CURRENT OFSHEEA NEWS

February 2024 Newsletter

Dear Family Studies Educators, 

As an Educational Organisation, it is so important to OFSHEEA that we respect and honour Black histories and cultures throughout the year. In February we take some extra time to reflect on our commitment to make classrooms in Ontario spaces that value Black history, Black joy, and Black excellence. We hope that some of the resources that we have shared on our social media this month have helped our community to continue this work.

 

Upcoming Workshop:

For our February workshop, Nicholas Ryan from the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board will be with us to present on AI in the Family Studies Classroom. We know that this is an important topic for many of our members and colleagues, so we hope you will join us for a dynamic conversation about this increasingly important topic in Education. 

 

Podcast:

Find our Podcast Here: https://whatthefamilystudies.buzzsprout.com/

In our most recent podcast episode we interviewed Family Studies teacher Jennifer Sobec  from Niagara District School Board about her transition from a new sewist to finding ways to draw students into her program through student interests like cosplay, upcycling items, and making fashion fun! 

Our next episode will feature representative from Studica about RealCare Babies and other simulation tools that can be used in the family studies classroom. 

 

Resources: 

We know that some of our members might be teaching a food of a fashion class for the first time this semester, and we want to support you with this new challenge! We are making the materials from our 2023 Food and Fashion Lab workshops available to our members, including the recordings of the workshops themselves. Members can find these resources using this link:  https://ofsheea.education/download/resources-ofsheea-food-and-fashion-lab-workshops/ 

We are also working on some great new recipe resources for our members, where we include information for food lab planning along with a lab-friendly recipe! For our first one, we have recipe that’s great for Black History Month (or any time of year), Jamaican Jerk Chicken and Rice and Peas. OFSHEEA members can find the resource here: https://ofsheea.education/download/foods-jamaican-jerk-chicken-rice-and-peas-food-lab-recipe/

 

Mentoring Program

Do you want to make more connections in your subject area? Are you looking for some guidance and support in Family Studies, or do you have wisdom and experience to share with teachers who may be new to the subject area?

OFSHEEA is launching our mentorship program, which will be a great opportunity and experience for OFSHEEA members!  Please complete the form at the link below in order to register for this exciting new program.

Food and Fashion Labs

Great News! OFSHEEA will once again be offering our popular Food and Fashion Lab workshops in preparation for the new school year. These workshops are great opportunities for teachers to improve their confidence and skills when teaching practical content to students!

One of the most fun and rewarding aspects to teaching Nutrition and Fashion courses is the hands-on component.  Fostering students’ skill development while keeping them as safe as possible is a challenge that we want to prepare you for. To this end, OFSHEEA wants to share an upcoming opportunity for professional development created for teachers new to family studies (or for those just looking for a refresher).

OFSHEEA will be offering 2 different virtual workshops via zoom, one on how to run Food Labs and another on Fashion Labs.  The dates and times are as follows:

Fashion Lab Workshop  –  Wednesday August 24, 2022   9:30am  –  12:30pm

Food Lab Workshop –  Tuesday August 30, 2022  12:30pm – 3:30pm

Saturday October 15, 2022, from 9:00AM - 11:30AM

Save the Date: Infusing Equity into Your Family Studies Classroom

Equity! CRRP! Anti-Oppression Education! Bias! Power and Privilege! These are just some of the current hot topics in the media and in education discourse. This session will explore these important concepts and how they impact our classrooms. Participants will leave with practical and actionable lesson activities to take back to your school, department, and classroom.

Save the Date for this upcoming workshop, registration will open in September!