march 2014 edition - tcdsb

Physical and Outdoor Education and the Arts

Coordinator: Nick Biagini Superintendent: Dan Koenig

Physical Education Resource : Nelli Domingues Outdoor Education: Rob Kelly and Agatha Veszeli Visual Arts, Dance and Drama: Maria Tavares and Leda DiMaria Miles Instrumental Music: Graziano Brescacin Vocal Music: Sylvia Au

A healthy, creative mind in a healthy

body!

March 2014 edition

"Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make

a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!"

[Psalm 95:1]

Dear Colleagues, With Growing Success report cards out of the way, no doubt you are ready to tackle the second half of the year with stealth and vigour. Our HPE and ARTS departments have been busy with our HPE con-ference that was held on January 31 at Bishop Marocco Merton and the TCDSN Dance Festival held on Saturday, February 8. We have also been quite busy with after school workshops in the areas of basketball coaching and officiating as well arts works shops focus-ing on mask making and dance. Our departments continue to look for meaningful ways to expand on our cross curricular focus while continuing to pointedly address the importance of co-creating suc-cess criteria with our students based on curricular learning goals and then providing the meaningful feedback that makes it all happen. Recently a survey was issued to all elementary schools regarding the delivery of DPA. Many schools have initiated creative ways of ensur-ing that their students receive the mandatory daily physical activity sessions of 20 minutes. Kudos to all of the schools who shared their successes and challenges with the program. On the whole the method that worked for all of the schools who experienced more success was based on the ‘Tumbling’ model that is being used in other curricular areas. Our departments are always looking for meaningful, creative ways of delivering the HPE and Arts curricula and the feedback we receive from you will help us to ensure that a sharing of ideas becomes the cornerstone for successful program delivery. Yours in Healthy, Creative Living, Nick P. Biagini

From the Office of the Program Coordinator

The choir from Loretto Abbey, under the direction of Ms. Nijole Benotas, led the music for First Friday Mass held on Dec. 6th at CEC. Presider Rev. Fr. Obinna Ifeanyi delighted in the clarity of the students’ voices as they were accompanied by piano and other instruments such as violin, guitar and djembe drum – all played by various choir members. Attendees included TCDSB director – Angela Gauthier and Loretto Abbey principal, Anita Bartolini

DANCING CLASSROOMS™ ONTARIO COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW TERM TEAM MATCH

WINTER 2013-14

FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2014

HOST SCHOOL: OUR LADY OF VICTORY

SINCE 1994, DANCING CLASSROOMS INTERNATIONALLY PROVEN IN DECREASING BULLYING

& VIOLENCE, IMPROVING HEALTH & FITNESS, INCREASING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

FOR MORE ABOUT DANCING CLASSROOMS VISIT WWW.JOINTHEDANCE.COM

FINALS AND GRAND TROPHY JUNE, 2014

AT THE PALAIS ROYALE 6:00 PM

Our Lady of Victory students, at their school presentation.

Music Article for Phys. Ed./Arts Dept. Winter 2014 Newsletter

St. Paschal Baylon Choir, under the direction of vocal music teacher, Mr. D. Colla, accepted the invitation by Rogers TV to have selected musical performances video recorded for the station’s December 2013 holiday programing. Performances in-cluded a choreographed choral/dance interpretation of Susan Hookong-Taylor’s song - Hope in Christ, traditional folk songs of Korea and the Philippines, and a pri-mary dramatization of a Christmas hymn. Student, Isabell Chung, performed a vo-cal solo accompanied by flautist, Ms. C. Yoo. Members of the band consisted of Mr. R. Chong (instrumental music teacher), Ivan Herreira (grade 8 student) and com-munity musicians. Ms. K. Reyes-Tam (teacher) assisted with the overall choreogra-phy which so aptly enhanced the lyrics and infused vibrancy into the program. http://youtu.be/ClHW6YT6HPc http://youtu.be/hZfN00KrQZc http://youtu.be/GdVLah2ju5E

PHYSICAL AND OUTDOOR EDUCATION AND THE ARTS NEWSLETTER

A DAY of DRAMA

I found the drama workshop led by Maria Tavares from the TCDSB Arts Depart-ment to be an extremely valuable experience. She shared resources for integrat-ing literacy and the arts and provided us with the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge in a fun and engaging way. It was worthwhile because these lessons effectively integrated more than one curriculum area through the use of activities such as tableau and drawing. The lessons also connect to the catholic graduate expectations by delivering important observations about what it means to be re-sponsible citizens. In my opinion, lessons of this nature are highly important for the Junior/Intermediate grades because this is a time of self-discovery that generates a range new of feelings and emotions. Through these activities students are encouraged and enabled to effectively learn ways to communicate their feelings in a positive way. They will also be challenged to become creative, critical thinkers, able to construct their own meaning of the world and develop their understanding of im-portant issues. After attending this workshop, I am much more motivated and ex-cited to implement the arts curriculum and integrate it with other subjects using the knowledge I acquired. Josette Turco York University Teacher Candidate P/J/I Consecutive Program

TDCAA Curling Competition The TDCAA curing competition was held at The Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club on Tuesday February 4th and Wednesday February 5th, 2014. Sixty-three enthusiastic curlers participated in the tournament, consisting of eight boys teams and five girls teams. Congratulations to the girls 2014 TDCAA curling champions Loretto Abbey, who shutout their opponents three straight games, and to the boys 2014 TDCAA curling champions, Bishop Allen who won a nail-biting final against Brebeuf! Both of these teams will be competing this year at OFSAA! The Toronto Catholic District School Board wishes them the best of luck, and is proud that they will be representing our school board. Congratulations also go out the the 2nd place teams Bishop Allen for girls and Brebeuf for boys who took home the silver metals! A special mention to the 3rd place teams, Senator O’Connor for girls and Mary Ward for boys, for being awarded the bronze medals. All teams showed great sportsmanship and shared their appreciation for curling. Thank you to everyone who was involved for making this tournament a success!

Exploring the Possibilities of Mixed Media

In Late November a mixed media workshop was offered to our Inter-mediate teachers. Participants were given the opportunity to experiment with a variety of mixed media techniques and materials that could be uti-lized to engage students in a variety of cross curricular lessons. Teachers collaborated in discussions surrounding learning goals, success criteria and descriptive feedback as they engaged in the Critical Analysis Process. In so doing, they examined artistic cultural interpretations of saints, an-gels, and deities.

By the end of the workshop participating teachers produced beautiful examples of mixed media art and were provided with ideas that could be readily implemented in the classroom.

2014 HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

CONFERENCE

On Friday, January 31st, our department hosted the 5th annual Health & Physical Education Conference. This year, 145 teachers came to Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton for a day of professional learning and connecting with teachers across the board. The day started off with our keynote speaker, Claire Carver Dias, synchronized swimming medalist at 1999 Pan Am Games, 2000 Summer Olympics and 2002 Commonwealth Games. Her message was about striving to be the best you can be and in doing so you can overcome some of the difficulties that life will throw at you. The link between healthy active living and mental wellness was powerful and tied directly to one of our HPE focus this year which is mental wellness. The participants were then engaged in a variety of workshops on physical activity and healthy living. By the end of the day, teachers were seen leaving with a bag full of resources. They are ready to implement new ideas and build their quality HPE programs!

Our department extends a special thank you to David Pagniello, Colleen Reel and Victor DosSantos. These are our HPE specialist teachers who were instrumental in helping put together our conference.

We look forward to seeing you again at our conference next year!

Shout Out!!!! From the Student Leadership Team

The mandala creations were AMAZING and a success! All the students were definitely intrigued in assisting to create something new and different, with the simplest of things. It was inspiration-al, collaborative and above all innovative! The mandalas truly added a whole new artistic flow to this year’s i-LITE conference, 2014! They helped make this year’s i-LITE like no other i-LITE anyone has ever attended before!" Thanks to the Arts Department for bringing this to life.

The Power of Dance and Drama

This February the Arts Department provided Primary, Junior and Intermediate teachers with the op-portunity to experience the transformative power that occurs when Dance and Drama share the stage. Two workshops were offered that focused on providing a deep understanding of Cultural Dance along with the application of classroom Dance strategies. Thanks go out to, Rochelle Matthews Romilla Mar-tin-Gomes for providing their expertise, and all participating teachers that made these workshops such uplifting events.

2014 Sr. Girls Volleyball Ontario All Catholic Champions ‐ first Toronto Team ever to win this pres gious award. Congratula ons to the team and coaching staff from Bishop Allen.

2013 Sr. Girls AAAA OFSAA Champions First AAA or AAAA for our board

A Wonderful Gathering of Dance Educators

In early March, the Arts Department held its annual Dance Professional Learning Network. Teachers participated in three workshops. The first workshop consisted of Contemporary Dance and Hip Hop fusion. The second focused on: participation, performance and analytical components. The final workshop focused on learning basic ballet techniques and how they can be used properly to prevent injuries in other dance forms. The day proved to be very inspirational as participants walked away with a wealth of ideas and techniques that can be readily applied in their Dance programs. A big thank-you goes out to Lisa Weiler for helping to organize this wonderful event.

iLIte Conference – Zentangle Artwork

Leadership can be very stressful and students need to find ways of coping with their stress. Zentangle Art dealt with bringing the ‘Zen’ in one’s life. Relaxation through repetitive drawing of lines and shapes was the process of the workshop. Students felt a calmness which lead to beautiful and interesting artwork. This workshop took place at both St. Patrick H.S and Blessed Mother Teresa H.S. for the iLite Conference for intermediate students across the board.

Mental Health Symposium Acceptance Awareness - Identity Brainstorm Graffiti Name Tag: Earlier in the school year the Mental Health Symposium was held for intermediate and high school students from across the board.

Students were encouraged to design a personal and stylized signature or “tag.” The tag was either a given name, a nickname or something they’ve made up to represent themselves. This graffiti session viewed lettering as not only important in communicating, but that it can also be an artistic expression of one self. This workshop al-lowed students the opportunity to express their opinions and feelings in a constructive manner. Also provided students the freedom to claim their identity through art as graffiti artists do. Students had the opportunity to dis-cuss their uniqueness and how everyone has a purpose and is important as is their own identity.

On Friday, February 28 our two top Intermediate girls basketball teams from St.Robert and St.Bede played in the City basketball Championship at Brebeuf College School. In the boys division, St.Wilfred battled a speedy team from St.Antoine Daniel. Congratulations to St.Bede’s Intermediate girls basketball team and St.Antoine Daniel’s Intermedi-ateboys’ basketball team on winning the City Basketball Championship. Both games clearly demonstrated the basketball talent in our TCDSB community. Special thanx to Larry Lazzazzera and John Albert who convened the City tournament and to all of the basketball coaches across the city for all of your efforts in promoting the great sport of Basketball. A special thanx to Nelli Domingues and all site convenors for all of your behind the scenes work in ensuring the safety of our students and the smooth running of our tournaments.

Photo: Ramolen Laruan, student / Loretto College

Center: Scholarship Award winners Sofia Marques and Nicoletta Andreacchi with teachers (L) Janine Mullowney/Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton;

(R) Julia Lava/Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts

On Saturday, February 8th, 2014 the TCDSB Arts Department hosted its 4th annual Dance Festival . The day began with keynote speaker Roberto Campanella from ProArte Danza and his performer Liana Bellissimo. Throughout the day, 200 of our dance students from seven secondary schools across our Board, had the opportunity to network, share resources and ultimately perform their dance routine to a very enthusiastic audience made up of arts and dance aficionados.

The evening performances included 16 different dance pieces performed by our very own TCDSB secondary students. The repertoires showcased a wide variety of dance styles ranging from Contemporary dance to hip-hop. What an absolutely entertaining evening it was. The evening was organized by Julia Lava at Cardinal Carter and Lisa Weiler from Fr.J.Redmond in conjunction with the TCDSB Arts Department. We encourage more of our TCDSB secondary dance community to get involved next years and in the years to come as we promote the fine art of DANCE!

4th annual


Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton CSS Capital Crisis Apex Faction Fusion / Capital Faction Fusion


Father John Redmond CSS & Regional Arts Centre RAP Dance Gr. 9 - Footloose/On Any Sunday

OUTDOOR EDUCATION DEPARTMENT:

LATE FALL/WINTER SESSION

Wow! What a winter for the TCDSB Outdoor Education Department! With record temper-atures and record snow falls, we enjoyed a record season for outdoor play, recreation and adventure. Since the last update, 32 student groups participated in overnight outdoor excursions to our Mansfield, Teen Ranch and Lake St. George host facilities. These groups included: In additional to the traditional fare of map orienteering, wilderness skills, Instincts for Sur-vival, low ropes and initiative challenges, wall climbing, skating, hiking and horseback riding; our wintery wonderland provided the perfect venue for cross country skiing, snowshoeing and tubing. Students attending Mansfield enjoyed a week very much devoted to cross country skiing. They strove to achieve personal bests (earning a bronze, silver or gold standing) based upon total kilometres skied throughout the week. Furthermore, in the spirit of community build-ing, students worked to earn their school a plaque by meeting a cumulative group ski distance challenge. Pupils (and staff!) also had the opportunity to participate in the Thursday Loppet, a 10 km. race course that skiers attempt to complete in 80 minutes or less. What a phenome-nal learning curve; watching students grow from sprawling non-skiers on their Monday arri-val to racers only 4 days later! A noteworthy addition to the Outdoor Education offerings this year was the introduction of winter weeks to the Teen Ranch menu. Horses and students alike loved their winter trail rides, with the students also snowshoeing, cross country skiing and soaring down the tubing hill. Hats off to the crew of Australian volunteers at Teen Ranch who, while never having seen snow before, were so thrilled to and skilled at preparing our wintery trails and tracks. Teen Ranch was also proud to host two specialty weeks; collaborations between the Outdoor Education Department and the Arts Departments. The Bob Wilson Music Camp saw young musicians from secondary schools throughout the TCDSB come together for a week of inten-sive music workshops punctuated with outdoor adventures. The week culminated in a con-cert to celebrate the students’ achievements. Similarly, a winter Arts and Wellness Retreat allowed secondary arts students to combine artistic expression with outdoor pursuits. The Outdoor Ed department now looks forward to the spring session with its promise of glo-rious spring weather.

S’ECOUTURE Art Installation: Exhibited at the 2014 Student Success Conference “Fashion inspired by the need to promote environmental awareness” S”Ecouture is a student inquiry-based learning project, designed by Maria Tavares, Arts Resource Teacher to inspire students to look at environmental issues through the lens of fashion. Young artists in grades six, seven and eight from St. Francis of Assisi School, along with High School Students from Monsignor Fraser Isabella, were tasked to utilize a variety of recycled materials to demonstrate their understanding of ecological chal-lenges and share their point-of-view concerning environmental issues that impact the quality of life on our planet. The S’Ecouture project encouraged student participants to create their own inquiry-based questions, present their findings, and communicate potential solutions, through their three-dimensional works of art. Thanks go out to all individuals who embraced this project, with particular mention of the students and Teach-ers of St. Francis of Assisi and Monsignor Fraser Isabella.

This is the 22nd annual event here in Toronto. This year, 250 plus choristers from vari‐ous schools and almost 40 instrumentalists (Tuba, Eu‐phonium, Trombone) per‐formed Christmas Carols on the new stage at Nathan Phil‐lips Square. This year 40 students from St. Pius X CS, under the direc on of Vocal Music Teacher Mari‐ya Shymonovych, were among the singers.

Physical/Mental Wellness and Arts Retreat 2014

Students from across the board in grade 10 participated in this first time Physical/Mental Wellness and Arts

Retreat. The Arts Department with the support of Student Success designed and implemented this opportunity

for students to come together to develop their leadership skills through physical, mental and creative means.

We had 34 students involved for the full week of snow tubing, ice skating, horseback riding, skiing and ball

drumming as well as some meditation and reflections. The arts had also a huge part with music, drama, dance

and visual arts to express their self-identity. The students also created a collaborative board of graffiti to repre-

sent Hope.

It was a wonderful week full of collaboration and creativity. Thank you to all the teachers/leaders to make this

event a possibility and an amazing experience for these students. Thank you to Theresa Johnson, Michael

Miles, Anita De Oliveira, Glynnis Dawson, Nick Biagini, Mireya Martin, Patrick Keyes, Ian Watson and Leda

Miles.

Student comment on the experience… “I loved the retreat, and one thing it helped me was to combat stress of any kind. I no ced that, when I came back to school, I was happier than most people, and everyone looked a hell of a lot more stressed out than me. I told my friends that I painted, and they were shocked because they know that I sooo don't do visual arts. But all in all, I loved it very much (even the weather at mes) and I got to meet different people and make new memo‐ries. Thank you for giving me the opportunity.” ‐YVONNE

Media Arts PLN Media arts, photography and Comm. Tech teachers came togeth-er for the first time to share experiences and discuss ways of sparking students’ creativity in their subject courses. Anthony Perrotta took the lead this year with a new initiative of IGNITE. Teachers brought forth their amazing knowledge and creativity. We look forward to the projects that will be posted on IGNITE.

Drama PLN We had the pleasure of Teo Dragonieri returning to present infor-mation regarding the Sears Festival. As well as a few other present-ers regarding the role of the stage manager and props and materials to make your stage presence come to life. Discussion on learning skills development in the drama classroom was also a part of the day.

march 2014 edition - tcdsb

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