School Life at STEAM

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School life

myBlueprint.ca

This educational resource provides students with comprehensive education and career mapping process. myBlueprint allows students to use an education planner that will equip them to make informed decisions about their future. The high school planner gives students a tool to visually plan toward Ontario graduation requirements. This resource allows students to discover themselves by completing job compatibility surveys that will unlock powerful occupational matches to better inform student self-discovery. The students can explore prospective post-secondary opportunities in apprenticeships, colleges and universities, and workplaces. Furthermore, students can search for a variety of occupations by analyzing a career’s job description, required education, job outlook, salary, and much more.

 

EQAO Testing

The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) is an independent agency that creates and administers assessments to measure Ontario students’ achievement in reading, writing, and math. The assessments objectively evaluate student achievement in relation to common provincial standards. Students write the EQAO tests in grade 3, for reading, writing, and math assessment, in grade 6 for reading, writing, and math assessment, in grade 9 for math assessment, and in grade 10 for literacy. The grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is a literacy assessment used as a high school graduation requirement. In order to graduate from high school, students must pass the OSSLT. Students are permitted to write the OSSLT more than once and students who are unsuccessful may be eligible to take Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC) to satisfy this graduation requirement.

For more information, visit the Education Quality and Accountability Office website.

 

ELearning - Desire2Learn

Desire2Learn (D2L) offers the best learning management system for online or blended learning. D2L allows teachers to reach every learner with time-saving tools that will enable the creation of learning materials and class announcements to be posted in a central location that is accessible to students and parents via the internet. D2L permits parental engagement by allowing parents to audit their son/daughter’s learning experiences/progress by logging into their student’s account to view test results, upcoming assignment deadlines in every class, and other class activities.

The D2L platform offers more learning choices to schools. Students are able to collect artifacts of their learning, formative and summative evaluations, and make their learning materials more engaging with various forms of multimedia. The D2L learning platform provides SNP STEAM with the ability to aggregate their learning resources, align their lessons and materials directly to curriculum expectations, and provide teachers with the ability to view the analytics of their students in order to track individual learner’s progress.

 

Guidance

Guidance Counsellor and school counsellors are available to meet during STEAMwork or other scheduled times about a variety of issues: mental health and wellbeing, hygiene, academic struggles, organizational difficulties, etc.  If you need help, they’re here to talk to!

Grade 10, 11, and 12 secondary school students taking the college stream will also be taking Dual-credit courses where they earn secondary school credit and college credit at the same time.

Grade 13/Fifth Year students taking solely college-level courses to finish their college diploma will have a schedule that more closely resembles a college program with 4 month semesters.

Weekly

  • Community Hour Club
  • OLI Dance Program
  • Friday Orange Shirt Day

Monthly

  • Guest speakers and elders teach the students about a variety of topics.
  • Award ceremonies where students are awarded based on their efforts in demonstrating the Hodinohso:ni values: Fairness; Sharing; Honesty; Kindness; Confidentiality; Consistency; Integrity; Responsibility; Responsiveness; Cooperation; Openness; Trustworthiness

Yearly

  • Land camps in the summer where students spend 15 days on the land and earn secondary school credit in the process.

Mental Health

We do not endorse or recommend any particular products, treatments, services, or diagnosis, whether specifically or generally, and professional advice should be sought in relation to all health and treatment decisions. We provide information and listings only, which we hope are helpful, however, full disclaimers and warranties apply. 

  • Guidance Counsellor - Ms. VanEvery
  • Social Counsellor - Brittany Johnson

Need help now?

We don't provide mental health advice, counselling, or treatment. If you or someone you know is in crisis, contact your local community crisis team. You can also reach out to the Indigenous Hope for Wellness Help Line at 1-855-242-3310, the Black Youth Helpline at 1-833-294-8650, or the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868.

Add these links to Six Nations Mobile Crisis Services and Crisis Services and Support Lines-Brant

Homework Motivation Strategies for Teens

By Jeffrey Bernstein, Ph.D. A psychologist and the author of seven books.

Use these ten strategies to end the homework wars.

Parents must not let their emotions get the best of them when their kids are not getting homework done. The strategies below are for helping your teen get unstuck:

  • Nix the nagging! Pestering creates an adversarial, shaming dynamic that backfires. Instead, try my Calm, Firm, and Non-Controlling approach. Gently empower your child or teen by supportively saying, "I see that you are frustrated. Let's think of ways to help you get back on track with your homework/schoolwork."
  • Encourage effort over perfection. Be mindful that kids tend to get intimidated when they have a hard time understanding material. They may get into negative self-talk like, "I can't do this." Even if they're truly thinking this way, parents may instead hear comments like, "I hate this." or "This is stupid." Remind your child or teen that doing his best effort is better than not doing it at all.
  • Prioritize. Coach and encourage the order that homework is done based on urgency, complexity, and workload. At the same time, realize that some students do better by starting with easier tasks and that this can help spark them to tackle more demanding assignments.
  • Break it down. Reinforce breaking up homework time into manageable chunks and encourage taking regular breaks. Encourage moving around and walking away for a bit. Remind that an apple really does provide the same effect and is healthier than an energy drink.
  • Think "15 minutes of pain." Have the student set a timer for only 15 minutes. Keep it lighthearted and explain that even if it "hurts" doing the work, she can stop after 15 minutes. Like most things in life, once we push ourselves and get going, it's not so bad.
  • Don't be consequence ravenous. Imposing consequences for homework not being done can backfire with defiant behaviour. If you use consequences, don't present them with yelling. Keep them reasonable and ask the student to help you be able to move towards rewards (don't go overboard) and minimize consequences. Remember that real, natural consequences are the best motivators.
  • Encourage connection. Encourage the student to make or re-establish a connection with his teacher. I have seen hundreds of kids "shoot themselves in the foot" with incomplete homework if they don't have a decent relationship with their teacher.
  • Change up the homework/study surroundings. Try putting an inspirational poster by the desk, moving to a different room, or silencing the cell phone. New changes can create more changes.
  • Use those study halls. Encourage the use of them as much as possible. Some kids lose sight of that more done at school, which means less to do at home.
  • Allow for some fun. Notice if your student is racing through the homework just to have fun. Fun time like TV, phone time, or surfing the web, is welcome, but make sure you put limits on it.


Volunteer Information

Community Involvement Activities (High School Student Volunteering Hours)

As part of the requirement for an Ontario Secondary School Diploma, every student who begins high school after the 1999 – 2000 school year is required to complete a minimum of 20 hours (until Sept. 2022) of community involvement activities. Community involvement activities develop a student’s awareness and understanding of good community citizenship, social responsibilities, and the contributions they can make to society.  Students may begin accumulating their 20 volunteer hours in the summer before starting grade 9 and must complete their volunteer hours while in high school.

Volunteer Opportunities

Student volunteer activities that are eligible for community involvement activities are businesses, not-for-profit organizations, public sector institutions (including hospitals), and informal settings.

Ineligible Activities

The Ontario Ministry of Education has developed a list of activities that are ineligible activities. Ineligible activities are activities that:

  • Are a requirement of a class or course in which the student is enrolled (i.e. cooperative education portion of a course, job shadowing, work experience);
  • Takes place during the time allotted for the instructional program on a school day. However, an activity that takes place during the student’s lunch break or spare periods is permissible;
  • takes place in a logging or mining environment, if the student is under sixteen years of age;
  • takes place in a factory, if the student is under fifteen years of age;
  • takes place in a workplace other than a factory, if the student is under fourteen years of age and is not accompanied by an adult;
  • would normally be performed for wages by a person in the workplace;
  • involves the operation of a vehicle, power tools, or scaffolding;
  • involves the administration of any type or form of medication or medical procedure to other persons;
  • involves handling of substances classed as “designated substances” under the Occupational Health and Safety Act;
  • requires the knowledge of a tradesperson whose trade is regulated by the provincial government;
  • involves banking or the handling of securities, or the handling of jewelry, works of art, antiques, or other valuables;
  • consists of duties normally performed in the home (i.e., daily chores) or personal recreational activities;
  • Involves activities for a court-ordered program (e.g., a community-service program for young offenders, probationary program).

Community Hours Form

For more information, visit the Ontario Ministry of Education website.