Category: News

  • Moving moving moving

    My bags are packed and I’m ready to go….
    kind of.

    I’m moving today, luckily we have this one day of calm between yesterday’s rainy,icy, windy (I couldn’t get out of my car at one point, the winds were keeping the doors shut!) day and tomorrow’s forecast of 25cms of snow!

    So I may be slightly absent for the next little while.

    Also, I’m in the process of migrating things to a new host…and since I generally start new things without quite knowing what I am up to…well, I may be slightly absent for the next little while :)

    oh…and I’m not taking a jet plane or anything…just moving about 15 minutes away by car…

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  • Black-focused public school in Toronto by 2009…What do you think?

    Toronto trustees vote in favour of black-focused schools

    cbc.ca -Tuesday, January 29, 2008

    “A proposal to create Canada’s first black-focused public school was approved by Toronto District School Board trustees Tuesday night.

    They have recommended the creation of an alternative school that features a curriculum and teaching environment oriented around black history and culture.

    Some parents have said they want to try something new because the current system isn’t working. As many as 40 per cent of black students don’t graduate from Toronto high schools.

    Angela Wilson is a mother of two who has been at the forefront of a push for Afrocentric or black-focused schools for years.

    “Make our education system better for everybody,” she said.

    “It’s not a one size fits all education system. It’s actually working its way to be one size fits few — and the few that are successful do not look like me.”

    Trustees were supposed to have discussed a report delivered last week that makes four major recommendations:

    • Open an Africentric alternative school in 2009.
    • Start a three-year pilot program in three other high schools.
    • Work with York University to improve school achievement.
    • Develop a plan to help failing students.

    Supporters said those options will keep black students engaged and in school, but opponents said it will lead to greater isolation.

    “I just feel being with a mixed group of people is better, you know, you get to learn different cultures, different aspects of different people, the way they live,” said Grade 10 student Terrin Smith-Williams.”

    hmmmm….not sure what I think about this yet.

    My gut feeling is that it is a cop out. It is a way of saying we are addressing issues of student learning without looking at the whole system.

    Or…perhaps it is a step toward a new system. Creating student-centred schools that focus on the different communities they are in.

    Like I said…still thinking…

    What about you? What do you think about this proposal…ready to go next year!

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  • Should school boards be abolished?

    [cross posted at LeaderTalk]

    Over the past few years I’ve been hearing people talk about the idea of abolishing school boards in Quebec.

    This past week it was in the news again:

    Dumont ready to bring down Quebec gov’t over school boards

    ADQ Leader Mario Dumont said Tuesday he’s willing to force a confidence vote over the future of Quebec school boards.

    The Action Démocratique du Québec is tabling a motion for a confidence vote in the national assembly over the Liberal government’s refusal to abolish school boards.

    If the Parti Québécois supports the motion it would be enough to topple Premier Jean Charest’s Liberal minority government, which would force elections in December. ..

    …Dumont said the continued existence of school boards is a fundamental issue in Quebec.

    School board elections held last weekend failed to draw more than 20 per cent of registered voters — proof it’s time to review their mandate, the ADQ leader said.

    The Parti Quebecois did not end up supporting the motion (no one wanted early elections) but I am sure this is not the last we hear of this.

    I’m wondering what you think about the idea of getting rid of school boards. The idea behind it is so that money can go directly to schools instead of being spent on the boards’ bureaucratic machines. (Uh oh…did I just give away my bias? ;) )

    Some things I imagine…

    Imagine if money that was used on school board consultant salaries, for example, was used to support teachers as they consult with each other within their own school communities and across different school communities?

    Imagine if some of that money could be used to hire external consultants that a school community could choose based on the specific needs of each school.

    Imagine if external consultants had to compete for the privilege of working in a school community – imagine the quality of consulting that would result.

    Imagine if teachers were forced to create things like policy about their own practice.

    Oh…the places we could go!

  • Saturday morning fun

    Isn’t this fun…what an intuitive test ;)


    NerdTests.com says I'm a Cool Nerd Queen.  What are you?

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  • A question from Scott Elias

    What does literacy look like in your content area?

    Ooh…what a great question!
    It is difficult for me to pinpoint an answer for this one. I am a high school learning centre teacher. In Quebec, that means I teach students who have language-based disabilities as well as more severe cognitive delays. So literacy is my content area!

    My focus lately is on literacy for being active members of a community. What does that look like? To start:

    -We can read each others’ names and recognize who they are
    -We can read the headlines in the local paper and have a conversation about them
    -We can communicate through a variety of technologies, including our blogs, because it makes us feel part of our class community
    -We can have discussions around inspirational quotes and proverbs that include examples from our lives
    -We can recognize monetary values of coins so we can purchase our bus tickets and lunches
    -We can read our own emotions and know the words to use to express them
    -We can read some of the emotions in others, through their words and their body language, and we can react to them in a way that makes sense
    -We can express a goal and work on a plan to achieve it

    That’s what it is starting to look like, at least as of last week. As we continue our year I am hoping that literacy and what it looks like continues to develop in our classroom.

    (this post was originally written as a comment on Scott’s blog post My Literacy Question)