October 2019 Prairie Update

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Thoughts from Gayle....

If you’ve participated in a TFT workshop in the last couple of years, you will have been asked to articulate your Deep Hope: your “why?”, your hoped for long-term impact of your work. It is a good practice to spend time thinking about and writing this down, and then reflecting on how you’re going to achieve your Deep Hope. When we work with teachers, we challenge ourselves to realize that in order to achieve something as BIG as our Deep Hope, we need to start TODAY, doing things that will move us in that direction.

My Deep Hope for my work is that through the partnerships and relationships within PCCE, communities will pursue peculiar as they flourish within God’ unfolding Story. This fall, our focus is on the relationships part:
Our goal is to visit every school community before the end of January, and between Jeremy, Hugo and myself, we visited over half of our communities in September. We’ve started using a tracking tool where we keep notes on which schools we’ve connected with so we can ensure that all schools feel connected to and supported by PCCE. We also have four new initiatives kicking off this month that are intended to build and strengthen relationships: TFT Lead Teacher Instructional Coaching Cohort, Leadership Cohort Fall Gathering, PCCE Book Club (to be officially kicked off at Convention) & Executive Leadership Coaching Cohort. While all four initiatives have a clear Learning Experience focus (one of our Playbook foci), the nurturing of collegial relationships is foundational.

Teachers

The PCCE Teachers' Convention

We are expecting our largest ever group of educators to gather later this month! We look forward to seeing you all as we worship, learn, eat and collaborate together. Refer to the WEBSITE for details.

Skype a Scientist

K-12 science teachers here’s a great OPPORTUNITY to invite a real-live scientist into your classroom.

World Language teachers

Two interesting articles for you. One challenges us as Christian teachers, while the other encourages us to look at our pedagogy.

Article One Article Two

PCCE BOARD REPRESENTATIVE

PCCE Board Representative: the PCCE board includes two teacher representatives and those positions are currently filled by Sean Alaric and Jobena Westera. Jobena’s term will finish this spring, so we are looking for another representative to begin next fall. If you are interested, would like to recommend someone or would like more information, please contact Gayle, Sean or Jobena.

Teenagers and Anxiety:

Although the ARTICLE title mentions girls specifically, the strategies would be effective for all students.

Bible Teachers

Christian Schools International is organizing a fantastic learning experience for Bible teachers. Several PCCE teachers have participated in past symposiums and have found the experience to be career-changing. Deadline for APPLICATION is December 2, 2019.

TQS INFOGRAPHIC

For our Alberta teachers, here is a handy reminder of the Teacher Quality Standards

Administrators

LQS INFOGRAPHIC

Alberta leaders, this one-pager is a good reference for
Leadership Quality Standards.

Emergency Response Handbook

Although we hope to never experience them, being prepared for emergencies is critical. Our colleagues in BC have updated their HANDBOOK and it is now make it available to PCCE schools on an ongoing subscription basis.

Next Step

As you think about your goals for your school for the upcoming year,

have a read through this ARTICLE that describes what makes teachers thrive and schools flourish.

2020 CSC Conference

the Christian Schools Canada Leadership conference will be held in Vancouver on September 28-30, 2020 at the Marriott Pinnacle.

The theme is Exclusion and Embrace featuring keynote speaker Miroslav Volf.

Hotel reservations can be made HERE.

School Boards

Board Governance

A good (and short article) on the importance of good governance. If this sparks an interest to learn more, contact Gayle to set up a workshop for your Board. After a recent workshop a Board member remarked that now he knows exactly what he should be doing.

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Here are some highlights of the fall meeting of the PCCE Board

New officers were selected

Chair: Sean Alaric (teacher representative, from Immanuel Christian School)

Vice-Chair: Terri-Lynn Emms (leadership cohort representative, from Drayton Christian School)

Treasurer: Hank Bestman (The King’s University representative)

Secretary: Danielle Visser (Southern Alberta community representative)

We accepted the resignation of Board member Rod Harder who had recently accepted a new job position. We will now be contacting our Outside-of-Alberta schools for nominees to replace Rod. As a board we will really miss Rod and his financial prowess.

The Dues and Membership Task Force will report to the Board at their next meeting.

Discussion was held on how Board members can increase their connections to the membership. A working group will report back at the next meeting.

After approving an Investment Policy last year, the Board is now establishing the Investment Advisory Committee and it looking for 1 or more members from our communities who have experience and expertise in this area. Contact Gayle or Board Chair Sean if you have a recommendation

Important Dates

October 22 & 23

TfT 101 King's University Edmonton

October 24 & 25

Teachers’ Convention at Edmonton Christian Northeast School

January 18

PCCE Board Meeting in Calgary

april 25

PCCE AGM in Calgary