Red Deer Public teachers are prepared to bring new curriculum into classrooms

Red Deer Public teachers have been preparing to deliver the new Alberta Education curriculum to students, thanks to the Division’s Learning Services team who have hosted professional development sessions and developed resources to ensure teachers feel ready and confident.

“Our Learning Services team have done a great job of ensuring our teachers are well-prepared to deliver the new curriculum,” said Dan Lower, Deputy Superintendent of Red Deer Public Schools. “Because of our dedicated team, every teacher in Kindergarten to Grade 6 who will teach the new curriculum has had multiple training sessions. These sessions have been invaluable because it has allowed our Learning Services team to collaborate with teachers as we all work our way through the new curricula and learning outcomes.”

English Language Arts & Literature & Math Curriculum - Kindergarten to Grade 6

The Learning Services team is continually creating and sharing resources with teachers along with professional development tied to the new English Language Arts & Literature and Math curriculum. Teachers in Kindergarten to Grade 3 are in their second year of implementation, while teachers in Grades 4-6 are in their first year of implementation.

Several times throughout this year, the 248 ELAL and Math teachers in Red Deer Public who are implementing the new curriculum are given a half day on their Staff Learning Day to focus on professional development and planning around the new program of studies.

“We are fortunate to have funds to have volunteer teachers attend planning sessions to create creative and engaging resources for Math and ELAL. These include hands-on math activities and assessments, literacy interactive read-alouds, writing units, and morphology resources,” said Dan. “These resources have been shared with all our teachers throughout the Division.”

Science Curriculum - Kindergarten to Grade 3

Last fall, the new Science curriculum for Kindergarten to Grade 3 students came into effect.

“With nearly 200 teachers using the new Science curriculum, a collection of resources were created for teachers to support their instruction,” said Dan. “Resources have included activity kits, presentations, and workbooks that support teachers with the new curriculum and beyond.”

French Language Arts & Literature Curriculum - Kindergarten to Grade 3

This year, the Division’s Kindergarten to Grade 3 French Immersion teachers have been implementing French Language Arts & Literature. 

“Our focus has been on implementing the science of reading in French Immersion,” said Dan. “Much of our professional development has been centered around implementing new resources to teach phonological awareness, letter sound-correspondence and decoding skills.”

In October, Red Deer Public teachers had an opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from across Central Alberta. A total of 44 teachers gathered at Red Deer Public’s Central Services to explore the new curriculum together. “This included collaborative planning time, exploration of new resources, and learning from each other,” said Dan.

Throughout the school year, teachers will also have three collaborative planning days to build units of study together, and to familiarize themselves with the work being done across the province to support French Language Arts & Literature. In addition, in May, Grades 4-6 teachers will participate in a curriculum overview in preparation for next year’s implementation.

First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning Services

The First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning Services team have collaborated with the Learning Services coordinators and RDPSD teachers to ensure that created materials include authentic Indigenous teachings aligned with the new curricula. Lessons have been developed and resources gathered for teachers to use when teaching outcomes that explicitly reference First Nations, Métis or Inuit connections. This work continues in Math, Science, English Language Arts & Literature, French Language Arts & Literature, and Phys-Ed and Wellness curricula from Kindergarten to Grade 6.