Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Across Near North District School Board (NNDSB), teachers found engaging ways for students to learn. As part of a culminating assignment, a Grade 11 and 12 English class at F.J. McElligott Secondary School read and studied an independent novel and students demonstrated their knowledge in whatever mode they chose depending on their strengths. Some students went in an artistic direction and some took a research approach.

“Students become more engaged in their study of English when they have autonomy over what they read, what they focus on, and how they present their understanding,” said teacher Chris Davis. “The challenge for the teacher is knowing your students well enough to provide just enough structure and support so that students gain momentum and find inspiration. I try to use shared texts, regular conferencing, student exemplars, and lots of feedback to help students refine their focus of study within the parameters given. When students can recognize their own strengths or areas of interest it opens the door to cross-curricular opportunities to show off what they know.”

The culminating English assignment had several components to it: an oral presentation; demonstration of knowledge of the students’ choosing; and of course, the reading of their novel.

“At some point in the course, we watched the documentary called The Way I See It and it talked a lot about the photographer for the President of the United States, said student Emma Dupuis. “I really liked the idea of how photos could tell a story. So, by doing that, I made a story with photos and quotes from book characters in the novel.”

One of Emilio Lavoie’s strengths is in graphic design and that was the creative direction he chose – designing a book cover for his assignment.

Student project 

“My strengths are making things online like graphic design and stuff through software called Canva. I use that a lot for my presentations and stuff like that. So, I came up with the idea of making a book cover,” he said.

Both students shared that this type of learning keeps them engaged and motivated.

Creative writing was also a part of the culminating assignment with oral presentations.

“I wrote about Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem. The words and how she presented her poem, I thought it represented how my main character could go from this really dark reality and to something brighter. I tried to compare it to how the poem can apply to many things, including my book,” said Emilio.

In this assignment, students express their strengths and passions through a natural student voice.

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Near North District School Board (NNDSB) is proud to announce five students will be taking part in Shad, a highly acclaimed summer enrichment program for well-rounded and academically successful secondary school students.

Three students from Chippewa Secondary School – Kaitlyn Bertrand, Jack Mah and Victoria Jones and two students from Almaguin Highlands Secondary School – Alyssa Jolliffe and Megan Lee, will spend four weeks in July learning at a virtual campus to expand their knowledge and skills in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math).

“The program offers a wide range of different topics to discover, and I am hoping that Shad will help me become a more well-rounded learner,” noted Bertrand. “This will be a great experience to build upon my leadership skills and give me a chance to work meaningfully as a member of a team.”

Learning through lectures, workshops, projects and activities, students will learn and expand their STEAM knowledge, which introduces participants to a multi-disciplinary approach.

“I am really interested in the sciences, and I know that Shad really explores different aspects of that. I’m also really excited to learn about engineering, art and math because it covers all the STEAM components,” Lee said. “I’m just excited to try some different things that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do.”

“I hope to be able to learn new and interesting things while attending Shad as well as grow as a student through the experiences that Shad offers and to make new connections with people who share similar interests to me,” Jones noted. “You should look for ways to pursue your interests, thoughts, or passions, and I am so grateful to this school, school board, teachers, family, and friends for supporting me, and helping me be a part of this opportunity.”

Mah is looking forward to coding.

“While looking at one of the packages Shad sent me leading up to the program, I noticed that I was given a device for coding! Coding is something I’ve always found interesting but never had the chance to investigate, so I’m really excited about this activity. As well, because my Shad program will take place virtually through Western University, I’d love to hear more about the post-secondary institution before I begin applying to universities in the fall.”

To be accepted into the program, students must go through a rigorous application process, which goes in-depth into both the students’ academics and extra-curricular activities.

“The application process is very similar to a university application, and I know how competitive and sometimes challenging that can be,” Lee shared.

Thousands of secondary school students from across Canada apply to Shad each year and roughly 900 are accepted into the program.

“I was first introduced to Shad when I went to the Canada-wide science fair in Grade 8 and ever since then, I’ve been wanting to apply,” Jolliffe said. “I definitely want to learn more about like the business and engineering portion, because I don’t really know a whole lot about that. So, I’m really excited to learn about that.”

Shad’s program attracts students with high aptitudes for risk-taking, curiosity, excellence, and resilience and prepares them to take on social and economic challenges. The program includes a real-world design challenge that asks students to work on issues such as food security, water and waste management.

“As a student, I’m really hoping that Shad will help me find some new interests and also be able to connect with like-minded motivated youth from across the country,” Lee shared. “I’m also hoping that this program might help me to steer me in a direction for what I want to do later as a career after secondary school. I’m looking forward to exploring some different things that might spark a new interest.”

“While the delivery and platform of Shad will be unique this summer, I am thrilled to take part in the program,” said Mah. “Without a doubt, it’ll be a wonderful month, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity.”

Students say their educational experience at NNDSB has helped them in pursuing their goals.

“NNDSB courses have made me well prepared to be successful in this program and I am very grateful for both the guidance and support of the faculty,” said Bertrand.

“The staff and teachers at my school, have always helped me stay engaged in my academics and they’ve been very helpful in the application process. Everybody has been there to provide guidance and support for me,” said Lee.

“My educational experience at NNDSB has helped me in pursuing my passions through supportive teachers and staff, as well as by providing different opportunities, and supporting me when I ask to pursue a new project or passion of mine in school or in school-related things,” said Jones.

“If it weren’t for the counsellors at Chippewa, I wouldn’t have known very much about this program. As well, it is the chemistry, biology, functions, etc. courses that led me to develop an interest in STEAM. The classes I’ve taken through NNDSB have shown me what I enjoy learning about. By helping me find what topics intrigue me, the school board’s indirectly steered me towards my passions,” Mah exclaimed.

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Lights, camera, action! Students in Near North District School Board’s Arts Nipissing and Specialist High Skills Major arts and culture programs at West Ferris Secondary School recently took to the stage for a Broadway production of Pippin.

While students could not perform in front of a live audience due to COVID-19 restrictions, the production took a creative twist with a pre-recorded screening. Rehearsals and the production itself took place earlier this school year before the shift to virtual learning.

“I was so excited to get back at it because it had been one full year without doing any form of theatre,” said Megan Byrne, who portrayed Catherine. “I was just itching to get back out and do some form of art, I didn’t even care what I was doing just as long as I got to act again.

“It was different in the sense that with masks, you kind of had to learn how to just express with just the top half just using your eyes, and really making that evident,” she said.

Byrne noted it was a challenge to not physically interact with other actors, but they all were able to adjust to connect in order to make the production perfect.

Fellow actor James Devuono shared Byrne’s enthusiasm with performing again.

“I forgot how amazing it was to be on a stage, singing, and being with a bunch of my friends. It was certainly difficult to not have any physical contact during the entire thing, but it was still an amazing way of doing a show and it was just so amazing to come back to the stage. It really just felt like home to me, and nothing had changed.”

Pippin is the tale of a young prince who longs for passion and adventure in life. The production is a revival of the award-winning 1972 musical starring Ben Vereen. The play features dance, music, and magic by a company of clowns who perform Pippin’s story.

The production was rehearsed over four weeks during the Octomester and then filmed in the final week of the Musical Theatre course.

“It was just like, a big, long rehearsal that we’re kind of used to like we do at Dreamcoat Fantasy Theatre. Sometimes we’d have six- to eight-hour rehearsals. Of course, the process was a lot faster than what it normally is because we did only have three weeks of learning songs, learning, choreography, learning blocking, and then the last week was saved for filming the production,” said Byrne.

To enrich the student experience and learning, the production was double-casted, meaning there were two different versions of the same production: different actors play different roles.

Strict COVID-19 protocols were put in place during rehearsals and the filming of the production.

“We had to be really careful and follow the COVID-19 protocols set out by the board and health unit,” said teacher and director Allan MacAskill. “We made sure all actors on stage were safely spaced out and of course, everyone was wearing a mask.”

“Social distancing presented some challenges in staging certain scenes. We had to get creative, but we found again with the camera we were able to have it appear that two actors were very close to each other, but in reality, they were a very safe distance apart on stage,” he said.

Both Devuono and Byrne knew early on that they had a true passion for theatre.

“When I was in Grade 4, there was a school play and I had one line but after doing that one line, I discovered my love for theatre,” said Grade 10 student Devuono. “I’m really interested in voice acting. I put a lot of emphasis into the voices of the characters and it’s so much fun to be someone who you weren’t yesterday. Acting is a lot of fun for me and something I really enjoy doing.”

“I knew acting, singing and dancing was something I wanted to do for the rest of my schooling career. So, once I got to high school, I joined Arts Nipissing and I love it,” said Grade 12 student Byrne. “The way I get to express myself; I like playing different characters and I’ve always been a big fan of storytelling and theatre is that exact thing. You’re telling somebody else’s story through your perspective, which I’ve always enjoyed.”

“This group of students, all 25 of them were really looking forward to this course and many of them have been involved in theatre since they were seven, eight years of age with Dreamcoat Fantasy Theatre. Musical theatre means the world to them,” said MacAskill.

After the production was shot and edited, Byrne shared her reaction to seeing the final product.

“It was awesome to finally get to sit down and watch the end result and see what the audience is actually seeing. It was cool to see it from the different camera angles because it was just like how a movie musical would have been shot. It was so well done and it was so exciting to see it all come together.”

“My family had a lot of good laughs from the production and they just they loved being able to watch it again,” said Byrne.

Devuono said he received “overwhelming positivity from my family and my friends” after the production screened.

“To see their smiling faces at the end of the process was a great reward,” said MacAskill.

The students’ musical theatre trailer can be viewed here.