Hot topic in Education!

I'm from Thompson, and currently there is some major happenings there. Last week the principal of the highschool (RDPC) was fired from his position (well, he was on probation which wasn't extended, but had to leave his position and was to be paid out till the end of the school year I believe). Also, vice-principal Grant Kreuger was sent on administrative leave for the rest of the week, and returned the following Monday on teaching ranks, no longer a VP.
On another note, a few months ago the assistant superintendant was fired from her position as well. There is more to that story as well.
So last week at the highschool, there was a large organized protest from the students. They had signs and had a sit-in in the forum of the highschool. Beverly Hammond - the superintendant of the Mystery Lake School Division - came and talked to the students. From the Thompson Citizen: Hammond's remarks were frequently interrupted by the jeers of students, who also broke into chants of 'We Want Land' on multiple occasions. Other students wrote support for Land on their T-shirts, and some wore hats as a sign of protest."Mr. Land will not be offered a permanent contract for the next school year," Hammond, who took responsibility for recommending to the board that Land's contract not be renewed, told the students. "I will not be part of innuendo, speculation, or a lack of understanding. If you have questions, be prepared to receive information that you will not like – however, you will receive truthful information.""I won't tell you why [Land was fired]," she said. "You legally can't know why. This decision has been made for reasons that you cannot know and will not know. You have got as straight an answer, relative to the legislation and labour management, as I can give, and I am not prepared to say to you any more than what I have said.""I respect how you feel, and you are entitled to your opinions," Hammond told the students, who then questioned whether the students were making the best use of their school day. "If you are so passionate about your education, where you should be right now is in your classrooms where you receive that education," she said."How about we go back to class and you bring Mr. Land back?" retorted one student."What do we have to do to get him back?" asked another."When Mr. Land stepped in, everybody followed the rules and felt safe," stated one student. "You're taking away the only thing that made us feel safe.""Being here today is a good thing to show support for Mr. Land and Mr. Kreuger, but you have to realize the school board makes these decisions along with Ms. Hammond," Dan Morris, who introduced himself as the president of Safe Grad and a past president of the R.D. Parker Parent Advisory Council, told the students. "Doing this here today, skipping your classes, is helping nobody."
Many people do not agree with Hammond, saying she has a very "because I said so" attitude. I do not know how she is, but just reading some of what is being said, I kind of get that impression as well. In print, she seems very 'it's my way or the highway' and I don't think what I have heard about her makes me want to go up to teach in Thompson. She comes to the SDML with a pending lawsuit against her previous school division. I think it was for over 5 million dollars. I can't remember the exact details and don't want to totally scramble them on here.
It's getting bad enough that the deputy minister of education Gerald Farthing is being sent up to Thompson to try to resolve whatever can be done. He will have meetings with the mayor and other members of the school board, as well as meetings with parent representatives.
It's crazy to read this and think that just 7 years ago I went to that highschool, and, while principals and superintendants seem to come and go, it never got that bad. I am anxious to hear what can be resolved from this ordeal, and I hope the students get what they deserve - a great principal that is involved and makes them feel safe and secure in their school life.
Hammond spoke to the group for nearly an hour, answering their questions. Most of these questions were along the same lines, asking why Land was fired, to which her response was consistently that she could not, for legal reasons relating to the Freedom of Information and Personal Privacy Act, go into specifics on the issue. “We do not make staffing decisions based on public popularity,” she noted.

Westcast 2011

Westcast is awesome.
It was a lot of fun, and nice to meet students from other universities. The sessions, keynote speakers, and social events made for a great week/end. Westcast kicked off with a wine and cheese social which was a ton of fun. The dining room was set up nicely to allow for mingling amongst us educators. The game was a fun - definitely a good way for us to meet people from outside our university. And those bacon wrapped steaks... Yum!!
I was able to attend a few great sessions - Inclusion of Deaf Students in the Classroom, Weaving Magic: Using Music with Special Needs Children, Teamwork will 'Get it Done.' and some great keynote speakers, including the inspriational Hannah Taylor
from the Ladybug Foundation. The speaker I definitely enjoyed was Ian Ross. I used to listen to his 'Joe From Winnipeg' on CBC radio back home. I love how personal he made his speech as I find listening to personal stories can be more interesting than just straight lecture.
Hannah Taylor is definitely an inspirational young girl. It's amazing how much she has accomplished in such a short amount of time. I loved hearing her stories of the homeless men and women she has met in her travels. She has quite the heart to be comfortable interacting with the homeless in the way that she does. I admire her.
I love the group of girls I have classes with, and attending the social events with them was a lot of fun. The bud and spud night on thursday was a lot of fun, and we were lucky to have almost our whole class in attendance (Not sure where all the middle and senior years classes were;)...) Playing the Who Wants to be a Millionaire on Friday night was a lot of fun as well, I even dragged my boyfriend out to meet the girls.
I will definitely be attending next years Westcast in Calgary, and I think we are already making plans to attend with our class!
A HUGE thankyou to everyone who organized the event - it must have taken a lot of extra time and effort to put on such a big event.

Money makes the world go 'round!

What an interesting subject: financing public education in canada. I was not surprised that the provincial government supplied 62% of Manitoba Education Revenues (I think I learned that in history once upon a time). But I had no idea that operating grants were dependant on the amount of students registered by September 30th. Definitely interesting food for thought. I enjoyed doing the budget cutting activity, but it makes me realize how glad I am not to have to be in a position to cut funding from programs. How does one decide? Each program should have the right to argue in their favour as to why they deserve  a certain amount of funding. I know growing up in the band program, I would not know what it is like to have any less of a music program. I loved band! I loved the opportunities we had in band (we travelled to California twice, Banff, Minneapolis, Brandon (Jazz fest!), and various places in the north). The feeling of playing that music and  that we sounded so awesome was fantastic!

But that's another story.

We're talking financing here...

I think school's need to have programs that allow all types of students the chance to achieve their best. Our highschool had graphic arts, metals, woods, shop, band, choir, drama, great art classes, cafeteria/cooking classes and an awesome athletic program. There was something for everyone, and I think that makes a great school. Not everyone is going to be a teacher or something with a University degree. We need trades, (mechanics, carpenters, etc...) performers, artists to have a thriving community. And for that we need funding for those programs to create the opportunity for interest.

That's kind of my rant. I do agree that we may not need what the budget sets out, but I don't agree that we should cut out a program because a few people think it's unnecessary. You have to look at the numbers to see if the interest is there.

Governance...

Interesting topic, although I still don't think I grasp the whole subject. I do think it is something I will learn and be more comfortable talking about once I'm a teacher and involved in more conversations on the topic. One thing I don't get - why are teachers the bottom of the chain? Aren't teachers the ones who do the work - educating the children? How much input do teachers have in governmental affairs? I'm sure there are teachers who are on boards or represent the teachers. Maybe I'm biased since I am training to be a teacher.

I don't think there is much more to say on the topic, but I do think that it will be good to know this information and how all the governmental stuff works. Knowing the chain of command will come in handy to see who does what and who we talk to to get things accomplished.
Gotta love government and politics..

Ah, History.

Discussing the history of education has been so refreshing. Much of the content we covered I have heard about or learned but in a different setting, or pertaining to a different topic. It's nice to listen to history and not have to write an uber long essay about it.
I think it's interesting to learn how education began with each tradition and in each province. Back in the history courses I took we learned education as a small piece of the historic puzzle we were learning about at the time.
I think it's interesting how different each tradition treats educating the children. The French concentrate on schooling the boys - they received a better education (how fair is that eh?). The English seperated learning based on class. The wealthier families got a more in depth learning whereas the children of poor families received the basics for living. American tradition was similar to English in that the lower class learned how to read so that they could read the bible. Higher class received college preparation. And finally it was relieving to read that the Scottish educated all their children the same. There was no seperation of class.
After learning (well re-learning) all of this one thing that I have learned is that it would have been enjoyable to grow up in the Scottish tradition because they allowed all children to get the same education.
Ha-ha I'm kidding. I think its important that each tradition helped shape Canada into what we now know have for education. We are able to have the education we have nowadays because of history.
I love history.

MTS Code of Conduct

I look forward to being a teacher, and to becomming a member of the Manitoba Teacher's Society. I am a member as a student, but once I graduate I will be an official member as a professional teacher. Yay!
There are 13 standards in the MTS Code of Professional Practise. Many of them seem obvious and are easily understandable. But there are a few that seem a tad scary, and I hope that I am never in a position that calls for that standard:
A teacher or group of teachers makes only authorized representations to outside bodies on behalf of the Society or its local associations. Without the express permission of the Society, no member(s) conferring with outside bodies may explicitly or implicitly claim that they represent the Society or its local associations. Or
 A teacher neither applies for nor accepts a position which is included in a Society in-dispute declaration.
Although I am sure these things happen.
Another thing I am nervous about dealing with is child abuse. Right now it seems scary that I may have to deal with students who are faced with this. I want to be able to do the right thing and make sure these students have the best possible care. (I also think I will have to deal with my own emotional involvement).

I'm going to be a Professional

I think there are many factors that account to being a so-called professional. There is one idea that really sticks in my mind that I was told when I went out student teaching: the 3 B's - No boobs, not buttcrack, no belly. I think that is extremely important dressing professionally in the classroom, and I think even in our personal lives. Dress to impress, or at least dress appropriately.
There are a few other thoughts that were discussed in our class that I definitely think hold true to being a professional: never compromise your standards and values, going above and beyond your legal requirements, and plain and simple; do your best, mediocrity isn't acceptable when you can do better. There are probably many other aspects that I can name that qualify as being a professional teacher.
I think we should all consider these ideas when teaching since we will be in the spotlight of many children's lives. We will be the people that they look up to (besides parents, siblings, and other role models in their lives).

Sergiovanni's 4 Commitments to Professionalism
1. Commitment to caring
2. Commitment to practise in exemplary ways
3. Commitment to one's own practise but to the practise itself
4. Commitment to valued social ends

I really like these ideas. I think that they are vital when thinking of being professional in the teaching field. Or any field of professional nature. An article I read on Segiovanni's views stated that believes that "in order to improve, schools must adopt the metaphor of school as community rather than school as organization." I like that. I think that in order for students to succeed they need to feel like they are involved as a community rather than working for an organization.

Being a professional seems so daunting. But I think I am up for the task!