Annual Virtual Teachers' Convention
Congrès Annuel Virtuel
October 14 and 15, 2021 - 14 et 15 octobre 2021
Pre-Convention Workshops / Les ateliers pré-congrès
Thursday/jeudi - 09h00 - 15h00
Refer to your confirmation email for the link for your Pre-Convention Workshop.
Thursday/jeudi - 15h30 - 16h30 - Registration Full
An Evening with Margaret Atwood
Thursday/jeudi - 20h00 - 21h00
Evening Keynote – Open to QPAT Members only. Please register with your school board email address. You’ll receive your own unique link to join the Keynote vai email.
Événement en soirée – Ouvert aux membres de l’APEQ seulement. Inscrivez-vous en utilisant votre adresse professionnelle. Lors de l’inscription, vous recevrez un lien unique vous permettant de vous connecter.
Convention 2021 Regular Workshops
The convention virtual workshops will take place on Thursday, October 14, 2021, from 5:00-6:30pm and on Friday, October 15, 2021, from 8:00am-3:00pm.
Click here to see a printable schedule with descriptions of the workshops (PDF). No pre-registration of workshops is required unless otherwise indicated.
All workshops will take place within a Google Meet. Virtual workshop links will be available below on Thursday, October 14th, 2021.

Ateliers réguliers du Congrès 2021
Tous les ateliers du congrès virtuel se dérouleront jeudi le 14 octobre de 17h à 18h30 ainsi que le vendredi 15 octobre 2021 de 8h à 15h.
Cliquez ici pour obtenir la version imprimable de l’horaire de la journée avec les descriptions des différents ateliers. Il n’est pas nécessaire de s’inscrire aux ateliers à l’avance à moins d’avis contraire.
Tous les ateliers se dérouleront sur la plateforme Google Meet. Les liens seront disponibles plus bas sur cette page dès jeudi le 14 octobre 2021.
Thursday | Jeudi
17h00 - 18h30
Come prepared to play a variety of games and activities that can be used to help students remediate gaps they may have in their math understanding. Content will focus on: number sense, place value, fact fluency for adding, subtracting and multiplication; multi-digit operations and; order of operations. Participants will be able to apply workshops ideas and strategies immediately in their classrooms. Click here to see the handout with game boards and rules.
Presented by: John Felling
(Teacher, Author, Consultant)
Not sure what to do or how to turn certain situations around? Get ready to feel more confident with some simple practical tools and strategies. In this workshop you will be introduced to QPAT’s new guide: Suggestions and Guidelines for Dealing With Difficult Situations (Conflict in Schools/Centres). Feel more confident in your ability to face difficult situations as we explore practical exercises and hands-on activities to give you concrete ways to deal with conflict.
Presented by: Julie Montpetit (QPAT) Elaheh Bos (Plant, Love, Grow)
This workshop is designed to provide teachers with important information on concussion prevention, recognition an management and to highlight the aspects of the supportive role they play in their student’s concussion recovery. The goal during recovery is to determine the appropriate level of cognitive and physical activities that will not worsen or provoke new symptoms. Normalizing a child or teen’s home and school life as soon as possible is key to maintaining their psychosocial well-being. Practical return to learn plans will be discussed.
Presented by: Debbie Schichtman (Nurse Trauma Coordinator) and Lisa Grilli, pht, MSc (Trauma coordinator)
This session will focus on how to adopt an inclusive co-teaching model. This step-by-step workshop is for teachers wishing to explore an inclusive double conference table approach for reading and writing instruction. Many pedagogical elements will be discussed such as individual and small group conferences, teacher roles, communication and planning, student goal setting and progress tracking, mini-lessons, flexible seating, and scheduling of conferences.
Presented by: Heather Scott
(Project Coordinator)
Friday | Vendredi
8h00 - 9H00
Come and experience the power (strength) and peace (restorative) side of the ancient practice of yoga combined with modern science to create a more conductive and calming environment for the classroom. In this session we will practice powerful postures combined with breathing techniques which will leave you feeling both energized and relaxed. Namaste
This workshop will be more on meditation and mindfulness based than yoga.
Presented by: Steve Maier and Colleen Murphy
Friday | Vendredi
9h00 - 10H15
Dans le but d’évaluer la compétence à lire des textes chez nos apprenants et d’attribuer une note dans le bulletin, nous élaborons des examens de compréhension. Cependant, ces derniers permettent-ils à nos apprenants de démontrer leur compétence à lire ? Les outils que nous développons sont-ils valides ? Les attentes et les intentions des questions posées sont-elles assez précises ? C’est à cette problématique que nous nous attaquerons dans le cadre de cet atelier.
Présenté par: Roch Turbide
(Chargé de cours)
Depuis août 2017 Le ministère de l’éducation reconnait les élèves doués comme étant une clientèle à risque. Mais qui sont ces élèves? Sait-on les reconnaître dans nos classes, les encadrer, les stimuler? Quelles sont leurs caractéristiques cognitives, socio-affectives et comportementales? Quels sont les mythes entourant la douance? Cet atelier vous permettra de mieux comprendre ces élèves; des exemples concrets, des extraits vidéos et quelques suggestions de stratégies de gestion de différenciation et d’enrichissement vous seront proposées.
Click here for the slide deck.
Présenté par: Marjorie Gil
(conseillère pédagogique à la douance)
For most international students we observe several sources of stress:
* Language
* Cultural differences
* Being away from home, parents, friends…
* Learning new subjects
What can we do to address and comfort their learning process with are a few recommendations:
* Language
* Culture
Presented by: Nikolov Nikolay
(Teacher)
Ocean School is an inquiry-based learning experience that advances critical thinking, innovation and environmental awareness, and is designed to provide students with the knowledge and competencies to explore current issues facing our oceans. Students are presented with a critical challenge that serves to guide their learning process and encourages them to act on issues such as habitat protection, sustainable fishing, or re-discovering traditional knowledge and practices. Ocean School is easy to use in class or at home and is integrated to Google Classroom. Come explore Ocean School’s modules with executive producer Jac Gautreau. Sharpen your student’s critical-thinking skills and help shape their conscience as global citizens. Ocean School is for life-long learners, social studies teachers, and students from 11 to 15 years old. Ocean School is free. Create your account at: oceanschool.nfb.ca/register
Presented by: Heather deLagran
(Education Specialist)
Friday | Vendredi
10h30 - 11H45
Twice exceptional (2e) students are hard to understand and can be some of the most challenging learners to educate. Sometimes the high intellectual capacities mask the coexisting difficulties (ASD,ADHD, learning disorders, etc.). In other cases, the challenges are so significant that they overshadow the giftedness. How to address both sides of the equation? This presentation will discuss a practical approach and concrete strategies to help teachers accommodate 2e students.
Presented by: Aniko Burjan
(Psychoeducator)
Solution-focused (SF) practices are derived from an evidence-based approach and used by teachers to build on what’s strong, rather than trying to fix what’s wrong (and rather than adding on to their already demanding workload). This workshop will help teachers explore how SF practice differ from problem-solving, and will demonstrate the advantages of using the SF approach in classroom and behaviour management, and in work with parents and colleagues.
Presented by: Sharon Casey
(Trainer, Consultant)
We spend our days living on the surface, chopped into periods and schedules, rushing from one demand to another, all the while longing for depth, meaning, and purpose. This workshop will encourage you to reconnect to your own deep wisdom and expose you to time-honoured principles and techniques of spiritual practice to help rekindle a sense of purpose and meaning in your everyday experiences in the classroom.
Presented by: Reenie Marx
(Retired Teacher)
How many times have you looked out over your classroom and thought, “the lesson I am about to teach is irrelevant to the real and pressing issues in my students’ lives”? James Watts is the founder of Education Plus High School. This remarkable alternative high school has developed ways to adapt the required Ministry of Education of Québec curriculum to address the essential needs of some of the most marginalized young people. James is also a Ph.D. student at Concordia University who is researching the relationship between land-based pedagogies and healthy student identities. This session will equip you to help your students learn about themselves, the world around them. We will look at many exciting ways to explore nature and develop ways to incorporate what the land teaches them into their lives.
Presented by: James Watts
Journal of a Travelling Girl is a historical fiction novel for 9-12 year olds. Neema was asked to write it by a Tłįchǫ leader to teach the youth about the important time in history when they became their own self-government and owners of their land. It’s a coming of age story of a young girl who goes on the annual Tłįchǫ canoe trip retracing the trails of their ancestors on their way to the celebrations of 2005 for the effective date of the Tłįchǫ Agreement. The book follows three best friends and their adventures on the journey. Themes of the book include friendship, community, loss, healing, personal growth and connection to the natural world. The book was published in October 2020 by Wandering Fox (Heritage House). It is being used in several schools in Quebec and the NWT and went to second print in early 2021. A teacher’s guide was developed by Neema in conjunction with the English teacher from École Buissonnière as she used it in her grade 4 classroom. The book has been nominated for the First Nation Communities Read Award and shortlisted for two Canadian Children’s Book Centre awards, namely the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction and Jean Little First-Novel Award.
Target audience – teachers of 9-12 year olds
Presented by: Nadine Neema
Friday | Vendredi
12h15 - 13H30
How teachers relate to overwhelmed, dysregulated, reactive students plays a critical role. Understanding the 14 inch journey between student’s heart-brain is essential. This workshop transforms classrooms applying Heart-Brain knowledge and skills that foster optimal classroom behaviour for all, especially students with ADHD, LD, ODD, PDD. Explore: connective, positive communication, the developmental brain, the vagal responsive nervous system, plus strategies to enhance student success.
Presented by: Linda Aber
(Coach)
Feeling amazing takes work but it helps protect you from getting sick or burning out. Boosting your resilience and vitality is not that hard! Come discover simple, natural solutions that will support your immune system, make you feel more energetic and take you through to June feeling great.
Presented by: Dani Chenier
(Teacher, Naturopathic Practionner)
An exclusive math games workshop just for Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten early first grade teachers. Come prepared to play games that incorporate the us of cards and dice that teach the following early childhood concepts: counting, comparing numbers, odd/even, greater than/less than, learning numbers to 10, 20, and early addition/subtraction concepts. Participants will learn how to create math work/play stations, start math journals, use student work for assessment purposes, and how to extend the games and activities to the home.
Please have these worksheets ready to use throughout the workshop.
Presented by: Jane Felling
(Consultant)
Que se passe-t-il dans notre tête lorsqu’on lit ? Pouvez-vous dessiner un schéma qui illustre comment nous le faisons? Pourquoi certains qui lisent de manière fluide ne comprennent-ils pas ce qu’ils lisent? Plusieurs enseignants ont été peu ou pas formés pour comprendre les cadres théoriques qui leur permettraient de répondre à ces questions. Cet atelier présente un cadre de référence soigneusement sélectionné (modèle Laplante) ainsi que des outils concrets choisis par une praticienne expérimentée.
Présenté par: Evi Pachis
(Teacher, Orthopédagogue)
Friday | Vendredi
13h45 - 15H00
Research demonstrates that our students need more opportunities to get outside and connect with nature. Sounds great, but what are the real benefits, risks and actual learning in the outdoors? How do you prepare to take your students outside? What materials do you need to run successful outdoor activities which relate to the curriculum? What resources can we use? Get answers to these questions and plan for your adventure outside!
Kindergarten to Cycle 3 Elementary
Presented by: Kelly Fahey
(Teacher)
Présenté par: Guy Giard
This workshop will help prepare teachers to introduce the MEES sexuality education program into their classrooms inclusively and impartially. Teachers will learn best practices for teaching students about sexual health and how to approach various topics. Participants will also be introduced to local community resources that can help implement the sexuality education program in their schools as well as English-language resources for lesson planning.
Presented by: Ren Haskett
(Education for Prevention Coordinator)
This workshop is an “everything you need to know about loss and bereavement”. Corrie Sirota MSW, PSW, Author of “Someone Died…Now What? A Personal and Professional Perspective on Coping with Grief and Loss” will share her 25+ years of experience with helping people cope with crisis. This particular workshop is specifically designed to help teachers learn coping strategies for themselves as well as their students when faced with the unfortunate crisis of the death of a student, teacher, staff or perhaps a family member. Focus will be on how to set up a debriefing that includes understanding the developmental levels of the various age groups being addressed.
Presented by: Corris Sirota
(Clinical Social Worker)