News & Events

Using Teacher Collaboration in an Islamic Faith-Based School to Nurture Student and Staff Sense of Belonging

Cross-Cultural Collaboration and Belonging in an Islamic School. Researchers: Kari Krug, Asmaa Olwan, Nosiba Abdalla, Sabreena Haque, Ghufran Lababidi and Kassandra Campbell. 2020. As Saskatchewan classrooms become increasingly diverse, it is essential that teachers become more culturally aware. This project is an investigation into how teacher collaboration can be used to nurture student and staff sense of belonging in an Islamic faith-based school. Collaboration is a method which includes teachers working together as equals to help students achieve success. Two pairs will be formed, each with one Muslim teacher and one non-Muslim teacher, to find ways to collaborate and to have meaningful conversations that benefit student sense of belonging.  These teachers will work to build strong collaborative relationships in hope that this will model positive Muslim and non-Muslim relationships for staff, students, and community members.  Final Report

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

Moving into the 21st Century with Second-Language Learning

Moving Into the 21st Century with Second-Language Learning Researchers: Dana Sanders and Tina AndersonJuly 2015 The goal of the French immersion program is to educate students so they are able to be bilingual learners. French immersion programs aim to be successful in the creation of functionally bilingual students. These students should be able to continue their education in French or pursue careers in which bilingualism is necessary. We are proud to be educators in the French immersion program.  Although we see many benefits from the French immersion program, we were concerned about the quality of spoken French in our classrooms. Young French immersion learners make errors in their oral language because of the influence of their first language which is most often English. Fossilization in the oral speech of our students occurs. Eliminating these errors is a great challenge that for some students is never corrected.  After reflecting upon our Read more

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

Exploring Experiences of Educators of Students with Bi-Polar Diagnoses.

Exploring Experiences of Educators of Students with Bi-Polar Diagnoses Researcher: Erin Richards2015As educators we are expected to facilitate learning for a variety of students. Many of these students are diagnosed with needs that must be addressed by educators. In our professional responsibility we will never diagnose a student, however once a diagnosis has been communicated we must develop a plan of how we will educate our students.   Often, teachers have little to no experience in adapting their practice to meet the needs of bipolar students and information is not readily available.  Through meaningful and purposeful conversations in collaborative focus groups we can develop, discuss and reflect upon effective experiences and strategies to assist these students in our classrooms and in our schools. It is the hope that this research will bring added awareness to bipolar disorder within our School Division and provide a research-based foundation for new initiatives.

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

Early education reading intervention for ELL students

Early Education Reading Intervention for ELL Students Researchers: Diana Jemieff, Barb Ludba, and Corey HolowachukSeptember 2014 This study examines and attempts to develop the best practices in reading intervention for English language learners (ELLs). As teachers, we are encountering more students who enter school having very few English language skills, and we are not feeling equipped with the strategies to deal with these situations. Saskatchewan is rapidly becoming a more diverse population. According to the Saskatchewan 2011 census, there was a climb in the visible minority population: 6.3 per cent of Saskatchewan’s population was comprised of visible minorities, which jumped from 3.6 per cent in 2006. The majority of visible minorities resides in the two main metropolitan areas – Regina and Saskatoon. Saskatoon is home to 45.3 per cent of Saskatchewan’s visible minority population with Regina being home to 34.7 per cent (Saskatchewan Bureau of Statistics, 2013). With immigration to Read more

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

Strengthening Schools to Support the Needs of Refugee Students

Kirsten Cavanaugh, Saskatoon Public School Division and Dr. Janet Okoko, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan Recently arrived refugee children face many challenges when adapting to their new country and schools along with their parents who may be looking for work, attempting to learn English, and adapting to a different culture. For these families, the experience with war, lack of familiarity with the Canadian school system and implicit expectations and norms can be a struggle. Without strong in-school supports, these children are at risk of failing socially or academically. The purpose of this project is to explore the experience of Syrian refugee families with at-home learning and establish ways of strengthening our supports for student success. Strong relationships between families and schools must take place to support all our learners. Never have these co-operative relations been as important as they are during COVID 19 pandemic when our students were expected Read more

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

Exploring Refugee Children’s Pre- and Post-Migration Educational Experiences.

Exploring Refugee Children’s Pre- and Post-Migration Educational Experiences Researchers: Dr. Christine Massing, Dr. Daniel Kikulwe, Katerine Nakutnyy and Dr. Needal Ghadi.January 2023 During the ongoing war in Syria, the Canadian government promised to receive 25,000 refugees1 fleeing war and persecution over a period of three months in 2015-2016 (IRCC, 2019). Half of those admitted were children (IRCC, 2019). The arrival of comparatively large numbers of Syrian refugees necessitated resettlement in smaller urban centres such as Saskatoon and Regina in addition to the traditional refugee-receiving large metropolitan centres like Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver (CIC, 2016). During the initial wave of migration, the province of Saskatchewan welcomed 1,415 Syrians, nearly 650 of whom were resettled in the city of Regina (IRCC, 2019). In total, 98 percent of the arrivals in Saskatchewan came as Government Assisted Refugees (GARs) while two percent were privately sponsored (IRCC, 2019). In 2016, Regina recorded the fourth highest Read more

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

Developing sense of belonging

Developing Sense of Belonging Researchers: Michael Radford, Amy Campbell and Scott ThompsonMay 2021 We intended to focus on students’ sense of belonging in Dorintosh Central School. The purpose of the proposed research was motivated by the impact holistic learning has on students’ sense of belonging in the learning environment. Furthermore, our research team explored students’ sense of belonging through the Indigenous lens of the Circle of Courage. Objectives: Develop a strong sense of belonging in our students, staff, and community. Connect Indigenous and western knowledge. Explore holistic learning benefits through land-based education. Promote pride in culture and participation through Truth and Reconciliation. Final Report

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

History Underground: The Road to Reconciliation

History Underground: The Road to Reconciliation Researcher: Denee RepskiDecember 2020 This idea was born out of profound restlessness – a sense in our classrooms that we as non-Indigenous teachers were attempting to engage a classroom of largely non-Indigenous students in learning around the history of residential schools and a lingering sense of tokenism seemed to colour each experience.  We began to recognize this as “residential school fatigue” – that inevitable point in each class in each semester where students are introduced into the Indigenous unit. Eye rolls often ensue as students feel that they have heard it already, and essentially, they have. They have heard the bullet points of residential school atrocities and any impact of a true experience that continues to affect the relationship between settlers and Indigenous people is lost in translation. After having taught in urban community schools for nine and 11 years respectively in diverse socio-economic Read more

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

High School Teachers Working Towards Reconciliation: Examining the Teaching and Learning of Residential Schools

High School Teachers Working Towards Reconciliation – Examining the Teaching and Learning of Residential Schools Researchers: Tana Mitchell and Jennifer TupperOctober 2017 Canada has a long and well-documented history of unequal relations with the first peoples of this land. From policies of forced starvation (Daschuk, 2013), to the ongoing murders and disappearances of Indigenous girls and women in Canada, Indigenous peoples continue to be marginalized, oppressed, and rendered invisible in national narratives. Yet many Canadians remain ignorant about Canada’s history of colonialism and its ongoing effects. This reality creates significant challenges with respect to our abilities as a nation to work toward reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and settler Canadians. It is thus important to be attentive to and understand the many very real ways that Indigenous peoples have been, and continue to be, deeply harmed by historical colonial policies/ practices in this country, including the Indian residential school (IRS) system, Read more

By Ellen Whiteman, ago

Papal Encyclical Laudato Si and Critical Pedagogy of Place

Papal Encyclical Laudato si’ and Critical Pedagogy of Place: Catholic School Teachers Enacting Papal Encyclical Laudato si Researchers: Mel Sysing and Dustin Kasun, Dr. Verna St. Denis. Analysis by Dr. Sheelah McLeanFebruary 2018 This project seeks to understand how the pedagogical practices of Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools teachers in Saskatoon, Canada draw on ideas of anti-racist, anti-oppressive education to strengthen their understanding of critical pedagogy of place and commitment to the current papal encyclical Laudato si’ of the Holy Father Francis On Care for our Common Home.  Moreover, this project seeks to connect, strengthen, and educate both student and staff concerning Indigenous land-based pedagogies, worldviews, and spirituality. In addition, also disrupt settler/colonial education and move forward together in world leading pedagogies. Final Report

By Ellen Whiteman, ago