As an extension of the Teacher learning and Leadership Program (TLLP), OTF has been engaged for over a year in a partnership initiative with the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) and the Union of Education Norway (Utdanningsforbundet). The NORCAN project, as it is called, connects two TLLP school teams in Ontario (Monsignor Pereyma in Oshawa and Tecumseh Vista Academy in Windsor) with four schools in Alberta and three schools in Norway.
“The animating question guiding NORCAN is: how can an international network of schools and educators committed to mindful leadership help to identify obstacles to students’ mathematics learning and develop strategies for attaining success?” By collaborating across jurisdictions, educators and students involved in NORCAN are investigating diverse approaches to improving student learning in mathematics, and are simultaneously developing teacher, principal and student leadership in their respective schools. The project also includes an explicit focus on equity, since math is often used as a mechanism for sorting and ranking students in both developed and developing countries.
From April 30 – May 6, OTF and the Ontario Ministry of Education are jointly hosting a meeting of the NORCAN schools. For the first time since the project began, students will be included in the program activities. The visiting delegations will spend several days teaching and learning in our two Ontario TLLP schools.
A Student Math/Leadership Camp experience will also be hosted by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). Students will engage in hands-on, real world problem solving and mathematical challenges, including geocaching and robotics, and will visit UOIT facilities such as the engineering wind tunnel, all while developing their leadership skills.
The NORCAN project is being closely followed by two lead researchers, Dennis Shirley of Boston College and Mona Rosseland of Universitetet i Agder.
Discussions, blogs, photos and other information on the NORCAN project are available at www.norcan.ning.com.
For more information on the TLLP program, visit https://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/learning/teacher-learning-and-leadership-program/.