(All pictures have been removed from the articles because they take up so much memory in each post. To see the pictures use the web address and visit the sites of the newspapers.)
EDMONTON, ALTA: AUGUST 18, 2015 -- Wallis Kendal, Founder of Moving the Mountain Program, poses for a photo with a diorama built by his students. Moving the Mountain is a radical new program for extremely high risk First Nations girls, hosted at the University of Alberta in Edmonton on August 18, 2015. RYAN JACKSON / EDMONTON JOURNAL
University
of Alberta parting ways with education program
for at-risk youth
Published on: December 22, 2016 | Last Updated: December
22, 2016 5:09 AM MST
EDMONTON, ALTA: AUGUST 18, 2015 -- Wallis Kendal, Founder of Moving the Mountain Program, poses for a photo with a diorama built by his students. Moving the Mountain is a radical new program for extremely high risk First Nations girls, hosted at the University of Alberta in Edmonton on August 18, 2015. RYAN JACKSON / EDMONTON JOURNAL
A unique educational program that caters to vulnerable
indigenous teens is facing an uncertain future after parting ways with the
University of Alberta.
The Moving the Mountain initiative had been housed in the
university’s Faculty of Education on a trial basis for the past 15 months, but
will now need a new space for the 20 or so young women enrolled in the program.
“The founder of the program, Wallis Kendal, and the
university have agreed that the program and the participants would be better
served in a different environment,” University of Alberta spokeswoman Alison
Turner said Wednesday in a written statement. “The university will support the
program’s transition to a new home where it can grow strong and stable into the
future.”
No details were provided on what precipitated the move, and
Kendal could not be reached for comment.
It is unclear where the program might go, but Turner said
the founder has taken responsibility for finding a new space.
This will be the second move for Moving the Mountain since
it was established by Kendal at the iHuman Youth Society in 2012.
The teens and young women in the program have all suffered
from some combination of homelessness, violence, addictions and mental-health
issues. Many lack formal education and consequently can’t read, write or
perform basic math.
In setting up the program, Kendal decided traditional
education wasn’t well suited to the participants, and instead instilled an
integrated, holistic and individualized approach to learning.
Student often choose what they want to learn and the
facilitators find ways to teach it. Much of the focus is on basic literacy and
life skills, such as cooking, while also helping the young women to handle the
challenges they face.
“We realize that change can be challenging and have let the
participants know that the university will do everything we can to ensure that
this transition has as little impact on them as possible,” Turner said in the
statement. “Several university staff that have been involved with the program
will be available to the participants throughout the holiday season. Their
well-being is our highest priority.”
At the U of A, the program has been under study as a pilot
project. It is unclear if U of A professors and staff will continue to be
involved following its departure from campus.
School
children piece together backpack care packages for the homeless
Published on: December 19, 2016 | Last Updated: December
19, 2016 6:46 PM MST
Students from George H. Luck School sing Christmas carols
for patrons of the Boyle Street Community Services after delivering hundreds of
backpacks to the centre on December 19, 2016. The backpacks will be distributed
to the homeless and people in need. LARRY WONG /POSTMEDIA
All it takes for Christmas sometimes is a little bit of
luck.
Students from George H. Luck School sang Christmas carols
while handing out nearly 300 “backpacks of luck” Monday to members of the
Boyle Community Service Centre.
The backpacks were filled with tuques, gloves, mitts,
scarves and socks.
“These are items that our community desperately needs at
this time of the year; it’s an amazing day for us,” said Brent Guidinger,
development manager at the Boyle Community Services Centre.
The program is in its 10th year and is a
highlight for students and the members of the centre.
“The nice thing about doing it year after year is that you
start to build relationships. The warmth of having these relationships is
really important,” said Jay Y. Procktor, a teacher at the school who has been
involved with the program for nine years.
For Helen Herbert, who has been receiving the backpacks for
a few years, it’s a time of happiness and celebration: “Most of these guys are
homeless and they don’t have anything except what’s on their backs. So, it’s a
really good job that the kids are doing.”
The event is an important learning experience for the
students, said principal Tanis Marshall.
“It makes such a difference for students to understand that
just because they have things doesn’t mean everyone does,” he said. “This
program allows them to come forward and help.”
After distributing the backpacks, students performed several
Christmas carols for the members, who sang along.
“It really feels like Christmas,” said Procktor.
Pollutants Implicated in Births of
More Girls Than Boys
Baby girl
In some communities, exposure to dioxin and other pollutants
can lead to higher birth rates of girls than boys.
Photo by Amy Barry via Flickr
A recent study found that residents of Canadian communities
who were exposed to emissions from polluting industries such as oil refineries,
metal smelters, and pulp mills gave birth to more females than males, a
reversal of the normal sex ratio. This is likely due to high levels of common
air pollutants called dioxins and is not a surprising finding, according to James
Argo, a medical geographer with the IntrAmericas Centre for Environment and
Health, who conducted the study. “There is a very strong association [in the
scientific literature] between chronic exposure to dioxins and an inverted sex
ratio,” he said.
The study is the second phase of a three-part project to
examine the links between early exposure to industrial pollution and the
development of cancer. In the early 1990s, Argo documented the lifetime
residences of 20,000 people who had cancer and 5,000 “control” subjects who did
not have the illness. The database was developed to inform research about
people’s exposure to industrial pollutants throughout their lifetimes,
including prenatal exposure, Argo said.
The inverted sex ratios became apparent when Argo looked at
the genders of children born to parents who lived within 25 kilometers of a
polluting industry. The percentage of girls was higher in all of the nearly 90
communities surveyed, and in some communities, residents gave birth to as few
as 46 males for every 54 females, compared to a normal sex ratio of 51 males
for every 49 females. Chronic exposure to dioxins “interferes with the process
of conception,” so people who have been exposed for over 20 years or so “will
have a higher probability of giving birth to females,” Argo said.
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Studies conducted in Russia, Italy, and elsewhere have also
linked inverted sex ratios to dioxin exposure, but these have tended to focus
on exposure in the workplace, not in the wider community. Argo’s research
suggests that the influence of the pollutants is more far reaching than was
previously thought. “[This] may represent one of only a few studies explicitly
designed to identify the impact of carcinogens from industrial sources on
residents at home,” he explained. To conduct the analysis, Argo used data from
the 1991 Canadian Census and combined it with his own data collected between
1993 and 1995.
The third phase of the project will use Argo’s latest
findings on inverted sex ratios to examine the documented rise in female
reproductive cancers. With more females than males in a population, there is
likely to be a greater incidence of breast, uterine, ovarian, and cervical
cancers in that group, he explained. But male reproductive health problems are
also on the rise, he noted.
This story was produced by Eye on Earth, a joint project of
the Worldwatch Institute and the blue moon fund. View the complete archive of
Eye on Earth stories, or contact Staff Writer Alana Herro at aherro [AT]
worldwatch [DOT] org with your questions, comments, and story ideas.
A recent study found that residents of Canadian communities
who were exposed to emissions from polluting industries such as oil refineries,
metal smelters, and pulp mills gave birth to more females than males, a
reversal of the normal sex ratio.
Bracebridge learning centre gives children with dyslexia
second chance
Mary Beth Hartill
Bracebridge Examiner |
Dec 16, 2016
Carly Duff, a tutor
at the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation's Learning Centre for Children in
Bracebridge, teaches Matalynn Brewer and Jordan Hooyenga, two children with
dyslexia, how to read.
BRACEBRIDGE — Some
local students have a different way of processing information and they have
gone outside the traditional educational system to learn to read.
Ross Martin is the
director of the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation’s Learning Centre for
Children that teaches children with dyslexia to read — a skill the regular
educational system thus far has failed to help them learn.
Carly Duff, one of the
tutors who works with children in the after-school program at Bracebridge’s
Pinegrove Fellowship Church, says dyslexia affects sound-symbol association
“meaning that when they look at letters they don’t recognize the sound the same
way we do.”
The students work with
the tutors two nights a week after school for three years. Matalynn Brewer and
Jordan Hooyenga, both 10, are testaments to the program’s success.
Unfortunately, as
Martin explains, not recognized by the school board dyslexia is lumped in with
other learning disabilities but he says dyslexia is different. The program teaches using
the Orton-Gillingham method that uses all of the children’s senses to learn.
Martin said multi-sensory learning opens up all of the avenues to the brain.
“Most of these
children are extremely bright because they compensate with the other side of
the brain,” he said.
Learning to read sets
up a brighter future for the children. Martin said that one in 10 people have
dyslexia, which is inherited, as do 60 per cent of those within the prison
system. The frustration that they can’t read, the name calling, the desire to
seek out people who are similarly outcast often sends children down a wrong
path but Martin said it doesn’t take long after a child begins to read that
there is a marked improvement in their behaviour. Everything begins to change;
their reading, socialization skills and ability and desire to forge
friendships.
For Christine Brewer,
Matalynn’s mom, and Liane Spong, Jordan’s mom, the program is a blessing.
The struggle to find a
solution was long and frustrating until they knew they were dealing with
dyslexia and until they found the learning centre to help.
“I tried really hard
to help her and I couldn’t,” said Brewer. “It really hurt me that I couldn’t.”
“It took us six years
to get him diagnosed and everything after that fell into place,” said Spong.
With the help of the
centre Jordan went from struggling to form very basic three-letter words to
enjoying reading chapter books like the "Harry Potter" series,
"The Last Kids on Earth," and "Witherwood Reform School."
“Language is now the
greatest on my report card,” said Jordan.
However the program is
not without its own struggles; the demand is greater than they can fill. Jordan
and Matalynn are the lucky ones. The program is very intensive, not only for
the students but for the tutors who must have the dedication to remain with the
children throughout the entire process.
To learn more about
the program, contact Ross Martin at ross.martin3@hotmail.com
or call 705-325-1708.
Mary Beth Hartill is a
reporter with the Bracebridge Examiner. She can be reached at mhartill@metrolandnorthmedia.com
. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook
http://www.muskokaregion.com/news-story/7004430-parents-pushing-for-french-immersion-in-gravenhurst/
Parents
pushing for French immersion in Gravenhurst
Kelly Kenny
Muskoka Region.com | Dec
06, 2016
GRAVENHURST
- When it comes to French immersion in Gravenhurst, the numbers just don’t add
up, according to the board.
“At this
point, based on enrolment, it’s just not going to happen,” explained Trillium
Lakelands District School Board superintendent Andrea Gillespie.
A group of
Gravenhurst residents have launched a letter writing and survey campaign to
have a French immersion program at Gravenhurst Public School, but the efforts
could be in vain.
“I know
they really want it, but the numbers just don’t add up,” said Gillespie.
According
to Gillespie, the designated French immersion location in South Muskoka is
Monck Public School, where she said 530 of the 724 students from junior
kindergarten to grade eight are enrolled in French immersion.
She said
only 69 of those students are from the Gravenhurst area, noting once you break
those students down by grade, there aren’t enough Gravenhurst kids to fill
classes in grades JK through eight as is the case at the Monck site.
Gravenhurst
High School teacher and member of the Gravenhurst Parents for French
Programming committee Jacki McPherson said the enrolment numbers don’t reflect the
actual interest level in having French immersion in Gravenhurst.
She said
based on the responses from the more than 100 surveys received so far, there
would be enough students to run the program locally.
McPherson
said the surveys show more parents would enrol their children in the program if
transportation wasn’t an issue.
“Transitioning
Muskoka Beechgrove to a lower elementary and Gravenhurst Public to an upper
elementary would improve population and programming for students, especially if
French immersion was to return,” said the group in a release issued by the
committee.
The
committee is planning to meet with the board for a second time to discuss the
data within the week, said McPherson.
Gillespie
said she is interested in hearing what the group has to say once their data is
compiled.
“When we
get correspondence from parents, we do take it seriously,” she said.
McPherson
said the outcome of the meeting will be posted on the GHS Here to Stay website.
To complete
a survey, visit ghsheretostay.weebly.com/increasing-programming.html
Kelly Kenny
is a reporter with the Gravenhurst Banner. She can be reached at
kkenny@metrolandnorthmedia.com . Follow her on Twitter and Facebook
First Nations
students at disadvantage: PBO
Dec 06,
2016
OTTAWA —
The federal government has for years failed to address the higher costs of
operating First Nations schools, leaving some students at a disadvantage
compared with their peers in the provincial system, the parliamentary budget
officer says.
The funding
divide between educational programming on reserves and in the provincial
systems was as wide as $595 million in 2012-13, and could reach $665 million in
2016-17, says a new report from the fiscal watchdog released Tuesday.
That said,
about $3.7 billion in financial commitments made by the Liberal government over
the next five years could begin to narrow the gap starting in 2016-17, and
eventually eliminate it by 2020-21, the report says.
Educational
funding in Canada is primarily a provincial responsibility except for
on-reserve schooling, which is financed by Ottawa.
"There's
a huge gap between the average funding that the (federal) government provides
for First Nations reserves and what the provinces are providing," said
Mostafa Askari, assistant parliamentary budget officer.
"Now,
how that impacts the students, that's a different issue ... But certainly
there's a funding shortfall relative to the provinces."
For
example, the report found that on-reserve schools received per-student funding
of $14,500 under the federal formula in 2012-13. But when calculated under the
Ontario provincial rules, they would have been allocated between $21,000 and
$25,000 per pupil.
In
comparison, Ontario's per-student funding was $11,500 that year.
The budget
office said the funding gap was a result of the federal government's failure to
provide enough financial support for First Nations schools, which often face
greater costs due to factors such as remote locations, socio-economic
challenges, higher rates of special education and the inclusion of culturally
relevant lessons.
Canada has
some 500 band-operated schools, which accommodate 110,000 students. More than
140 of the schools can be considered either remote, special access or north of
the 55th parallel, the report said.
It also
noted that these schools face added obstacles such as higher maintenance,
heating and supply costs as well as the ability to attract and house qualified
teachers.
The
effectiveness of the new federal commitments will depend on how the money is
eventually used, the study notes. Even the provincial approach could prove
inadequate for these schools, it points out.
"Funding
formula methodologies used in the provinces may not fully address the reality
of First Nations communities, but they represent a starting point that is both
transparent and evidence based."
The report
also examined the shortfall in federal capital funding for on-reserve schools.
It said
that over the next few years the federal commitments in this area have the
potential to address capital funding gaps, but only if Ottawa puts an end to
its past practice of failing to spend large amounts of funds it had dedicated
for First Nations schools.
Follow
@AndyBlatchford on Twitter
By Andy
Blatchford, The Canadian Press
Coding gets boost in Ontario schools
Kristin Rushowy
OurWindsor.Ca | Dec
05, 2016
A Grade 2 student
at Scarborough's Courcelette Public School is learning computer coding as part
of a robotics program. The Ontario government has just released new resources
to help teachers run similar initiatives, from kindergarten through to Grade
12.
Ontario educators are
getting help for their high-tech needs — with new
lesson plans and suggested apps to teach coding and computer classes.
Education Minister
Mitzie Hunter made the announcement Monday, saying the province is also
boosting the number of specialized courses in computing for high school
students.
“We need to equip our
students with the skills to thrive in a world where technology is constantly
evolving,” she said. “Our students are global citizens. They require a wide
range of tools and skills in order to adapt.”
The coding resources
are to help teachers who have no knowledge of coding as well as those with more
experience, starting in kindergarten.
The government is
providing $150 million over three years to schools and boards through a special
technology fund.
At Scarborough’s
Courcelette Public School, students as early as Grade 2 are learning to program
robots.
“By equipping students
with skills like coding and other global competencies, we are preparing them to
succeed now and in every stage of their lives,” Hunter said.
The announcement was
made as part of Computer Science Education Week. Ontario schools are also being
encouraged to take part in Hour
of Code, an online tutorial available to students around the world.
Toronto Star
http://www.torontosun.com/2016/12/16/eqao-to-issue-next-literacy-test-on-paper-after-cyberattackToronto Star
EQAO to issue
next literacy test on paper after cyberattack
First
posted: Friday, December 16, 2016 11:51 AM EST | Updated: Friday, December 16,
2016 01:23 PM EST
Those who
rewrote the EQAO literacy test after previously failing were more likely to
fail again than pass. (Toronto Sun file photo)
The next
province-wide literacy test for Ontario high school students will be
administered on paper, after an online trial last time was hit with a
cyberattack.
In October,
the agency that runs the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test was forced to
cancel an online trial run due to technical glitches, later determined to be a
distributed denial of service attack.
Most of the
province’s 900 secondary schools — representing a maximum of 147,000 students —
had signed up to participate in the online test, and only about 15,000 students
managed to complete it.
The
Education Quality and Accountability Office had wanted to move the next test,
set for March, online, but it has now decided “it would be irresponsible to put
students at risk of any further issues without having completed a successful
large-scale online trial.”
Education
Minister Mitzie Hunter says this is the best solution, and she will need to be
assured by EQAO that necessary technical and security issues have been
addressed before the test moves back online.
Investigations
into the cyberattack are ongoing and will lead to recommendations with respect
to additional system security measures.
The 11
universities in Canada with the most women
Plus six
schools that are majority male
Book of
Lists
August 12,
2013
Jessica
Darmanin
The Maclean’s Canadian Universities Guidebook
keeps track of the male-to-female ratio on each campus. Mount Saint Vincent
University in Halifax been admitting men since 1974, but is still mostly
female. The Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont. is the only one that’s
strongly male. Of those aged 25 to 34 with university degrees, 59 per cent are
women, so they’re (unsurprisingly) a majority on most campuses.
These 11 schools are more than two-thirds
female (with the percentage female):
1. Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax 75%
2. NSCAD University, Halifax 74%
3. Université du Québec en Outaouais,
Gatineau, Que. 71%
4. Alberta
College of Art + Design, Calgary 70%
5. Université du Québec à Rimouski,
Rimouski, Que. 70%
6. Université Sainte-Anne, Church
Point, N.S. 70%
7. Emily Carr University of Art + Design,
Vancouver 69%
8. OCAD University, Toronto 69%
9. Brandon University, Brandon, Man. 68%
10. Nipissing University, North Bay, Ont. 68%
11. St. Thomas University, Fredericton, N.B.
68%
And here are 6 with more men than women (with
the percentage male):
1. Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston,
Ont. 82%
2. University of Ontario Institute of
Technology, Oshawa, Ont. 59%
3. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont. 57%
4. Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
52%
4. Carleton University, Ottawa 52%
4. Saint Mary’s University, Halifax 52%
Failing
Boys: Part 2 of 6
Part 2: The
endangered male teacher
Carolyn
Abraham
The Globe
and Mail
Published
Monday, Oct. 18, 2010 4:57AM EDT
Last
updated Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012 4:16PM EDT
A new study
says male elementary teachers live in a steady state of anxiety, with 13 per
cent reporting they had been wrongly accused of inappropriate contact with
students. Part 2 of a six-part series.
The male
elementary teacher is the spotted owl of the education system, the leatherback
turtle, the Beluga.
His
presence is so endangered that in many public schools his numbers can be
counted on a single hand. In some schools, it requires no hands at all.
"It is
now possible for a child in Canada to go through elementary school and high
school and never see a male at the front of the class," says Jon Bradley,
an associate professor of education at McGill University, where men make up
just five per cent of the elementary teachers in training.
The trend
isn't new. Men have been the clear minority in primary teaching since the days
of the one-room school house. But with their numbers dwindling to less than 20
per cent nationally, fixing the imbalance has taken on a certain urgency and
there's already been talk of affirmative action. Of all the theories offered to
explain why boys trail girls in academics, the lack of male role models tends
to lead the pack.
Boys
increasingly grow up without fathers at home, male high school teachers have
slipped into the minority, and at the primary level, where children gain their
first impressions of schooling, the numbers look bleaker by the year.
"They're getting the bias, unintentionally, that school is a girl thing,"
says Mike Parr, an assistant professor of education at Nipissing University in
North Bay, Ont. "They don't see teaching or reading, or even learning, as
a guy thing."
Yet the
barriers that keep men from teaching are tough to tear down. Several countries
have crafted programs to recruit more men and, for the most part, have failed.
If they're
not turned off by the prospect of being the only man using the unisex bathroom,
or the lone male at the lunch table, men, several studies suggest, see the
profession as a nurturing, feminine domain, underpaid, over-worked, low in
social status and - for a male - stigmatized.
The most
troubling deterrent men cite is the fear that society - for historical reasons
- is suspicious of a man who enjoys working with young children. And a new
study from Nipissing, where researchers have delved into the male-teacher
shortage, suggests the fear is warranted.
In a recent
survey of 223 male elementary teachers in Ontario, nearly 13 per cent reported
they had been wrongly accused of inappropriate contact with pupils.
The study,
to be published in the McGill Journal of Education, found the incidents ranged
from a male teacher chastised for holding the hand of a female student to more
serious accusations that took weeks to resolve.
"[It was]very, very stressful," one
male teacher wrote, "Why bother! It makes you think you should just do the
job as described and forget about being HUMAN!"
While the
sample size is small, and contains no comparison of allegations female teachers
face, the study, partly funded by the Elementary Teachers Federation of
Ontario, suggests male teachers work in a steady state of anxiety.
"I
live life on the edge every day I step into the classroom. All it takes is one
parent or fellow teacher to perceive that the line between nurturing and
pedophil(ia) is blurry and I am a dead duck!"
Prof. Parr,
and co-author Douglas Gosse, write in the paper that the results show a balance
must be found to keep student safety paramount and still allow male teachers to
feel comfortable doing their jobs.
"We have to erase the social
stigma," says Prof. Parr.
A marketing
campaign, similar to billboards used to attract women to apprenticeship
programs, he says, could help this with images of men working with young
children, so society can see men that way, and men can see themselves that way.
Boys, he
believes, need male role models in school more than ever, when the modern world
sends mixed messages of what it means to be male - "A sissy is still a
sissy - we want boys to grow up nurturing, sensitive, and
understanding…[and]they get bullied...it's not cool to be smart."
Rosemary
Tannock, a psychologist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, doesn't buy
the idea of school boys in crisis. She doesn't believe their poor performance
reflects a feminized education system but suggests that current testing methods
are not an accurate way to gauge how well boys are learning.
While she
thinks that having more male teachers would be valuable for girls and boys, she
says that "gender makes no difference [to academic performance]- it's the
quality of the teaching."
Indeed,
most studies have found male teachers have no impact on boys' academic
performance or their school-related problems - that peers are the dominant
influence. What's more, a "feminist critique" published in the
Journal of Education Policy last year argued that women have taught boys well
for decades, and only now that girls are outperforming boys do people suspect
young males suffer under female teachers.
Prof. Parr agrees there's no proof male
teachers will boost boys academic performance. But he says that studies to date
have not been long term, and that history shows it worked for girls.
When calls
came for more female role models in math, science, law and medicine, he says,
it contributed "to increases in aspirations of girls overall and to their
increasing presence in medical school and law school."
"Why does this same logic not apply to
men serving as models for boys [and girls]in the younger grades?"
Having
trained elementary teachers at McGill for 25 years, and seeing "the vast
majority" of former male graduates eventually leave teaching, Prof.
Bradley believes it's time to move beyond billboards.
"We
need to get fairly draconian," he says, and use affirmative action to
ensure that 20 per cent of teachers at every school are male.
When most
of the teachers, elementary school principals, and support staff are women and
"the token male on staff tends to teach phys ed," he says, the entire
system has an intrinsic bias against boys.
"Females
are making the decisions, they're choosing the books, and setting up the
class." Which is why he believes that the early grades focus too heavily
on sitting still, and stress co-operation over competition.
A few years
ago, he tried to launch a network of male elementary teachers, but couldn't
drum up enough support - "Probably," he says, "because most
teachers are female."
Back to school: How young is too young for a cellphone?
'I am totally
against it. Kids should just be kids,' says mother of 8-year-old
By Justin Li, CBC
News Posted: Sep
06, 2016 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 06, 2016 9:23 AM ET
Although Joshua
Casino, 6, likes to play Pokemon Go, his father JP says 'he's a bit young for a
cellphone.' (CBC)
Justin Li
Senior News Writer
Senior News Writer
Justin Li is a
senior news writer. Prior to joining CBC News, he worked for the Toronto Star
and wrote for various magazines in Toronto, where he's always lived.
It's 3 p.m. Do
you know where your children are?
With the influx
of cellphones and other technology into kids' lives, parents increasingly do —
even in the classroom.
A
2015 study by MediaSmarts, a Canadian not-for-profit focused on digital
literacy, says over a quarter of students in Grade 4 own cellphones, and that
skyrockets to 85 per cent by Grade 11. Some children as young as eight own
phones.
And many will
take their phones to class.
Millions of
Canadian kids are heading back to school — some
earlier than others — raising the questions of what age is too young to
have a phone and how owning one helps or harms kids.
According to one
study, 85 per cent of Grade 11 students in Canada own cellphones. (Michael
Loccisano/Getty Images)
'Kids should
just be kids'
The parent of one
eight-year-old thinks that's too young.
"I am
totally against it," says Melissa Joyce on her daughter Aniah having a
cellphone, although the competitive dancer and avid soccer player keeps asking
for one. "Kids should just be kids."
A cellphone for
Aniah would open a "whole other realm that she doesn't need to be exposed
to," says Joyce. She notes access to technology and the internet, notably
social media, is especially problematic for young girls.
Thierry Plante, a
media education specialist at MediaSmarts, says the omnipresence of cellphones
could keep kids plugged in to social media, which can be problematic.
According to a
2012 MediaSmarts study, over half of Grade 11 students in Canada sleep with their
phones because they fear missing messages. (Jean-Sebastian Evrard/AFP/Getty
Images)
"Social
media can exacerbate problems" like bullying, harassment and FOMO (fear of
missing out), he says, noting school should be one of place kids can have
"digital breaks."
Plante gives the
example of a 2012
MediaSmarts study that found over half of Grade 11 students sleep with
their phones because fear of missing messages.
"Bringing
cellphones to school could bring with it other problems you might have,"
he says.
Some schools have
considered banning cellphones. The Toronto District School Board, Canada's
largest, did just that from 2007 to 2011.
"We all know
that technology is here to stay, and so the school board has to get with the
times," Ryan Bird, a spokesperson for the TDSB, told
CBC News in 2015.
Some schools have
considered banning cellphones, which the Toronto District School Board,
Canada's largest, did from 2007 to 2011. (Getty Images)
Health and
academic consequences
However, many
schools and classes have increasingly been using technology to teach. The
results vary.
"There has
been a lot of research on whether or not devices in school are useful,"
says Plante. "We are still in the discovery stage."
Plante says one
literature teacher used Twitter to teach Shakespeare, having the students
create Twitter accounts for characters and live-tweeting during class.
However, not
everyone has been able to integrate technology in the curriculum.
"There is a
bit of a struggle to use devices in a way to support learning," says
Plante, noting the success of BYOD (bring your own devices) policies largely
depends on the teacher. "Some teachers find them disruptive."
Many schools use
technology to teach. Thierry Plante, a media education specialist at
MediaSmarts, says success depends on the teacher. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty
Images)
Some researchers
suggest there's a link between cellphone bans at school and increased academic
performance.
In a May 2015 research paper
by the London School of Economics, researchers sifted through surveys from 91
schools in England with cellphone ban policies and compared their standardized
test scores for 16-year-olds to the rest of the country's.
It found overall
student scores improved by 6.41 per cent.
Although she does
not support a ban on cellphones at school, Joyce believes they're not necessary
in that environment.
"If [kids]
need to use the internet, schools have computer labs. If they want to play
games, they have recess," she says. "If there is an emergency, she
can call me from the office or a counsellor can call me."
"Kids should
be using pen and paper."
A pupil uses his
phone for research during class in Winterbourne, England, in 2015. Researchers
for the London School of Economics suggest banning cellphones at school can
improve academic performance. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Some studies
suggest excessive time spent using screens, including cellphones, can affect
children and youth adversely, stunting emotional and cognitive growth, warping
a young person's perspective on social norms and causing health problems such
as poor eating and sleeping habits.
In 2012, the
Canadian Pediatric Society came
out with these guidelines for children and adolescents:
- Children under 2: no screen time is recommended.
- Children 2-4: less than one hour a day.
- Children 5-11 and youth 12-17: no more than two hours a day; lower levels are associated with health benefits.
- Too much screen time harms "aspects of cognitive and psychosocial development," writes the CPS.
Plante agrees.
"The time spent in front of a screen is time taken away from interacting
with the real world and with real people and the benefits of cognitive
development," he says.
The Canadian
Pediatric Society recommends children under two should not spend any time in
front of screens because doing so 'negatively impacts aspects of cognitive and
psychosocial development.' (CBC)
For JP
Casino, parent of two and owner of KidGadget, an online tech and gadget
store for Canadian parents, cellphone usage for children is "less
age-dependent and more need-dependent." Casino says he knows teenagers who
don't have or want a mobile phone and 12-year-olds who do.
Casino says some
of the need comes from a desire for safety.
"Some
children walk some distance to get to school, and parents can't always
accompany them," he says.
A cellphone can
help a parent track kids on their way to and from school. Kids get "a
means to get a hold of [parents] in case of an emergency."
Joyce says the
only situation where she could imagine giving Aniah a cellphone is if she
started walking home by herself in Grade 7 or 8.
For parents who
balk at the idea of handing their kids a smartphone, Casino recommends other
devices that have speech and tracking features.
"There are
an emerging number of kids' wearables, like smartwatches, that have GPS and
calling features," he says. Such devices use less data than phones.
JP Casino, with
his six-year-old son Joshua, says parents need to 'be vigilant and educate
themselves.' That includes knowing what apps their kids use, and even their
passcodes. (CBC)
Casino's
six-year-old son Joshua uses Tinitell, a
watch with mobile phone and locating features.
"He's a bit
young for a cellphone," he says. The watch does not have the capacity to
run Snapchat and other social media platforms that may put kids at risk.
Although Casino
does not believe cellphones are an absolute necessity for school-aged children,
he thinks it is important for them to be more tech-literate because much of
society, including classrooms, is becoming more plugged in.
"More
teachers are talking about and using apps, and devices are starting to take the
place of (the) notebook," he says. "There's also peer pressure"
to own a phone.
But Casino says
parents need to "be vigilant and educate themselves." That includes
knowing what apps their kids use, and even their passcodes.
"A cellphone
is like anything else, it's a tool," says Casino.
"Until kids
can demonstrate responsibility, parents should not let them use it completely
unsupervised."
Condo developers could help to pay for Toronto public
school repairs, board says
TDSB chair
says the state of public schools is 'awful' given the wealth in Toronto
CBC
News Posted: Sep 06, 2016 10:03 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 06, 2016 10:03 AM
ET
The Toronto
District School Board says its schools are old, in desperate need of repair,
and it could begin to fix problems if it could collect fees from condo
developers. (Robert MacPherson/AFP/Getty)
Toronto's public
schools are "old," in desperate need of repair, and the school board
says it could start fixing these problems if the province allowed it to collect
fees from condo developers.
Robin Pilkey,
chair of the Toronto District School Board, told Metro Morning that one
potential source of money for repairs is "education development
charges." Fees that would be charged to developers for new school sites in
order to make room for students from a new development. The board said in
August that it needs an estimated $3.4 billion in total to repair its 588
schools.
"It is
awful," Pilkey said Tuesday. "We are doing our best with what we
have, but we're not printing money at one of our tech programs. We have to take
the money that we get."
Pilkey, who
described Toronto public schools as "old," said the Toronto Catholic
District School Board is allowed to collect development charges under a
provincial regulation because it doesn't have excess classroom space. The
province has determined that the public board has excess classroom space in its
elementary and secondary schools.
Robin Pilkey, the
trustee for TDSB Ward 7, Parkdale High Park, is chair of the board. She says
the state of public schools in Toronto is 'awful,' even though the city itself
is wealthy. (Robin Pilkey/Twitter)
She said the TDSB
does have more classroom space than it needs across the city and it is working
to "level that out."
"The problem
is [the excess space] doesn't take into account the fact that there are areas
of the city, particularly along the Bloor subway line and the Yonge subway
line, where we are extremely overcrowded. There is severe overcrowding along
some of the main arteries and will only get worse," she said.
"This is
Toronto. Everywhere you turn around, there are condos going up," Pilkey
said.
Development
charges are calculated based on the number of units in a new building. Under
the regulation, however, the money cannot be used for renovations and
maintenance, she said.
"You are
only allowed to take that money and buy land. The government could change that
so that money could be used to build new schools and make repairs."
Toronto's public
schools, with an average age of 60 years, are in desperate need of repairs, the
Toronto District School Board said after it launched an online guide that shows
exactly what repairs are awaiting funding at each of its 588 schools. (Neil
Herland/CBC)
The TDSB arrived
at the $3.4 billion repair bill by adding up what repairing every item on its
backlog list would cost.
Pilkey said many
of the needed repairs have to do with the "internal workings" of the
buildings, such as heating and cooling systems, and "big money
items," such as roofs. She said parents would see evidence of the need
when they see paint peeling and that many schools lack curb appeal.
She blamed
historic underfunding for the current state of public schools in the city. She
said it has been hard to plan for repairs when funding has not been consistent,
although the level has improved in recent years.
"There is a fear,
I think, from some people in government that if the TDSB had development
charges, they wouldn't close schools that they need to close, which is patently
false," she said.
But Pilkey said,
despite the TDSB's long term plans, closing schools is not an easy process.
People in surrounding communities get upset when plans are announced to close
schools.
"That's the
reaction we often get, 'this is a historical property. Please don't take it
down. My parents went to this school.' A lot of people have a lot of emotional
attachment to their school," she said.
The TDSB, the
largest school board in Canada, has about 245,000 students. Tuesday is the
first day of classes.
School zone safety blitz targets motorists, cyclists,
pedestrians all week
Officers will
look for infractions like distracted driving and failing to stop for a school
bus
CBC
News Posted: Sep 06, 2016 6:55 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 06, 2016 8:05 AM ET
A Toronto police
officer trains his radar gun on the road outside Second Street Junior Middle
School on the first day of the force's back-to-school safety blitz. (Trevor
Dunn/CBC)
As kids head back
to the classroom, Toronto police are launching a back-to-school road-safety
blitz focused on the behaviour of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians in school
zones.
The initiative,
dubbed "Are You FOCUSED on school" (with FOCUSED being an acronym for
Frequent Offences the Community and Road Users See Every Day), will have
officers looking for infractions particularly in pedestrian crossovers and
crosswalks, as well as intersections, and mid-block crossing, aggressive
driving, prohibited turns and distracted driving.
The police force
is running the blitz in partnership with the Toronto District School Board. It
runs until Friday.
Police officers,
parking enforcement officers and representatives from the TDSB will officially
launch the program at Second Street Junior Middle School on Second Street
Tuesday morning.
Toronto police
Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook said that a refresher on road-safety rules,
particularly in school zones, may be required because kids have been off
school.
"Specifically
in school areas people might have gotten a little more relaxed with the rules
surrounding these areas, so we are reminding road users, drivers, cyclists,
pedestrians just to be aware," Douglas-Cook told CBC News on Monday.
Officers will
also be watching for vehicles in "no stopping" or "no
parking" zones, and vehicles that fail to stop for a school bus, an
offence that comes with a $400 fine.
It is hard to find where to comment. Oecta Watchdog has interesting info on their blog. 2014-2016 negotiated agreement for the provincial bunch who "negotiated" the CA for the OTs and permanents. They sure got themselves amazing salaries and benefits! It's a long Google link but worth it for a read that will astound. In other info a relatively recent grad with low seniority was granted an LTO in the same ward as his mother/grandmother Ms. Kennedy. Coincidence? What do you think TOTL did? Ha! Too bad you couldn't run for election. But members seldom hear of the elections and never get a chance to nominate candidates. Survey Question: Is TOTL the worst local or just one of the worst?
ReplyDeleteT.H., you said you are very busy. Did you get a permanent position or LTO? Still the same dirty tricks by the Bd/admins in hiring and the local(s) just ignore. Great to have the OLRB as their partner. Just what are the members paying for. According to the previous post the salaries, benefits and perks for Provincial.
ReplyDeleteReg 274 means nothing. If the person the principal wants is not in the list of 5 to be interviewed, the principal interviews the 5 and tells the board that none of the 5 are suitable. Then the principal can hire whomever she wants.
ReplyDeleteSupply teaching is a useless job. Just do it for the money until you find a real job. Only do the bare minimum to get through the day. Don't ask if you have yard duty. Only do yard duty if it's on the plans. If it's not on the plans and someone tells you "you were supposed to be on yard duty last recess" tell then you didn't know because it wasn't on the plan and no one told you to do it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you have special ed or ESL and the students aren't coming to your room don't try to track them down. Maybe the regular classroom teacher thinks ESL/Special Ed was cancelled because the teacher is absent and there is no supply so she doesn't send the kids. If no one shows up, turn out the lights in your room and enjoy your free time.
If you get a late call to a school, don't rush to the school. Show up an hour after you get the call and say "I got the call at 8:30am and I got here as soon as I could." Turn off your phone so they can't call you to cancel the job. If you show up with a job number they have to pay you. If they say "We tried to call you to cancel" say, "I couldn't answer my phone because I was driving to get to your school as soon as possible".