Features

Last summer I attended a three-day workshop in Hamilton. It was the best professional development opportunity I have had in my 20-year teaching career.

Anita Dhawan showed spunk as a girl of 11 when she broke an ancient taboo by embracing a low-caste woman in her native India. Later, she challenged the patriarchal society of her hometown, who mistreated her widowed mother because in their eyes a woman merited no dignity after losing her husband. As an adult, the iconoclastic Anita smashed yet another barrier by forcing York University to recognize her foreign credentials, paving the way for her teaching career in Canada.

It was when he was reviewing his school’s reading scores in September 2002 that the light went on for Wayne Copp, principal of Toronto’s Baycrest Public School.

Last fall, Teviah Moro, a reporter for the Timmins Daily Press wrote a series of articles on a desperate situation in Attawapiskat, a First Nations community on the James Bay coast. I shared these stories with my Grade 5/6 class at Iroquois Falls Public School. They immediately decided that they needed to do something to help.

According to a new study conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Today's Parent Magazine, 94 percent of Canadians agree that "the number of overweight and inactive children is a serious health issue in Canada today." As well, nine in ten Canadians agree that "provincial governments should make it mandatory for all students, from kindergarten to grade 12, to have at least 30 minutes of physical activity each school day," and eight in ten agree that "the influence of television/internet and video games on children is so powerful that it is difficult for parents to get their children to be more physically active."

For years, as an anti-racist educator, I have been teaching my students alternative views of historical events. I read aloud Jane Yolan's "Encounter," to complement the assigned textbooks about the explorers.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has 21 standing committees.

Two years ago, I became aware of an organization in the US named "Kids Voting USA." The operation aimed to build a habit of electoral participation among youth under the voting age in preparation for the time when they can vote. I was startled by the results. In some areas, student participation drove adult voting rates upwards of seven percent. Schools partnered with community newspapers, teachers invited community leaders into the classroom, and students became engaged.

Spelling is one topic that never seems to leave the educational scene. Our attitudes toward the teaching of spelling shift back and forth depending on the prevailing educational philosophy of the day. As a result, there has been very little consistency in our instructional practices related to spelling.