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Learning Life Skills Connected North facilitates many sessions from experts for senior students. The Canada Revenue Agency provided one to the grade 12 math class on taxes; how to fill out the forms and the 5 Ws of taxes. The curriculum includes a unit on owning a small business. Understanding the tax laws and how they apply to a business is crucial. Also, many students turn 18 in their senior year. They need to file tax forms to receive their GST rebates. This is a foreign concept to most. Again, being familiar with the terminology used and how forms are laid out, is important to get the most out of this session. After the session, we spent a few classes working through their tax forms, and many submitted theirs for the first time. The students were thrilled to be able to accomplish this on their own. Other facilitated sessions through Connected North are invaluable tools for students planning to go on to college. Virtual tours of campuses, program information, and talking to college students through this platform, provide information unavailable to them otherwise because of the isolated nature of life in Igloolik. Many of our students are camera shy as well as reluctant to participate in live online discussions. I do not push these students to participate but ask leading questions of them during the presentation, and then I repeat their answers to the presenter if they do not hear them. I will often reword what is being said if I can, so these ESL students get the most out of every presentation. Sometimes it is like pulling teeth to get any participation! However, afterwards, I led an in-class discussion about what they saw and heard, summarizing the important ideas and answering any questions that arose. After most Connected North sessions, I also give a short assignment to reinforce basic concepts. Many times, I will use additional resources - videos, pictures, text, and/or documentaries to supplement what they learned. C o n n e c t e d N o r t h i n O u r C l a s s r o o m Laurie Schutt - Connected North in Our Classroom 106