Professional development opportunity for educators
Greater Victoria Public Library, Pacific Opera Victoria and the Royal BC Museum are pleased to present a free day of professional development. As community partners and institutions, we think it is important to support the new curriculum and encourage children and teens to think critically about what they view, read and hear, and these objectives have inspired the theme of the day. Each institution will have experts on hand to provide you with practical tools and ideas you can use in your classroom. The day will be a mixture of lecture and hands-on learning.
Schedule for the day:
Start the day at the Greater Victoria Public Library
Central Branch at 735 Broughton St
Greater Victoria Public Library – 9:30-11:00 am
Start your day at the Central Branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library discussing Indigenization and the decolonization of education with presenter Chaw-win-is, the Indigenous resurgence coordinator and instructor at the University of Victoria. Chaw-win-is will provide a safe space to ask questions and discuss scenarios you may encounter in the classroom, for example, best practices for bringing in guest speakers for topics such as residential schools and truth and reconciliation.
GVPL will provide reading recommendations and introduce you to its new collections on Indigenous literature – Truth and Reconciliation Family to Go kits, Reads for Reconciliation, and Indigenous Reads Staff Picks to Go kits.
11:00-11:30 am – Break with coffee, tea and goodies provided, then walk to the Royal BC Museum
Pacific Opera Victoria lecture at the Royal BC Museum – 11:30 am-1:00 pm
Opera is more than music and drama; learn to use it as a platform to teach time, place and people. University of British Columbia professor emerita Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz, winner of the 2016 Jiří Theiner Award for her contributions to the promotion of Czech literature, will transport you to the rural mill towns of 19th century Moravia, illuminating the life and work of Czech writer Gabriela Preissová, the little-known creative force behind Leoš Janáček’s opera Jenůfa.
1:00-2:00 pm – Lunch on your own
Royal BC Museum – 2:00-3:30 pm
Visit the Royal BC Museum’s core gallery Becoming BC, then work with a museum educator using objects to identify and explore narratives that are missing from the exhibition and the ethics of historical thinking. Discover the power of object-based learning and gain skills to extract information “hidden” in objects. Craft meaningful questions to excite student research or creative writing.
Optional Evening Event: Performance of Jenůfa
At the Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton Ave
Enjoy one complimentary ticket to Pacific Opera Victoria’s 8:00 pm performance of Jenůfa at the Royal Theatre, staged by internationally renowned film, theatre and opera director Atom Egoyan. You can enhance your appreciation of this rarely performed opera gem with a pre-show talk by Robert Holliston starting 7:00 pm.
You will have the opportunity to request your complimentary ticket to Jenůfa when you complete the registration for the professional development day. Additional tickets to the opera can be purchased by contacting Pacific Opera Victoria’s Box Office Manager, Ainslee Jessiman, at 250-385-0222.
