Greystone Centennial Middle School is committed to creating a family-like community that is flexible and responsive to student needs and uses ongoing feedback for growth.

1. WE BELIEVE IN F’S
AT GREYSTONE
Family Flexibility
Feedback
DOES THIS MEAN WE’RE GETTING IT RIGHT FOR
TODAY’S LEARNERS?

2. WHO ARE WE ...
AND WHERE DO WE COME FROM?

3. Spruce Grove, Alberta
small urban
community
of 15,000
short drive
west from
major urban
centre
Edmonton
one of 22
schools in
Parkland
School
Division

4. Greystone Centennial Middle
640 students in
grades 5 - 9
School
5 - 7 classes
per grade level
30 teachers
11 support staff
Key Contact ~ Learning Coach ~ Assistant Principal ~
Principal

5. A New Vision for
Middle School
UNDER
CONSTRUCTION

6. CREATING THE
FOUNDATION
Built on a Dream
Powered by an
Inferno

7. WE BELIEVE IN F’S
AT GREYSTONE
Family Flexibility
Feedback
DOES THIS MEAN WE’RE GETTING IT RIGHT FOR
TODAY’S LEARNERS?

8. Greystone... A
Family
Lives Here

9. To All of You at Greystone…
Words cannot express my sincere gratitude.
You have helped raise my
children...Greystone staff, you have been
there all along helping my children and I
more than you will ever know. Thank you for
being teachers, thank you for being my
friends, thank you for taking care of the most
important thing to all of us – “our children” .
Love Korinna Wolodko (Greystone Parent)

10. FOSTERING FAMILY TIES
• After the Bell
• Clubs/Teams
• Camps/Trips
• Breakfast Program
• Community Partnerships
• Heroes/Rainbows/Challenge Day

11. LEARNING SPACES
CREATE A SENSE OF
COMMUNITY

12. A FAMILY OF ADULT
LEARNERS
The people we interviewed from the good-to-great
companies clearly loved what they did, largely because
they loved who they did it with. - Jim Collins

13. Student learning and
achievement increase
substantially when teachers work
in learning communities
supported by school leaders who
focus on improvement.
- Michael Fullan

14. A FAMILY OF ADULT
LEARNERS
• Team Teaching
• Team Time
• Retreat
• Book Study
• Learning Coach
• Professional
Learning Days
• Design Team
• Tech Team
• Sharing Through
Twitter/Blogging

15. ANNUAL RETREAT

16. LOOPING
...refers to the not-so-new but increasingly common
practice of keeping groups of students together for two or
more years with the same teacher.

17. WHAT DO THE KIDS SAY?

18. I VALUE THE RELATIONSHIPS BUILT
WITH TEACHERS AND CLASSMATES
WHEN WE SPEND MORE THAN ONE
YEAR TOGETHER

19. I VALUE BEING ABLE TO STAY WITH
THE SAME TEACHER FOR MORE THAN
ONE YEAR AS THEY GET TO KNOW
ME AS A LEARNER AND A PERSON

20. ARE WE GETTING IT
RIGHT?
Turn and Talk

21. Flexibility
To Create Engaged Learning

22. Education is a personal process. What
and how young people are taught have to
engage their energies, imaginations and
their different ways of learning. - Sir Ken Robinson

23. FLEXIBILITY TO SUPPORT
INQUIRY • Authenticity
• Academic Rigor
• Assessment
• Beyond the School
• Appropriate Use of Technology
• Active Exploration
• Connecting with Expertise
• Elaborated Communication

24. FLEXIBILITY THROUGH BLOCK
SCHEDULING
Block Scheduling

25. WHInAteTre sDt &O M TotiHvaEtio nK -IEDffoSrt -SAY?
Rigor
Effective Learning Time -
Relevance

26. ARE WE GETTING IT
RIGHT?
Turn and Talk

27. Growth Through
Ongoing
Feedback

28. In the growth mindset...it’s about a
commitment to learning–taking informed
risks and learning from the results,
surrounding yourself with people who will
challenge you to grow. - Carol Dweck

30. Developing Criteria - What Do Good Writers Do?

31. Developing Criteria - What Do We Believe
About Good Learning?

32. Students Developing Criteria

33. COMPETENCY BASED REPORTING

34. Subject Specific Outcomes
Individual student
comments
address
strengths, areas
for growth and
strategies to
support growth

35. Learning Community Facebook
Pages

36. Learning Community Blogs

37. Text Messaging Parents -
Remind 101

38. ARE WE GETTING IT
RIGHT?
Turn and Talk

39. A FINAL WORD ABOUT THE
KIDS

40. THANKS FOR THE
CONVERSATION!
Contact us: www.psd70.ab.ca/schools/greystone
Twitter: @carolynjcameron
CEU Code: WE-76