Showing posts with label Student Success Centre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Student Success Centre. Show all posts

Thursday 15 December 2016

Building Skills and Confidence in the Student Success Centre

The Student Success Centre hosts our Learning Strategies classes, and is also open to all
students before and after school and at lunch.

Located on the second floor, Greenwood’s warm, welcoming Student Success Centre helps students build confidence and develop new learning skills.

In addition to hosting our Learning Strategies courses, the Success Centre is open to all students before and after school and during lunchtime. A variety of spaces, including breakout rooms, quiet study areas and bar seating, allow students to select the right work environment for them.

“In our Learning Strategies classes, some students work best in small groups, while others want to work independently or have a one-on-one meeting with their teacher,” says Jennifer Lillie, Director, Student Success. “The new Centre meets all of these different needs.”


"With the glass walls, students can always see their peers and teachers working, and it
encourages them to do the same," says Jennifer Lillie, Director, Student Success.


The Success Centre is very popular with students, and two teachers are always on hand at busy times to ensure students have the support they need, whether it be study skills, organizational tips or time-management strategies.

“The space is very inviting,” Jennifer says. “With the glass walls, students can always see their peers and teachers working, and it encourages them to do the same.”

Ultimately, the Success Centre helps students to gain a greater understanding of how they learn, and to apply that knowledge both in and out of the classroom.


A variety of spaces, including breakout rooms, quiet study areas and bar seating,
allow students to select the right work environment for them.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Personalization and the Student Success Centre

Greenwood's Student Success Centre supports students as they further develop critical learning strategies. As Success Centre teacher Bill Farbstein explains, personalization plays a large role in ensuring that students get the most out of this excellent resource.

Personalization is at the core of the Student Success Centre (SSC) at Greenwood. Interacting with students in the Learning Strategies classroom, which typically is about half the size of a regular classroom, allows the teacher to learn the specific strengths and needs of each individual student.

Last year, I taught the Grade 9 Learning Strategies course. Throughout the year, the class moved through a number of units concerning literacy and executive functioning. This allowed me to clearly identify the strengths and needs of each student beyond those formally identified in their Individual Education Plan.

I used this information to create the final unit for the course. This last unit was completely personalized for each student. Students focused on their area of greatest need (reading, writing or presenting) and addressed this skill through an interest of their own.

The unit flowed in the following way:
  • The students were assigned a scaffolded active reading, writing or presentation unit. ("Scaffolding" is support given during the learning process which is tailored to student needs, and which helps the student achieve his/her learning goals.) Each student was assigned the skill most in need of improvement.
  • Each of the six lessons in the unit worked through the creation process and had students integrate skills that they had worked on during the year.
  • By the end of the unit, the students were left with a final product which represented an exceptional active reading, writing or presentation piece.