Thousands of St. Albert educators will head online this week to learn the latest teaching tricks from some of their peers.
Some 6,200 teachers from communities around Edmonton are expected to log into the 2022 North Central Teachers’ Convention Feb. 10 and 11. Their students have those days off.
The North Central convention draws some 6,200 teachers from 19 school districts around Edmonton, including those in St. Albert and Sturgeon County, making it the third biggest in the province, said convention association president Carryl Bennett.
Like last year’s event, Bennett said this year’s convention is all virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has freed up cash organizers would normally have to spend on travel, allowing them to hire more top-tier speakers, such as comedian Rick Mercer, whom she will interview in a fireside chat on Feb. 11. This year’s convention also features a one-day symposium on climate change and reconciliation by the Alberta Council for Environmental Education, a comedy performance by Lars Callieou, and a virtual magic show by mentalist Jeff Newman.
St. Albert sessions
Teachers might recognize several current and former St. Albert-area residents leading sessions at the conference.
Paul Kane Chemistry teacher Michael Ng will hold two sessions on the use of scientific magic tricks to get students interested in classroom lessons.
“We’re so overwhelmed with movies of superheroes,” Ng said, and many students wonder if what they see on screen is possible in real life.
Ng said one of his sessions covers superhero science and shows teachers how turn into the Invisible Woman with refraction, fly like Superman with hydrogen, and spin webs like Spider-Man with sodium alginate.
The other session is all about heavy metal — specifically iron.
“The Iron Age lasted 2,000 years,” Ng noted, and eventually led to the discovery of electromagnetism and modern technology.
Ng said his talk will show teachers how they can use iron oxides to produce brilliant colours, iron, and hydrochloric acid to inflate balloons, and Prussian blue dye (which contains iron) to take cyanotype prints of superspy James Bond.
Actor, producer, activist, and former St. Albert resident Jesse Lipscombe will speak at the conference on racism and being a better ally.
“It’s no secret that the majority of educators in Canada are white,” Lipscombe said, and that the curriculum underrepresents visible minorities in its contents.
Lipscombe said teachers need to ensure Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) students can see themselves in the curriculum and relate to its subject matter. Teachers at his talk should expect both awkward conversations and tips on how to be better advocates for BIPOC students.
Author and former Morinville resident Marty Chan will help teachers learn to do better online presentations during the conference.
“Zoom fatigue is quite real,” Chan said, and students can only pay attention to an online talk for so long, especially with all the many distractions they have at home.
Chan said he switched to online talks early in the pandemic and researched how live-streamers and professional gamers can hold people’s attention for hours on end. His talk will address the basics of an online presentation and how to spice them up with multiple cameras, special effects, and “B-roll” footage.
“Don’t forget the importance of making eye contact with your students,” he added, and to remember that doing so means looking at your camera, not the student’s face on screen.
The 2022 NCTCA conference runs online Feb. 10-11. Visit www.mynctca.com for details.
