Edmonton Catholic school teachers back to work to prep for new school year and curriculum

To prepare for the upcoming school year, and the new curriculum, teachers are the ones taking a seat in the classroom.

A five-day Summer Summit program allows Edmonton Catholic School teachers to get hands-on with new tools which can then be used in their own classrooms.

“What’s nice is we aren’t just throwing information at teachers, each session they go to is a hands-on classroom-ready activity that they can take, and take the resources and do with their students,” says Trish Roffey, the Manager of Elementary Curriculum at Edmonton Catholic Schools.

Natalie Zuberbuhler, a grade one teacher for Edmonton Catholic Schools adds, “I think that is one of our greatest assets of being a teacher, is being open-minded and being flexible and open to trying and learning new things.”

She has been a teacher for 15 years and says curriculum changes are necessary to provide students the foundations they need for a successful future.

Catholic Education Centre. (Photo Credit: Laura Krause, CityNews)

“Our society doesn’t look the same as it did back in the early 80’s so change is important, we need to incorporate more technology, and a lot of jobs we have in society too is demanding different things from twenty years ago, so we need to keep up with that so we are ensuring success for our future generation,” says Zuberbuhler.

The new curriculum means updating K-3 math, English language arts and literature, and K-6 physical education starting this September.

“We have kids in those classrooms next week so we’re taking a look at what we have with that critical teaching lens and say how can we best make sure this serves the learning needs of our students and their learning journey?” says Trish Roffey, the Manager of Elementary Curriculum at Edmonton Catholic Schools.

“The beginning of the school year is always mixed with excitement, fear, anxiety, wonder and so we think we have that amongst our teachers as well because perhaps something you are used to doing the same is now a bit of a change up,” she adds.

Edmonton Catholic School students return to the classroom next Wednesday.