School visits

During the week in Canada, the group visited three schools – one in Kingston and two in Belleville. Sagonaska demonstrations school in Belleville left quite the impression on the CANOPY members. The students attending this school are enrolled for one to two years, focusing on improving their reading and writing skills. Chelsea Lam felt observing their (the teachers at Sagonaska) focus on reconfiguring students’ literacy patterns through smaller class sizes and their strict adherence to the EMPOWER program to be truly compelling.

Sagonaska has a lodging program which applies to all students, no matter how close they live to the school. Although this lodging program was a surprise for some of the CANOPY members, some also found the program particularly enlightening, as it fosters self-efficacy and independence – skills that play a vital role in helping students transitioning back home after their time at the school.  

At the end of the visit, the group met with some of the students in a panel discussion. During this discussion, the students openly talked about their experiences attending Sagonaska and living away from a young age. They were all very well-spoken, honest, and confident despite speaking in front of a large group. One comment from a student stuck with several in the CANOPY group: “Now I only dread starting school because of the usual things, like being new and worrying about the same things as my peers”. Katine Lekang left the school visit thinking that teachers should have the resources and knowledge the teachers have at Sagonaska to help kids in their home schools

“The fact that the environment was adapted to allow them to be restless, with chairs, small toys, and similar tools, stood out to me. They had created a supportive environment where students were encouraged to understand what they needed to work on and figure out the methods that suited them best” – Anna Heimsbakk, MAGLU, Nord University

“The Sagonaska school visit was very inspiring and intriguing. For me it showed how I can utilize and contextualize the knowledge I got from my first year, when we were taught grammar, in the classroom. We are not taught how to teach, only what to teach. Here I got inspiration to how I can explain the different phonics to my pupils, young and old” – Charlotte Opdahl, MAGLU, Nord University

“The teachers and students made such an impression on me, also how their connection was both professional and personal at the same time. I can see how such a school can make a difference” – Katrine Lekang, teacher at Bankgata Middle School

The visit to St. Michael in Belleville and St. Genevieve, both catholic schools, was both different and similar at the same time. St. Genevieve is a brand-new school, with other organizational possibilities than St. Michael, which is located in an old building and experienced some restrictions by the layout of the school working with Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The group could clearly see that St. Genevieve was well planned, had a thoughtful design allowing for a flexible teaching environment and that it was designed for the benefit of the students. The flexible seating, natural light, open spaces, “garage door” walls allowing for flexible sized rooms and so many more aspects of the schools were well thought out and is was clear that the teachers and students used the space in so many different ways. The bright and spacious learning spaces were impressive- Katrine particularly liked how the students could choose where to work, where to sit, and where to write. Marina Prilutskaya stated that the school visits provided a new perspective on the variety of approaches to including exceptional learners.

“St. Genevieve was one of the nicest schools I’ve ever seen. The environment felt so warm and welcoming the moment I entered the school” – Liz Arminen, Con Ed, Queen’s University

“The fact that it was an open-concept school, with sliding doors to the classrooms and visibility throughout, stood out to me. I also really appreciated all the seating options and how it was set up to accommodate different ways of sitting. I believe this is something many students could benefit from having access to” – Anna Heimsbakk, MAGLU, Nord University

“It makes me optimistic about the future of the Canadian school system and how such thoughtful designs can create more equitable learning environments for all students” – Chelsea Lam, Con Ed, Queen’s University