William F. Davidson Elementary 23-24
OUR CONTEXT
William F Davidson is located in the heart of Guildford. Our community shines with diverse identities, cultures, and languages. Students arrive each day with their own story are given space to share and celebrate one another. We are grateful to be learning on the unceded and traditional territory of the Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations. Intermediate students wrote personalized land acknowledgements:
Each year William F Davidson anchors learning in a picture book. This year, the picture book that we chose was “Be A Good Ancestor” by Leona Prince and Gabrielle Prince.
“Be a Good Ancestor” honours Indigenous worldviews by encouraging learners of all ages to consider the ways in which they live in connection to the world around them and to think deeply about their role in the world. Everyday, students at William F Davidson work to be a good ancestor in our community. Students reflected on their ability to be a good ancestor:
“We have been a good ancestor with our words by being thoughtful with what we say. We are kind to others, not just with our friends, but with everyone around us in our community.”
“We have been a good ancestor to our friends by spending quality time with them, being kind to them all the time.”
“We have been a good ancestor for things that swim by watching them swim in local ponds. I see fish when I go to the Fraser River, the fish I usually see are Salmon.”
“We have been a good ancestor with water by appreciating that it keeps us alive and hydrated. Water helps a lot of things. We need to save water and not waste it.”
OUR LEARNERS
A focus on strong literacy development is at the heart of what we do at William F. Davidson. The ability to write and communicate effectively is key to our students’ success as they move through their schooling and into their adult lives. They learn these skills in a way that lets our learners communicate effectively and think critically about our world and their lives.
While our community connects learning to “Be a Good Ancestor”, students also regularly learn through Indigenous frameworks. The First People’s Principles of Learning guide our learning and ways of being at William F Davidson,.
Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).
Early primary students participate in story workshop. Story workshop provides a safe, secure, interactive and creative environment for all our young learners to develop literacy and social skills. It is carried out once or twice a week in our early primary classrooms. It provides students with an authentic experience to imagine, play, write, edit, revise, publish and share their stories.
Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.
Students in an intermediate class gather each morning to meet in circle. In circle, student say good morning to one another and connect in a positive way. Circle topics include check-ins as well as discussions about success, managing emotions, or reflections after class and school events.
Learning requires exploration of one’s identity.
Students in an intermediate class participated in an art project that celebrated the students’ unique characteristics, including skin tone and facial features. In this art project called “Beauty in Every Colour”, students learned how to blend primary colours using acrylic paint to create a tone that resembles their own skin tone.
OUR FOCUS
Every day at William F Davidson, learners are provided a variety of learning experiences. According to the Ministry of Education, “literacy is the ability to understand, critically analyze, and create a variety of forms of communication, including oral, written, visual, and multimedia, in order to accomplish [their] goal” (Ministry of Education, 2024). Our students are enabled and supported through personalized learning, quality teaching, flexibility and choice, and high standards.
William F Davidson’s learning goal is to grow and extend upon their personal writing. Personal writing varies throughout each grade; however, the themes remain the same. Students write to explore and extend their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
Our student learning goals as they relate to literacy include:
- Thinking creatively, critically, and reflectively about language and texts as part of constructing and communicating personal meaning
- Create stories and other texts to deepen awareness of self, family, and community
As always, students learn through the First People’s Principles of Learning. Our learners develop their best writing when engaging in their personal writing through these principles, as seen below.
Our learners can use language in creative and playful ways to help them understand how language works.
Students in an early primary class created individualized pieces of writing using just a simple sentence starter. This student learned to create a journal entry using their own ideas and thoughts providing some detail into their writing. Learners in this class have been experimenting with writing longer, more detailed sentences to create a stronger piece of writing.
Our learners can experience creativity and joy through language and text.
Students in late primary wrote autobiography poems for William F Davidson’s Identity Day. In this activity, students reflected on their preferences, feelings, and central traits to celebrate who they are for identity day.
Our learners can understand how language works and are learning how to use it purposefully.
OUR NEXT STEPS
We continue to gather evidence of learning in our student cohorts that demonstrates continued growth in our literacy focus. Over the 2023-2024 school year, students demonstrated progress in relation to our literacy goals to think creatively, critically, and reflectively about language and texts as part of constructing and communicating personal meaning and to create stories and other texts to deepen awareness of self, family, and community.
Our results indicate that in relation to our two writing goals (as stated above), the most significant growth occurred for our students who were developing in these skills at the beginning of the year.
Growth was demonstrated in our November to May results. For our goals, we saw a decrease in the percentage of students who are Emerging (-7%) and a decrease in those who are Developing (-5%). Similarly, we saw an increase in the percentage of students who are Proficient (+5%) and an increase in those who are Extending (5%). More descriptive evidence of learning that is specific to our goal is highlighted below.
Student learning evidence is gathered in a variety of ways. For example, in one method, the teacher, using the language of the assessment standards, identifies student strengths and challenges in relation to reading samples and provides comments. Student digital portfolios and self-reflections, as well as peer evaluations, also play a role in developing a holistic, authentic, and ongoing assessment process.
Based on teacher reflections at the conclusion of the period in which concepts were presented, practiced, and reviewed, 41% of the students in the cohort were able to think creatively, critically, and reflectively about language and texts as part of constructing and communicating personal meaning and to create stories and other texts to deepen awareness of self, family, and community. With 50% of the students still requiring support in this skillset, this will remain an area of ongoing focus and priority.
Moving Forward
Evidence of our student learning and staff collaboration demonstrated that our focus on improving reading skills to provide more in-depth learning experiences to transform student thinking has proven beneficial. Our teachers tracked the progress of their students’ learning goals:
- Thinking creatively, critically, and reflectively about language and texts as part of constructing and communicating personal meaning
- Create stories and other texts to deepen awareness of self, family, and community
As a school community, we are committed to creating equitable, supportive, and caring learning environments where all children can thrive and reach their full potential. We will continue to monitor and adjust our student learning plan. By determining our progress; identifying what is working and what needs to be improved; evaluating the impact of our plan; and using this feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning – we will support learners in developing literacy proficiencies that cultivate cognitive skills and understanding of others that prepare them for future success.
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.
