Leading From The Heart

by Tracy Rosen, teaching & consulting since 1996, blogging about it here since 2007. All views are my own and you should take them with a grain of salt, I do.

Category: News

  • Religion in school – who has the final say?

    Poor Calvin. He would certainly not get that exemption in Quebec.
    Poor Calvin. He would certainly not get that exemption in Quebec.

    According to the Quebec courts it is the government who has the final say, at least in terms of what our children learn in school.

    I heard about this story on cbc news as I was driving to work this morning:
    Parents group to appeal ruling on ethics course: judge rejects bid for exemption. Studying religious culture doesn’t violate children’s right to freedom of religion, he rules

    Though it has been in some schools as a pilot program for a few years, Ethics & Religious Culture has been a mandatory course for all schools, grades 1-11, in Quebec for the past 2 years. All schools. The idea first came out when I was working with the Bronfman Jewish Education Centre in Montreal. In response, our schools were concerned that we were being forced to add a course on diverse religions to an already packed school day – what with 3 and sometimes 4 languages (English, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish) and their own Judaic programming. Catholic and Muslim schools had similar concerns, so quite a few of the religious schools opted into the pilot phase of the program to see what they were dealing with.

    Now that the course is in the schools, parents are starting to express their own concerns. Some are bringing the ministry of education to court because they want to opt their children out of the course. Today we found out the Superior court has denied this petition. This course replaces older religion and morals courses, it teaches about diverse religions with an emphasis on the Catholic tradition since that is the historical religious tradition in Quebec. The goal is to open minds to different world views around ethical issues. Specifically, the 3 competencies for the course are:

    Competency 1 – Reflects on ethical questions
    Competency 2 – Demonstrates an understanding of the phenomenon of religion
    Competency 3 – Engages in dialogue

    What I like about it is the focus on dialogue that ethics brings into the course. That being said, I am not religious. I am not sure how I would feel if I were very religious and were trying to raise my children to be the same.

    I’m teaching the course for the first time this year and will be looking at the issue raised with this ruling as part of it. Issues like the role of the state, parent rights, children/student rights, the whole messy issue of multiculturalism and reasonable accommodation. Of course, I teach in a province that already has a precedent of mandating the learning of French in our schools, along with whether or not one has the right to an English education depending on the educational background (linguistic) of your family in the province of Quebec. Complicated, eh? Lucky for us, our own government is offering ample fodder for dialogue within its own practice. Doubly lucky since there are no English language materials – besides ones which were created by teachers involved in the pilot programs and who have taught it since then – being provided to us in order to teach the provincially mandated course. Oops, a little bit of ‘I digress’ going on, sorry.

    What do you think? Should the government or parents have the final say on religious education for children?

  • Attitudes toward teaching

    Is there a big difference between public attitude towards teachers in the US and Canada?

    When people find out that I am a teacher I NEVER (and I am not a wanton all caps user) am made to feel like I have settled on teaching for lack of ability to do otherwise. Did I mention NEVER?

    On the contrary, people usually respond with cools and wows and I have great respect for you, it must be hard, how do you do it? They then follow with talk of their memories of school, the teacher who they’ll never forget, the cafeteria food – whatever. The point is that my job conjures up memory, stories – of hard times and good. The stuff that life is made of.

    Ken Dryden talks about our personal Board of Governors and who we would like on it. He reminds us that while few of us could name specific accountants or salespeople for it we could all think of teachers we’d like to sit on it.

    So I have a hard time understanding the article linked to by @AngelaMaiers today, called Schools Need Teachers Like Me. I Just Can’t Stay by Sarah Fine in The Washington Post, Sunday, August 9, 2009.

    Or at least parts of it.

    I can definitely understand teacher burn out. When you love teaching sometimes it’s hard to find the off switch. There’s always one more thing to do, to plan, to correct, to prepare, to present, to remind ourselves of, to talk to a student/colleague/parent/volunteer about. And that’s during the regular school year, figure in report card season and the things to do possibilities multiply exponentially.

    I can definitely understand that feeling of loss when you just can’t get to that one (or more) kid. No matter what you try, s/he will still give you the cold shoulder, still skip class, still (seemingly) not care about learning. Then I remember that this is learned behaviour. That the child must have experienced so much loss of her own that she can’t let anyone else in. And my feeling of loss grows.

    I can definitely understand the frustration of massive failure, when a large chunk of your group fails. Within a long history of failure, a few months with a new teacher will rarely be able to make the monumental difference needed to turn 30s to 70s – no matter how much we want it. Though it is sometimes possible with the proper structure and trust.

    Working towards that structure is what keeps me sane.

    But I don’t understand the lack of social recognition Sarah Fine writes about in fully one half of her article. Or, rather, the dismal recognition she describes it as having. She writes that teaching is considered as being for the unambitious and untalented, that people think it is a second class profession.

    Do I live in a bubble? Are people coddling me with cools and wows and then sneering once I leave the room – can you believe she’s a teacher? How gauche!

    I don’t think so. The reactions I get are honest and from the heart. People don’t share stories through whimsical smiles about things they think are second rate and undervalued.

    She does have it right though. Teaching is hard work, it is life work. I wouldn’t describe it as grueling and the fact that she does makes me think that Sarah Fine was just not meant to teach. My gut reaction? This article was an attempt at justifying that.

    Then I read the comments and there were quite a number that supported her views. As well as a number who felt like me, if you aren’t meant to teach don’t teach.

    But I recognize that I write this from a Canadian perspective. Which begs me to ask – are Canadian teachers more valued than our American colleagues? What is different here?

    3am sleepless update: Apparently Michael Doyle tried to reply to this post but he wasn’t able to post the comment. Lucky for us it made it to his own blog. Go read his take on the matter – as always, it points to truth for me. —> On Why Sarah Fine Left Teaching

  • Two Weeks and a Bit

    …to get so much in :) I am SO excited to start work again. At the same time, I have so much I still want to do this summer. It’s going to be a busy 2 weeks and a bit :)

    The 4 of us, the teaching and support team at Directions, met last Monday. We decided that I wouldn’t teach History this year. That brings my preps down from 4+ to 3+, which is a good thing though I will miss history. I’ll be teaching Art to grades 10 and 11, Ethics and Religious Culture to both grades, and Contemporary World Issues to grade 11. The more I think about it the more I LOVE this workload.

    I also have a new blog project in the works for September. More to come on that.

    Today I’m going to hang with my parents and some of their friends for lunch (always a yummy affair) and then head off to Day 2 of Under Pressure. I go every year. It’s an outdoor graffiti/skate/breakdance/dj event. It’s an international graffiti competition with all that other stuff going on around it. Sunday just about always happens at a club I worked at years ago for a number of years. A few of my old friends still work there so it’s always a hoot. Loads of fun. Just hope the rain holds off. Here’s a picture from last year, click on it to get to some others:

    Skating at Under Pressure, 2008, with some graffiti being made in the background. Fun times. Click image for source.
    Skating at Under Pressure, 2008, with some graffiti being made in the background. Fun times. Click image for source.

    I’m going to be starting the year with a focus on graffiti in Art class, so I’m collecting data ;)

  • Latest Goings On

    I’ve got a few things going on lately.

    End of year – I’m creating, invigilating, correcting exams on an ongoing basis. And there are still 2 weeks to go! Of course along with that comes student stress. I teach Grade 11. Some of my students won’t graduate this year, some will, some are unsure. The emotional vista in my classroom is panoramic.

    Lacrosse – We (not me, the boys at school) made it to the championship game and are silver medal finalists in the GMAA this year! We had a great season – what an accomplishment for a team that did not exist 3 years ago.

    laxactionshot

    Unfortunately our final game was a huge blow out, both in terms of the score and the atmosphere surrounding it. The winning team had a large number of student supporters at the game, which is normally a great thing. It adds spirit and excitement. Not this time. The fans were heckling our players and our coaches. The officials were not experienced enough to really deal with the situation and they basically lost control of the game.

    There was an underlying current, steeped in history, of hatred and animosity between the two teams – one French and one predominantly Mohawk.

    One of the officials called over some police officers who were patrolling the area to help keep control of the crowd so our players could safely make their way to our bus after the game. Can you believe that even the school’s principal was involved in intimidating and verbally harassing some of our players? It was that out of control.

    We have a facebook group to which members of the opposing team posted racist and bigoted comments during the weekend after the game. I was shocked. It’s one thing to call things out in the heat of a game but quite another to post comments a day or two or 3 later. One player even posted one of the most disgusting images I have ever seen. Obviously I have changed the permissions on the group and banned those members. We’ve also made an official letter of protest to the league, to which I am awaiting an answer.

    Moving – After 3 unsuccessful offers to purchase homes, I have finally purchased a house! The signing date is next week and I am moving in on the 13th of June. I’m moving out of province so the move will not only give me a new address and phone number but I’ll need to get a new driver’s license and plates for my car. It’s a reconditioned farmhouse, built in 1910, on 2 acres of land. I am very excited and feel slightly overwhelmed with all that needs to be done, not to mention the money that is pouring out of my pockets, over the next little while.

    newhouseanddrive

    Just to make things a bit more exciting – I took in a new dog 2 weeks ago. An 8-month old pug named Jacob.

    Jacob at a Lacrosse game in 28 degree heat.
    Jacob at a Lacrosse game in 28 degree heat.

    He is in constant motion, except for when he passes out for 15 minutes or so at a time. He had been abused and you could definitely tell the first 2 days I had him. I brought him to work his first 3 days with me and he spent those days sleeping in the arms of students. I swear they healed him. He and Toby play well together and I barely have a sliver of space to myself on my bed now, not to mention at my computer desk.

    Toby got fed up with Jacob sleeping next to me so he muscled his way in between us.
    Toby got fed up with Jacob sleeping next to me so he muscled his way in between us.

    Yup. Life is busy, life is full. Looking forward to summer :)

  • classroom conversations with myself

    I read this today and it rings so very true:

    The last weeks of school is something that few people really understand.  When I was in business I often thought that teachers had it easy.  To those business people (including my former self) – I ask them to imagine if budgeting, taxes, capital budgets, montly operations review, and quarterly reports were all due in the same 7 days.  Ending school is like nothing you experience in business.Cool Cat Teacher Online, project based learning, May 2009

    Today is a non-working PED day at our school board, in preparation for the last stretch of the year. Non-working my butt, though. I’m preparing presentations for history tutorials and correcting student writing. Oh, and there’s that 5:30 Lacrosse game this afternoon I need to be at :) Our team is undefeated so far!

    I basically come back to myself about 2 weeks after I walk out of the school at the end of June. But, like Vicki, I wouldn’t trade this for the world. In fact, I almost did but couldn’t hack the grieving process that went with it. Not being in the classroom creates a hole in me. I have learned so much from my students this year. I am a different person because of them. They have taught me how to be more me.

    I had coffee with a friend of mine – Sebastien Moreau, a wonderful painter – about a month ago and we got to talking about painting. He said,

    When I paint it’s like I’m having a conversation with myself

    That is how I am starting to feel when I work with students. They help me to have that creative conversation with myself. I don’t get that raw conversation as deeply and as heartfelt anywhere else as I do with them. I almost do when I am painting or gardening. But even then, it is more often than not a continuation of one that began in the classroom. With kids.