Reflecting on Greenwood’s Community Conversation Series

Written by Mary Gauthier, Executive Director, Centre for Teaching and Learning
Greenwood’s Community Conversation Series offered many opportunities to bring Greenwood to the homes of our parent community this past year. Topics and speakers were intentionally chosen to share the expertise we have within the school that provides a personalized experience for our students. 
 
Kathryn Connelly, Director, Student Well-Being, started off the series by sharing ways she works with all staff to help us create an emotionally safe and caring place for students.
 
Erin Porter, Director, Student Life, and Connor McFarlane, Coordinator, Student Leadership and House Program, presented all the ways students engage at Greenwood and the many opportunities to develop leadership skills. 
 
Rachael Brownell-Swain, Coordinator, Service Learning | Staff Liaison, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Bethany Glick, Coordinator, Diversity, presented the important and essential work we are doing in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This included an overview for all staff and students about the initiatives we have done and the hopes for future initiatives.
 
We ended the year with a fun session on Innovation and Design. This session opened with a design-thinking activity led by William Farbstein, Coordinator, Innovation Lab. Following, Anthony Costa, Director, Grade 7 & 8 Program, shared how growth-mindset thinking is within our personalized learning approaches. Heather Maxted, Expert Teacher, Centre for Teaching and Learning, closed the session with how teachers work together and create lessons that engage students.
 
We were privileged to have an outside expert, Dr. David Tranter, join us at the beginning and end of the year. We have heard from many parents how his knowledge and welcoming style is appreciated. His most recent talk on Thinking Ahead to Teens and Resilience Post-Pandemic can be found here.
 
Thank you for your ongoing support and engagement this year! We look forward to our continued Parent Conversation Series in the fall.
 
Looking Ahead: Save the Date!
 
We are looking forward to bringing our Community Conversation series back this fall. We will kick off the 2021-2022 school year with Dr. Lisa Damour (virtually) on September 29 at 6:30-7:30 p.m.
 
Dr. Lisa Damour is a clinical psychologist, writer, and professor. She wrote Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls through Transitions, and has written numerous articles on supporting teens through the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Other speaker topics you can look forward to: 
  • Belonging: Our Children and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Learning: Connecting Learning, Thinking and Doing
These sessions will take place monthly and will be held in a Lunch n’ Learn style. We hope you can fit these sessions into your schedule so we can stay connected all year!
 
Questions?
If you have any questions about the Community Conversation Series, please contact Mary Gauthier, Executive Director, Greenwood Centre for Teaching and Learning.
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Greenwood College School

443 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto, ON M4S 2L8
Tel: 416 482 9811
We acknowledge with gratitude the Ancestral lands upon which our main campus is situated. These lands are the Ancestral territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Anishinabek and the Wendake. The shared responsibility of this land is honoured in the Dish with One Spoon Treaty and as settlers, we strive to care for the land, the waters, and all creatures in the spirit of peace. We are responsible for respecting and supporting the enduring presence of all First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples. When away from this campus we vow to be respectful to the land by protecting and honouring it. We will create relationships with the people and the land we may visit by understanding the territories we enter and the nations who inhabit them.
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