Did you know... Ontario's "Inspire" Magazine

      Did you know that Inspire, the journal of literacy and numeracy for Ontario, is a journal of successful practices for teachers, principals, supervisory officers, directors of education, and for anyone interested in learning how to further student achievement.  It features numerous articles following different topics, that examine a variety of initiatives, pedagogy, and teaching practices to support student development and achievement.  The journal is organized into several sections spanning across a number of subject topics and ideas, including a Research Room, Special Features section, Letters to the Editor, and Archive sections.  The other sections of the journal include:

New Leader - Practical strategies for student achievement.

In the Classroom - Stories from across Ontario for educators who are interested or engaged in literacy and numeracy strategies, Kindergarten to Grade Six.

The Principal's Office -  Stories from across Ontario that are particularly geared toward, or are about, school leaders, administrators, and the implementation of board-level strategies in literacy and numeracy, Kindergarten to Grade Six.

Equity of Outcome - Targeting special interest groups to appropriate access and support for their educational development 

Stories for Parents - In this section parents are kept informed of the latest literacy and numeracy strategies from classrooms across Ontario. These stories are pulled from the various sections of Inspire.

Leadership Support - The monographs in this series explore the crucial work that supervisory officers and other leaders are doing to raise the bar and close the achievement gap for all of our students.

      I recently read an article under the Stories for Parents section about professional learning and student learning in mathematics.  It was entitled "A Grade Five/Six Huron Perth Teacher's Perspective" written by Kim Buchanan.  Kim discusses her experiences teaching math to a split grade, utilizing concepts and strategies that she has become more and more confident with, as she continues to refine her teaching practice over the years.  She discusses how she never seems to teach the same math concept in the same way twice, due to the always differing conceptual knowledge that her students bring to the classroom every year.  She talks about how she is willing to try new ways to teach things, and how continued reflection of her practice, conferencing with her colleagues, and focusing on how her students learn, results in better teaching practices for her, as well as more success for her students.  She states, "I am interested in trying to build the best possible instructional tasks and assignments to assist myself and my students in our long term math journey."

      I found this article really spoke to me, as I view math in very much the same way that Kim does.  We as educators are forever adjusting our teaching practice to meet the needs of our students, and to keep up to date with the latest and most effective teaching practices.  There is a huge push in my board towards the mathematics strands, to improve student learning and increase EQAO scores.  There has been a lot of P.D. in the last two years for math, "Math Talks" is a big initiative currently running in the board, and there is lots of new manipulatives and software to support math learning.  I feel personally, that the best way to support math learning, is through collaboration with our teaching partners and other educators, and to share in an information exchange and free flow of ideas.  21st century learning tools is a key factor to assist in this information exchange, and technology will be a key factor motivating teacher discussion and student learning.

      Inspire has many other articles that teachers, educators, parents, and leaders could find useful to support student learning.  It is a journal supported by the Ontario ministry of education.