OHFA - AFPO

At the OHFA Annual General Meeting, Greg Harris (Teacher-Librarian at Ardagh Bluffs PS - Simcoe County DSB) shared his school's experiences with the Heritage Fairs program at the Simcoe County Regional Heritage Fair.

Greg has been involved with Heritage Fairs for a number of years in his own school, and has worked
to support other schools in his Board to become involved. He has worked closely with Shaughna Crew, Events Planner, Simcoe County Museum.
At last year's AGM we discussed how the Fairs program aligns so well with the revised curriculum in Ontario.
This year we took this one step further to discuss how participation also supports and promotes the Ministry of Education focus on inquiry.
Greg shared how his school has made inquiry a focus through participation in the the Simcoe County Regional Heritage Fair.

As part of his presentation Greg used several videos that he recorded at his school following the Regional Heritage Fair in 2014.
He has given us permission to share those interviews with other sites who may wish to use them in promoting the Fairs program in their schools.

INTERVIEW WITH A STUDENT ABOUT HIS HERITAGE FAIR PROJECT

Download Video: (http://www.youtube.com/embed/A0jR8yfhiwg)

INTERVIEW WITH A TEACHER ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Download Video: (http://www.youtube.com/embed/jh8Tj3goR-Y)

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

Download Video: (http://www.youtube.com/embed/and5HiHrte8)

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION SUPPORT DOCUMENTS

Getting Started With Student Inquiry

Inquiry Based Learning

Following the presentation, Liz Kerr shared a book entitled 'Q Tasks' by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan and provided everyone with a Q-WHEEL that can be used to assist students in developing questioning skills.

"Questions and questioning are key skills in successful learning. The original Q Tasks was instrumental in showing teachers how to give students the tools they need to develop their own questions and build critical thinking and inquiry skills. This new, totally revised edition continues to nurture and advance these crucial skills, and also offers Q-task extensions that introduce digital components that facilitate collaboration and are designed to appeal to tech-savvy students. More than 100 practical, flexible exercises in this remarkable book provide a smorgasbord of choices for teachers to use to help students formulate good questions in an information-rich environment. They put the students at the centre of their own learning as they build the library and research skills that are essential to our information age. Teachers will find innovative ways to help students go beyond memorization and rote learning of facts to focus on personal understanding, and true ownership of the learning experience."

Copies of this resource are available for purchase from Pembroke Publishers on their website at
https://www.pembrokepublishers.com/book.cgi?isbn=9781551383019