Ecole Jessie Lee 22-23
OUR CONTEXT
We are located in South Surrey on the traditional shared territory of the Semiahmoo First Nations. Our school is nestled in a beautiful neighbourhood surrounded by nature, blocks from the ocean and yet so close to urban comforts. Our approximately 400 students come from diverse backgrounds that make up our collaborative school community. We even have two late French Immersion classes. Our parent group, teachers and support staff all work together to contribute to a warm, welcoming place of belonging for all.
At Jessie Lee our school goals are to .... Be Respectful Be Co-operative Be Safe .....This make Jessie Lee a place where everyone belongs!
Jessie Lee was built in 1974 and named after Jessie Lee who was a teacher at both Ray Shepard and White Rock Elementary before she served on the city council for several years supporting her community. This community mindset lives on at our school.
École Jessie Lee is a learning community striving to be lifelong learners, curious about the world around us and caring with others. Our teachers are engaged learners themselves, participating in numerous professional inquiry activities like Literacy team, Indigenous Ways of Learning and Physical and Social Emotional Well-Being learning groups. Our staff are deeply connected to the community in many ways. Some of our teachers actually have their own childhood pictures on the wall as former students! Our staff are active in supporting the wellbeing of our families with clothing drives, Christmas hampers and our breakfast program in the Den. What is apparent is that the staff feel very connected to this place and to our students.
Our dedicated parent group is active in bringing joy to our school by helping us create a school garden, organizing Spring Fairs, supporting school wide events like our Spring Sprint, Summer Fun Fair and of course, our student’s favourite -Hot Lunch!
OUR LEARNERS
École Jessie Lee is a learning community striving to be lifelong learners, curious about the world around us and caring with others. Our teachers are engaged learners themselves, participating in numerous professional inquiry activities like Literacy team, Indigenous Ways of Learning and Physical and Social Emotional Well-Being learning groups. Our staff are deeply connected to the community in many ways. Some of our teachers actually have their own childhood pictures on the wall as former students! Our staff are active in supporting the wellbeing of our families with clothing drives, Christmas hampers and our breakfast program in the Den. What is apparent is that the staff feel very connected to this place and to our students.
Our learning plan is supported in the BIG IDEAS of English Language Arts:
Exploring stories and other texts helps us understand ourselves and make connections to others and to the world.
Comprehend and Connect
Apply appropriate strategies to comprehend written, oral, and visual texts, guide inquiry, and extend thinking
reading strategies
using contextual clues; using phonics and word structure; visualizing; questioning; predicting; previewing text; summarizing; making inferences
When students learn reading strategies, they learn to make sense of the world presented in text and make greater sense of the world around them. Our cohort is focused on developing strong reading strategies, like inferencing. By making good connection to text, this give youth an opportunity to understand their world through examples modelled in stories.
Our learners focused on reading and responding to literature with a Social Emotional Focus. Stories like: It Wasn’t me, Clues to the Universe, New Kid, Flight of the Puffin, How To Be a Girl in the World, help students to explore social issues.
OUR FOCUS
Jessie Lee Students are Focused on Literacy!
At Jessie Lee, reading is an important school goal that is a fundamental skill across all grades and all subject areas. Literacy is the ability to understand, critically analyze, and create a variety of forms of communication, including oral, written, visual, digital, and multimedia, in order to accomplish one’s goals. It is the ability to read, write, speak, and think in a way that lets us communicate effectively and engage with the world around us. In developing literary skills, our students are engaging in the Core Competencies (Communication, Critical and Creative Thinking, Personal and Social Emotional). At Jessie Lee, teachers design literacy experiences and lessons to support our students to achieve their potential.
Our Cohort...
Our cohort is our upper intermediate students. We looked closely at this group to gather evidence of success, ensure access to quality levelled texts and reflect on best strategies to deepen our students comprehension and connection to text. Our teachers engaged in a deep dive into the connection between the comprehension skill of inferencing with social-emotional learning (SEL) under the personal and social awareness competency. Through questioning and reflecting, our teachers wanted to learn more about how upper intermediate literacy skills could be strengthened by tapping into their ability to connect the SEL skill of empathy and the comprehension skill of empathy.
The comprehension skill of using inference connects with social-emotional learning (SEL) under the personal and social awareness competency in several ways. Inference refers to the ability to draw conclusions or make interpretations based on available information and prior knowledge. When it comes to SEL, personal and social awareness involves understanding oneself and others, including their emotions, perspectives, and social dynamics. Our teachers worked with their students to develop pathways for students to connect to text, reflecting and learning from life examples.
What are the Jessie Lee Learning Goals? Teachers identified areas they would like to see improvement:
- Students will demonstrate growth in the ability to use a variety of reading strategies to critically analyze variety of text
- Students will demonstrate growth in their ability to make inferences and communicate connections with text.
Our learners will have multiple opportunities to practice and communicate responding to literature from October through June. They will do so through the use of various tools and strategies, including explicit instruction, modelling and scaffolded structures. For instance, individual lessons are taught, modelled, and practised with many different texts over several months so that learners acquire the competency to develop confident comprehension skills. Our teachers found that using a familiar framework , with targeted feedback and coaching from the teacher along with varied text created the best opportunity for students growth.
OUR NEXT STEPS
Our students make progress!
All our intermediate students demonstrate growth when given access to meaningful reading experiences and had repeated opportunities to respond to text with their connections.
All members of our cohort demonstrated improved reading comprehension, as well as improvement in targeted SEL areas:
Empathy: Using inference in comprehension helps develop empathy, which is a key component of social-emotional learning. By inferring the emotions and perspectives of others based on non-verbal cues, facial expressions, tone of voice, and context, individuals can better understand how others feel and respond with empathy.
Perspective-taking: Inference skills enable individuals to consider alternative viewpoints and understand different perspectives. This is crucial for perspective-taking, a fundamental aspect of personal and social awareness. By inferring others' thoughts, intentions, and emotions, individuals can gain insight into their experiences and cultivate a deeper understanding of the social dynamics at play.
Communication: Inference plays a role in effective communication, another aspect of personal and social awareness. By using inference, individuals can accurately interpret underlying meanings, unspoken messages, and emotional nuances in verbal and non-verbal communication. This helps in developing better communication skills, fostering understanding, and building strong interpersonal relationships.
Conflict resolution: Inference skills also contribute to conflict resolution and problem-solving. By inferring the underlying causes and emotions behind conflicts, individuals can address the root issues more effectively. Understanding the perspectives and emotions of others involved in the conflict enables individuals to find common ground, negotiate, and collaborate towards resolution.
Overall, the comprehension skill of using inference connects with social-emotional learning by enhancing empathy, perspective-taking, communication, and conflict resolution. These abilities are essential for developing personal and social awareness, which is crucial for healthy social interactions and positive relationships.
More than half of this cohort demonstrated skills at the proficient level. It was exciting to note that there were significant gains within our "at promise" students who moved along the continuum. This sample of student assessment is indicated in the table below:
| Students "At Promise" within the Cohort | Fall 2022 Assessment | Spring 2023 Assessment |
| Student 1 | Emerging | Developing |
| Student 2 | Developing | Proficient + |
| Student 3 | Emerging | Proficient |
| Student 4 | Emerging | Proficient |
| Student 5 | Emerging | Developing |
| Student 6 | Developing | Proficient + |
| Student 7 | Developing | Proficient |
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.
