Cloverdale Learning Centre 24-25
OUR CONTEXT
OUR CONTEXT
Building resiliency through self awareness and self management
We'd like to acknowledge that Cloverdale Learning Centre is situated on the traditional, unceded territory of the Katzie, Kwantlen, Semiahmoo, and other Coast Salish Peoples. Cloverdale Learning Centre is a small, welcoming secondary school providing engaging, alternative educational opportunities for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.
Our students are a diverse group with a wide range of abilities, gifts and talents. They are artistic, musical, creative and divergent thinkers. One commonality among our students is that most have found traditional mainstream settings do not work for their learning style. They appreciate the more flexible and individualized programming we can offer. Our purpose is to nurture the inherent abilities of our students, and thereby change the narrative of their stories, from one of non-success to success.
Education is a “contact” sport; the young brain is designed to develop, grow and “flourish in a social context” (C. Elders, Clinical Psychologist), and establishing positive relationships is a foundational feature of our learning centre. Capture the heart, and it is easier to engage the hands and the brain. Our students need the support of our staff and their peers to help them discover their passions, their voices and build on their strengths. With support focused on the diverse learning, emotional and social needs of each student, pathways are created to achieve their educational goals.
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OUR LEARNERS
OUR LEARNERS
Students who are personally aware and responsible, recognize how their decisions and actions affect their mental, physical, emotional, social, and cognitive wellness and take increasing responsibility for caring for themselves (Albert Bandura, Psychologist). Students who have strong self-efficacy participate more in class, work harder, persist longer and have fewer adverse emotional reactions when encountering difficulties. They are able to manage stress and express a sense of well-being.
Self Awareness and Self Management
We want our learners to understand that their decisions and choices affect themselves and others around them. By developing their competencies in the areas of self awareness and self management, they will be able to approach their goals, tasks and challenges with a positive mindset, and this in turn will lead to a greater engagement in their learning and personal development. This will be demonstrated through exploring and describing factors that shape personal identities, including social and cultural factors.
Our learners can make connections between emotions and learning. They can identify their own emotions, as well as those of others.
Our learners can recognize their strengths and can use strategies to focus and accomplish their goals.
Our learners believe in their capabilities to achieve academic, career and/or personal goals.
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OUR FOCUS
OUR FOCUS
SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
Self Awareness and Self Management
Learning Goals:
- Our learners can make connections between emotions and learning. They can identify their own emotions, as well as those of others.
- Our learners can recognize their strengths and can use strategies to focus and accomplish their goals.
- Our learners believe in their capabilities to achieve academic, career and/or personal goals.
Since 2022, Learning Centres have seen an increase in the number of students wanting to enroll at our school sites. With this intake of numerous students, across the learning centres, it has become evident that the pandemic interrupted not only the intellectual development of youth, but perhaps more importantly, their social emotional development. “Carla Elfers, a Vancouver clinical youth psychologist, said generation Z is struggling just as much from how the pandemic has reduced social contact, volunteer activities and extracurricular events as it has from the disarray in their formal academic studies.” (‘In the Dark’ – Douglas Todd Vancouver Sun, Jan 29, 2022).
As our students have moved on in their educational journey this school year, we have been focusing on their social emotional learning (SEL) across the curriculum with a small group of grade 10 and 11 students. One area of focus has been their learning in Art Studio 10 & 12. One of the Big Ideas within Art Studio 10 is that "visual arts offer unique ways of exploring our identity and sense of belonging." One Big Idea in ART Studio 12 is "media arts are an essential element of culture and reveal insights into the human experience." Our particular focus has been around the curricular competency "demonstrate respect for self, others, and place." Place being "any environment, locality, or context with which people interact to learn, create memory, reflect on history, connect with culture, and establish identity." The connection between people and place is foundational to First Peoples perspectives on the world. Our focus is extended through student learning in the Career Life Education 10 curriculum, in particular the curricular competency, "communicate with the intent to highlight personal strengths, talents, accomplishments, and abilities."
Student learning experiences designed to promote growth in relation to the learning goals include the development of personal support plans, personal responses and journaling, and art.
At the Learning Centre, student learning begins right away. All students create a Student Learning Plan for themselves, highlighting their interests, learning preferences and learning profile.
Additionally, in September we had six new grade 10 indigenous students join our cohort. Our goal was to get a baseline understanding of their personal thoughts regarding their own self-awareness and self management. We conducted a very simple survey with these students.
Survey Results:
Self- Awareness
- I behave appropriately in a given situation - 5/6 students believe they do this most to all of the time
- I am able to identify the reasons for my feelings - 4/6 students believe they do this most to all of the time
- I describe and provide evidence of my strengths and areas for growth - 3/6 students believe they do this most to all of the time
Self-Management
- I implement specific action steps to achieve my goals - 3/6 students believe they do this most to all of the time
- I demonstrate perseverance and adaptability when faced with challenges - 3/6 students believe they do this most to all of the time
- I apply healthy strategies to decrease my stress level - 3/6 students believe they do this most to all of the time
These processes begin student work in the areas of Self Awareness and Self Management.
OUR NEXT STEPS
OUR NEXT STEPS
Our students continue to demonstrate personal growth and progress in relation to our learning goals:
Learning Goals:
- Our learners can make connections between emotions and learning. They can identify their own emotions, as well as those of others.
- Our learners can recognize their strengths and can use strategies to focus and accomplish their goals.
- Our learners believe in their capabilities to achieve academic, career and/or personal goals.
At the heart of a student's learning journey at the Cloverdale Learning Centre, is what they learn about themselves. Themselves as unique individuals that thrive and learn and grow, despite the barriers that occur along the way. The best part of this work is having the privilege to watch our students become their best selves.
Art Studio 10
The Altered Book Project in Art Studio 10 encourages students to explore their identity, promoting self awareness and self management. Students create pieces that reflect themselves, their interests and their sense of belonging. The particular focus with these students has been demonstrating respect for self, others, and place. As evidenced in the art projects and reflections, students have taken personal risks. Through this process, we have a better understanding of who they are.
Art Studio 12
Windspeaker Coast Salish Artwork
Career Life Education 10
Career Life Education 10 encourages students to develop their self awareness and self management. Exploring their own personal characteristics, interests, motivations, and personality, no matter how difficult this can be, is a very important and healing step that helps move students along the journey of becoming their best self.
Moving forward...
We see that developing our learners skillsets in self awareness and self management is valuable. We are noticing our students progressing in their understanding of themselves and how this connects to their interactions with others (self-regulation), our school (belonging), and their future (hope).
We will continue to build on this work in the following ways:
- Continue to focus on SEL, particularly the curricular competency, recognize and identify personal, social, and cultural contexts, values and perspectives in texts, including gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic factors. Students will continue to make connections to who they are in relation to self and others.
- Go deeper into the social and cultural aspects of personal identity.
- Explore universal, targeted and intensive SEL supports and assessments - universal self-regulation strategies, targeted small group work such as Mindfulness, and intensive one-to-one support as needed.
- Explore additional learning goals. Possibilities include: Demonstrate respect for self, others, and place, Develop skills for maintaining healthy relationships and responding to interpersonal conflict, Practice effective strategies for healthy school/work/life balance
- Further link the curricular areas of Art Studio 10 & 12 and CLE 10, New Media 11, CLC 12 to our learning goal(s).
- Explore resources.
- Continue to celebrate our students and their personal learning journeys!
Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
