Provincial Executive Council (or PEC as it is affectionately named because we love acronyms) is made up of the president and two vice-presidents, who are elected by the membership at large; 15 regional district representatives, the past president and the executive secretary. This year, 2021, is an election year for PEC, and I encourage all ATA members to ensure that their ATA profile is up to date and that they remember their password in order to participate in the democratic process. The new council will take over in July.
Curriculum continues to be a major concern for Alberta teachers. At the meeting in October, PEC passed a motion expressing non-confidence in the curriculum process being undertaken by the government and called on the government to reinstate the partnership with the ATA, reconvene the working groups and release the draft documents. We continue to watch this issue and raise the importance of the voice of teachers. As a teacher of mathematics, I for one am tired of the subject I love being used as a political football. The buzzwords of “back to basics” and “discovery maths” are thrown around in the media, but in reality, have little to do with the work done in our classrooms.
COVID has caused much disruption to our lives. As always, teachers have risen to the challenge. Last March we switched our instruction to at-home emergency teaching. We embraced the technology available; we reached out to students. Now back in school, or online, or in some sort of ever-changing hybrid model, we continue to do our best to reach students. And at the same time as we face challenges, we also have the opportunity to examine our practice. Does it matter if we can’t hold traditional exams? What would the impact be if instead of an exam we assigned collaborative projects? How do we assess a student’s learning? Teaching is all about relationships. How do we keep those connections with colleagues and students?
I encourage all of us to take the time each day to reach out to your colleague across the hallway, say hello, wave, find a way to connect in a socially distanced manner. Watch out for each other and stay healthy. Together we will get through this.
Katherine Pritchard
