Back to School Jitters Has No Age Barrier

Can it be? Fall is near, September 7th is just around the corner, and that means for many parents, including myself (djembe drum roll, please)...that it’s back to school time! It’s the proverbial calm before the storm (or the storm before the storm, if you are perpetually busy cranking out text, tweets and blog entries during these new media driven times).

Forget about the kids, this time of year brings out way more anxieties in us adults, who are supposed to be the more calm and reserved of the group. For my four year-old Solomon, it’ll be his first time going to school. That means out with the toddlerese and in-house gibberish, and in with the more scholarly pursuits, numbers, letter, colours and shapes. Dayum, it almost feels like I am going back to school!

It’s a reminder that our kids getting older, and thus more independent. There’s the sad yet obvious change in weather. You can kiss them sandals and summery dresses goodbye. It’s a time to embrace the progressive, forward-thinking views on education put forward by the TDSB’s Director of Education Dr. Chris Spence who seems to “get it”.

It’s a time to endure the snobbery of some parents who would like to think their kids feces don’t stink – the old private versus public school debates rears its ugly head, on TTC buses and sidewalks, with the old (and new) moneyed set oftentimes taking elitist pot shots at the ambitious working poor. For us Megacity dwellers this time of year also means scrolling through TIFF film line-ups (is it just me, or are there like a bajillion films to consider seeing?). And the other big question? To crash or not to crash Playboy’s Good Life Party (Hugh Hefner and Big Boi spottings might be worth the non-cost of admission).

If you have a child in grade three or grade six, like I do, this year will also mean doing the EQAO test to see if our kids are meeting provincial testing standards. From my own experience, whenever standardized tests and any long form multiple choice quizzes came into the equation, the testing style seemed to do little to improve my actual learning. As an old school student-athlete in particular, some of the standardized tests we were subjected to had little to no bearing on how successful one might become in life. But then again, I lean more towards a Malcolm Gladwellian view on achievement which posits that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total number of hours. So many Gladwellites might view the theories of learning that standardized testing is based on as being outdated, and to test students using a measure that isn't even applicable to their learning style, might also be counter-productive. Call me crazy, but shouldn’t it be the teachers themselves who might best be able to assess our children’s progress?

About Dalton Higgins

 

Issues that don't make the polls

While the heat alert continues, sapping energy and making sleep difficult, there is a silver lining.  Those cooling centres the city opens for people without air conditioning, for the elderly, for those on the edge of heat exhaustion from living on the streets, those centres are staffed by folks who, before the summer, had no work, few connections,and little hope for change.  This is an innovative and worthwhile initiative and may well help people on the margins find their way back into life. They go through weeks of training, first aid, leadership, problem solving, it takes them out of their own heads and gets them worrying about others, about doing a good job, about making it.

This is what a caring city can do, this is smart and helpful. I was privileged to spend time with them in June, talking about what they might encounter, how they can continue to move forward, into work, into decent housing, into relationships. Hope, which has been in short supply, takes root.  In such a big city, with so many competing pressures, this is a real jewel.

A troubled young man was shot to death by police last week.  His parents had, some might say naively, called them for help, hoping perhaps that the cops would escort him to hospital but, instead, a confrontation, bullets, and he dies. For those of us who've fought to ensure the safety of those struggling with mental illness, it's another blow. But this week, at police headquarters, the standing committee on mental health appointed by the police board met, it has agency people and survivors and cops and board members, and a mandate to examine the relationship between survivors and cops.  There was civil debate, there was a real effort to tackle issues, there was good will. This is what a city can do, bring people together, sometimes a bit late, but nonetheless it can bring change, solutions, provide resources and information to help understand, to help prevent.

People have stopped leaving flowers at the rooming house down the street, where a woman was murdered for daring to leave her lover, who then set fire to the basement in an effort to either cover up the crime or to kill himself.  In this city, too many women are held hostage by men who feel they have rights of ownership. This is what a city can do: prioritize a campaign, a zero tolerance campaign, to keep women safe. We are all assaulted daily by garish ads for products we don't need or want sprayed across streetcars and subway stairs, on the sides of buildings and reaching into the sky.  We need a campaign and a mayor who can credibly lead it.  How many women are cowering behind closed doors, fearful and lost? This is their city, too.

I know that the latest surveys don't touch on homelessness, or violence against women, or police training, we prefer the simplistic over the complex.  But a city can work miracles if it's led right, a city can save lives and protect the vulnerable. 

About Pat Capponi

Teachers Need Honest Feedback

With less than a week left before school starts, every student is wondering the same thing: how good will my teachers be? This is the time of year when many anxious students and parents flock to www.ratemyteachers.com, a website where students can post and read anonymous feedback on teachers. It is a place where teachers are praised for their kindness, dedication and teaching methods, or criticized for their inaccessibility and skewed grading system.

A caring teacher can go a long way. It can mean the difference between engagement and apathy, or graduating and dropping out. I still have fond memories of some of my own teachers: one would stay behind after school until every student understood a particular concept; another taught not just what was in the textbook, but also values like integrity and hard work. However, there were also those who were unbearably boring or unfair in their evaluations.

Teachers rarely, if ever, receive feedback on their performance. Meetings with school administrators might take place if serious issues arise, but rarely do they happen because of ineffective teaching styles or unfair grading practices. Some teachers have been using the same teaching methods for decades; others do nothing but read straight from the textbook.

It is time for honest feedback that really counts.

Since 2008, the University of Toronto has mandated that all students complete an evaluation upon completion of a course. Many other universities have similar systems. Harvard University, for example, asks students to rate their overall course, course materials, assignments, workload and difficulty. It also asks students to evaluate their professors based on their teaching abilities, accessibility outside of class, enthusiasm and alacrity in grading assignments. The evaluation even compares the course to others within the same department based on the mentioned benchmarks. Students can also submit comments. The process is completely anonymous and provides candid assessment every semester. Everyone wins: students are empowered and school officials have the data they need to make informed adjustments to courses.

Critics of a formalized evaluation process will argue that it is confrontational. But the fact is that students are not there to fire professors –- they are simply there to ensure that classes continue to undergo continuous improvement. It allows the school system to quantitatively measure its effectiveness to determine how to best meet students’ needs.

Almost every candidate during this municipal election is campaigning for transparency and accountability. Let’s bring that same level of openness to our classrooms.

About Gorick Ng