1. James Bay Lowlands Secondary School Board: Northern Lights Secondary School

2. A Little Background  James Bay Lowlands Secondary School Board consists of one secondary school (Northern Lights Secondary School - NLSS).  The enrollment of students at NLSS is between 160 – 180.  We offer Grade 9 and 10 Essential, Applied, and Academic Math as well as 11 and 12 Workplace and College Math.

3. Promising Practices for Math 1. Fostering Connection Between Elementary and Secondary

4. Background  There are 3 elementary feeder schools for NLSS.  Funding came through NEOSA student success for math coaching opportunities.  Teachers from each school were granted release time to interact with one other.

5. The Big Picture (Main Goals)  Create dialogue and share resources /ideas between elementary and secondary math teachers.  Improve mathematics instruction by working with manipulatives, technology, three part lesson templates (minds on, action, consolidation/debrief), and problem based lessons to differentiate instruction.  Generate excitement for Senior Mathematics

6. Implementation Day 1  Share resources, technology (Geometers Sketchpad, PowerPoints, Fathom, Excel etc.) manipulatives and teaching experiences.  Choose some relevant topics from the curriculum and brainstorm to create three part lesson plans.

7.  Implement a lesson plan with the students.  Debrief afterward: what was successful and what did not work very well.  Keep lines of communication open for future collaboration. Implementation Day 2

8. Analysis  The experience was positive overall as it: Provided a clear view of an elementary math class. Helped open lines of communication with teachers and students. Gave some practical tools to aid with the instruction of mathematics.  Some difficulties included: The ability to line up schedules. The inability to measure the effects of the program.

9. Promising Practices for Math 2. Connecting Mathematics to College and Careers

10. Background  NLSS received funding last year to implement a high skills major program in Health and Wellness.  Part of the program involves a collaboration with the college, which enables the students to attend Northern College in Moosonee and take a course, as well as receive other necessary certification (i.e. First Aid).  Courses such as mathematics also include 6 to 10 hours of Contextualized Learning Activities where students connect and apply the information they are learning in high school to the field of Health and Wellness.

11. The Big Picture (Main Goals)  Students will connect what they learn in mathematics to a field of interest.  Students will become familiar with the college setting so they know what is expected in the future.  Students will learn about health and wellness as it is connected to the communities of Moosonee and Moose Factory

12. Implementation  A Contextualized Learning Activity was created that: applies the concepts of exponential growth/decay of the spread of bacteria and the effects of antibacterial drugs (very applicable with H1N1) uses the collection of data and statistics to look at health issues in the community looks at how probability is used in the media to communicate health problems which are common in aboriginal populations.

13. Analysis  The CLA is attached to the exponential, statistics, and probability units of MBF3C (Grade 11 College Mathematics)  These units are all coming up in the next 2 months and a more thorough evaluation will be made at that time.

14. Contact Information  If there are any questions, feel free to contact me. Mark Hughes (705) 336-2900 nlssmhughes@gmail.com