PD Event on February 24th with Dr. Larry Swartz; Teach more than 10 days; Two Reminders

There are just a handful of spots left before registration closes for our upcoming Professional Development: Creating Caring Classrooms: An Arts and Literacy Approach to Address Bullying  next Wednesday, February 24th, from 4:30 - 7:30 PM at the Stoneridge Inn and Conference Centre (6675 Burtwistle Lane, London, ON  N6L 1H5).
We are very excited to be able to offer this workshop with Dr. Larry Swartz. Participants will receive his book along with literacy and arts-based activities designed to help students work towards an understanding of building better relationships while examining their own beliefs and attitudes.  Dr. Larry Swartz has been an instructor in literacy as well as dramatic arts at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto for 18 years.  He has been an educator for 4 decades and is well-known for his use of children's literature to help young people grow as readers, writers and citizens of the world. As a classroom teacher, consultant, author and speaker, Larry has shared his enthusiasm and expertise with teachers, administrators, teacher-librarians and parents throughout Canada, the United States and Asia.  He is the author of several teacher resource publications including:

• Dramathemes (4th edition),
• Caring Classrooms (with Kathleen Gould Lundy),
• This is a Great Book! (with Shelley Stagg Peterson),
• The Bully-Go-Round: Literacy and arts strategies for promoting bully awareness in the classroom.

Dinner is provided and will be served beforehand. Please go to www.etfotvot.com to register.

Teach More than 10 days a year:
Did you know that Occasional Teachers contribute to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan?  Each year an OT teaches more than 10 days, counts as a pensionable year, a year of service toward your retirement factor.  The retirement factor (85) is determined by adding your age plus the number of years of pensionable teaching which means someone who is 55 and has taught 30 years has reached their 85 factor and is eligible for an unreduced Teachers' pension.
It is never to early to consider your pension so as not to miss opportunities. For more information please visit Your Life with Teachers' - Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan

Two Reminders:
1) Applications to the LTO List will close on February 29th.  Anyone who is not on the LTO List but wishes to be, must apply via the TVDSB Employee Portal, even those from the OT Roster who are currently in long-term assignments.  Those on the LTO List need not re-apply.
2) OTF is offering subsidies of up to $450 for Math and Information Technology AQ courses successfully completed after February 1, 2016. For details, go to AQ/ABQ Subsidies