other half of the day, educator teams will participate in an in-person district professional learning session offered by the TVDSB Early Years Portfolio and Speech and Language Services. In this session, educators will have an opportunity to learn more about the Language continua from the revised Language curriculum, oral language development, and other resources to support effective early reading instruction in Kindergarten.

Elementary Teachers – Full Day

This professional learning day will focus on supporting and building educator capacity in the area of effective early reading instruction and the implementation of the revised Language, Grade 1-8 curriculum. School teams will explore grade level curriculum expectations and supporting documents/materials (e.g., understanding the context; key changes; assessment and evaluation; and new continua for the revised Language curriculum) and review practical and effective strategies to support student learning with a focus on early reading and evidence-based systematic and explicit reading instruction. Grades 1 to 3 educators will work together in grade-levels or as a division to explore TVDSB and Ministry of Education resources (e.g., professional learning modules; videos; and online resources) to support the implementation of the revised Language curriculum. Grade 4-8 educators will participate in a virtual live session, “Teaching Language Foundations for Reading and Writing” offered by the TVDSB Literacy Portfolio to support changes in literacy instruction. This in-person professional learning will be facilitated by the school administration.

Secondary Teachers – Full Day

This professional learning day will focus on supporting and building educator capacity in the area of effective literacy instruction to improve literacy outcomes for students. Specifically, school teams will explore how to embed and improve disciplinary literacy strategies across the Secondary curriculum. Subject departments will engage in learning to support rich literacy instruction within their curriculum area (e.g., targeted vocabulary instruction; supporting students to read and understand complex text; and combining writing instruction with reading in the subject area) and how to access TVDSB and Ministry of Education resources to support effective literacy practices across the curriculum. This in-person professional learning will be facilitated by the school administration.

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Professional Activity Day Summary

On Tuesday, September 5, 2023, all Thames Valley District School Board school-based staff will engage in the following professional learning activities:

Time	Topic	Format
Morning	Ministry of Education Mandatory Topic: Student Mental Health and Well-being Establishing the Essential Conditions for Learning	This Ministry of Education mandated professional learning topic will be led as an interactive presentation by School Administration in person as a focus on supporting student mental health and well-being. The materials are developed by the TVDSB Mental Health and Well-Being portfolio based on School Mental Health Ontario resources.
Afternoon	Ministry of Education and Thames Valley District School Board Mandated Topic: Student Safety and Violent Incident Prevention Supporting Students with Prevalent Medical Conditions/ Violence Awareness and Student Safety Training	This Ministry of Education and Thames Valley DSB mandated professional learning will address topics to support staff in understanding how to support students with prevalent medical conditions, responding to student incidents (e.g., concussion) and strategies to support healthy and safe school environments. These learning opportunities are delivered in video format for staff to view in person. The materials are developed by the TVDSB’s Special Education and Health and Safety Department aligned with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labour requirements.

Should you have any questions about the professional learning, please contact your School Principal.