All Students Can Be
Successful!
Frank Allan
Principal of Curriculum Services,
OCDSB
What will make this
happen?
You need to:
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Have a Vision,
Have a Team,
Have Dedicated Teachers,
Focus On Student Success,
Recognize the Barriers to
Success,
• Remove Those Barriers,
• Provide a Positive Learning
Environment.
1. A vision that all
students can be
successful.
• What precedes a vision for
student success?
What precedes vision!
Lesson from
Popeye!
“That’s all I can stands, I can stands no more!”
It’s that passionate discontent with the status quoThat drives vision!
A Successful Pathway for
Every Student
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Independent Living
University
Apprenticeships
School to Work
(Nick/Steve/Gloria/Sam)
• College
The Nine Indicators
• Action Plan 04/05 introduced Key
Indicators
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Grade 9 and 10 Credit accumulation
Pass Rates in Compulsory Courses- 9 & 10
Literacy Success Rate (OSSLT, OSSLC)
Workplace Preparation, College Preparation,
New Guidance and LDCC courses running and
overall student enrolment
• Annual School Leaver Rate by %
• Number of Grades 7 & 8 students at risk as
indicated by working at Level 1 or below in
English and/or Math
A vision that:
• All students can learn.
• School makes the difference
between success and failure.
• Teachers must recognize that
students learn at different ways and
at different rates.
• All students are capable of achieving
at a higher level when challenged by
an excellent teacher.
A vision that:
• Student achievement is directly
related to high expectations and
letting students know that they are
all believed capable of meeting
basic objectives, and no one is
expected to fail.
• Recognizes that parental
involvement is an important factor in
student success.
A vision that:
• Schools must nurture each students
talents
• Schools must be safe havens for
student’s minds, hearts, and souls.
• Graduates must be prepared to face
the challenges that life presents and
be filled with respect for the majesty
of the world of which they are the
custodians.
A vision that:
• Recognizes new opportunities
must be provided for students to
experience success in spite of
past failures.
• Looks for new programs which
engage student who have
become disengaged from
learning and in some situations
from life.
I will believe
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I will believe
Every child I teach
Is a flame of hope
Burning brilliantly,
A strong heart and
mind
• Seeking out my
hand
• It is within my
reach
• This I believe
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In the middle of each town
In the heart of every school
Behind a desk in a classroom
Is a single child for whom
This moment is the difference
Where the road is mapped and planned
This childhood waves goodbye
But not yet a woman or a man.
I will believe
•
•
•
•
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I will believe
Every child I teach
Is a flame of hope
Burning brilliantly,
A strong heart and
mind
• Seeking out my
hand
• It is within my
reach
• This I believe
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•
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I am here by choice
Right where I want to be
The challenge is great
To inspire and lead
But how proudly they achieve
How profoundly they comprehend
How their laughing spirit soars
And I promise again!
I will believe
•
•
•
•
•
I will believe
Every child I teach
Is a flame of hope
Burning brilliantly,
A strong heart and
mind
• Seeking out my
hand
• It is within my
reach
• This I believe
I will believe
•
•
•
•
•
I will believe
Every child I teach
Is a flame of hope
Burning brilliantly,
A strong heart and
mind
• Seeking out my
hand
• It is within my
reach
• This I believe
I will believe
•
•
•
•
•
I will believe
Every child I teach
Is a flame of hope
Burning brilliantly,
A strong heart and
mind
• Seeking out my
hand
• It is within my
reach
• This I believe
Looking Through The
Big Picture Windows
The Real Big Issues
• What is your world view? What
gives your life meaning?
• What are the global issues that
we need to address to sustain
our global civilization?
• What are the societal issues
that impact us and our student’s
learning?
OCDSB’s Big Picture
• How do student’s learn? (Your
professional knowledge)
• What do you want students to
know? (Provincial Curriculum)
• How do we know they have
learned it? (Assessment &
Evaluation, Data Analysis)
• What do we do if they have not
learned it?
(Interventions/Secretariate/
Student Success/Learning to
18)
• What do you do if they have
already learned it?
Your School’s Big Picture
• We believe ……
• Do we offer a caring and safe
place for all of our students?
• Does every teacher understand
what each student should know
and be able to do after
completing the unit of
instruction, course, and grade
level?
• What systems are in place to
monitor each student’s learning
on a timely basis?
• What happens if a student is not
learning. How does the school
respond?
• What systems are in place to
provide these students with
additional time and support?
Your Personal Big Picture
• My world view involves….
• Here is what I believe about
student learning…
• Here is what I want my students
to know…
• I will know they have learned it
by…
• If they have not learned it this
is what I will do…
• I am going to do the following to
become better at what I do..
2. Recognize that it is a
team effort!
• Building your Team! – A lesson
from the Redwoods.
• Someone must be there for
each student.
Building our Team! – A lesson from the Redwoods.
Building our Team! – A lesson from the Redwoods.
Cheers
Cheers Theme Song
“Sometimes you want to go where
everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows
your name. “
3. Recognize that dedicated
teachers are essential for
“at risk” students to be
successful.
“I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the
decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal
approach that creates the climate. It is my mood that
makes the weather. As a teacher I possess
tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or
joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of
inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal.
In all situations it is my response that decides
whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated,
and a child humanized or de-humanized.” Haim
Ginott - 1972
4. Focus on what makes a
student successful.
Success =
Competence (Cognitive, Social, Physical)
Character (knowing your strengths, weaknesses)
Caring/Compassion (Life is centered in your
heart)
Connections (to adults other than family)
Confidence (rather than self-esteem)
Students will be successful if
they have meaningful
relationships with others and
feel their life is significant as
they fully engage in their
community.
• The challenge for us as
educators is to intervene with
students who have not been
successful and leave them with
a better life trajectory than
when they came into our care.
“I read Basher Five-Two. It was a good book. It was about
how this fighter pilot got shot down behind enamy lines and
had to survive by useing survieval skills like eating bugs and
digging a hole he could stay in at night and he has ants all
over him but couldn’t move or make any noises because the
enamy soltiers where everywere. He had to have faith that
his troop would come back to get him and save him. I would
like to have the same fathe that he has got because I am
down behind enemy lines to. I got things that make me want
to cry but if I cry I get punched and told I’m a crybaby sissy.
He has alot of curage because in the tuf times he kept
going. I keep going alot of times to. But how long would his
curage have lasted if noone had come to get him? That’s
what I want to no. How long does you’re curage last when
the troops don’t come?”
Derek – a grade 8 student of Kylene Beers
5. Recognize the Barriers
to Success. (From the
work of Bruce Ferguson)
• A. Home, family, peer, and
school influences.
• B. Societal/cultural and
community influences.
• C. Individual characteristics.
• D. School Climate Factors that
contribute to “risk”.
6. Recognize the Factors that Reduce
Risk
- Students engaged in school life
-parental involvement
-moderate levels of employment
-a positive school culture ( mixing
students of different backgrounds,
appropriate instruction, relevant
curriculum, and community educational
aspirations).
7. Provide a positive
learning environment.
• Promote literacy
• Promote numeracy
• Promote alternative pathways
to successful employment.
• Provide Culture, Caring and
Community.
8. Three Final Questions
for us as Educators.
• What can I do to energize this
student?
• Is there anything in this
building that would energize
this student?
• Is there anything in our school
board that would energize this
student?
The Footprint you leave behind….
Dear Mr. Allan
Even when I was at my worst I could always count
on a smile & hello from you. From the day I met you
I have never doubted your deep concern and caring
for every student at this school. Don’t forget us!
Love, Anjali
In Bruce Ferguson’s study
there was not a single
student who did not think
that finishing high school
had a positive result!
Let’s help them do it! The
sun is rising on a new day
for them – and us!
From the seed we plant
today, grows the beauty
we enjoy in the
sunshine of
tomorrow.