by Doug Pratley – Vice Chair of the Board and Trustee for the City of Stratford

I had a very fortunate but somewhat intimidating start to my teaching career. Here I was fresh out of teachers’ college and hired to replace a remarkable, creative and well loved teacher in the ‘flagship’ high school in Perth County. My new colleagues were spectacular teachers with skills that I could only dream of emulating and to make it even more challenging, our teaching area was the brand new ‘open concept’ science lab at Stratford Central.. The “Toronto boy” had no place to hide his inexperience and mistake filled first years.

I soon learned however, that these colleagues were the perfect mentors for a young teacher. Not being able to hide in a four walls, closed classroom was the perfect formula for me to learn a difficult calling. Each one of my science department teaching mates gently and patiently taught me many skills and attitudes that molded my career. The open classroom concept with our office in the centre was the perfect setup so that people could stop and sit in the lab area for a few minutes as I taught. Eventually I was comfortable enough to sit and watch as they practiced their trade and I learned so much. I learned how thirty students could make amorphous masses of sulphur, without stinking up the entire school. I learned the magic of Mendeleev’s Periodic Table. I learned to respect students and the learning process. I learned strategies and skills to help kids learn. I learned two things about myself and my future. One was the logic and mystery of science and its ability to inspire me and my students. I loved that but the most important lesson was that it was my duty to become the best teacher that I could be so that I could serve students and assure them a productive, happy and moral future. What a responsibility and what a privilege.

We did not have a fancy word for it back in the seventies, but this was what today educators call a PLC, a “Professional Learning Community”. PLCs are opportunities for teachers to exchange best practices, ideas, resources and engage in professional dialogue. The focus is on improving student achievement and increasing teacher capacity. Our teachers and administrators are engaging one another to be the best that they can be for our kids. There is a sea change in teaching and learning and PLCs help teachers meet the challenges and share the successes. All of our society benefits when teachers become even better at their so important callings. PLCs are one major way that we do this.

The art and science of teaching is such that one is never satisfied that they have finished learning. One can always be better for their kids. I look back on a career with many successes and many shortcomings. The successes were a result of superior mentors and accepting young people. Thankfully we have formalized PLCs so that all teachers, children and parents can benefit from our collective smarts and experiences. In retrospect, my 1970’s PLC lasted all my life. I never really thanked those inspiring, knowledgeable, forgiving and giving teachers who can take all the credit for the successes. I’m thankfully still in a PLC to address the shortcomings. I’ll take all the “credit” for them.

by Meg Westley – Trustee, City of Stratford

Several years ago, I offered to run a drama workshop at my son’s elementary school on their annual literacy day. I would present to groups of 20 students ranging from Kindergarten to Grade 3. Some would know how to read, others would not. Groups of students would rotate through my designated classroom every hour, so I would run the workshop six times altogether.

I wanted students to explore aspects of theatre and take part in a very short “production” of The Pied Piper. The youngest students would play the rats, who only squeaked. They would wear whiskers. Slightly older students would play the children and sport rosy red cheeks. The oldest would take the parts of townspeople and don costume hats or scarves.

I decided to start by reading the children the script and have them improvise action to music. After that, they would pick out props and put on costumes bits and make-up. Their verbal cues would be on colour-coded signs. When I held up a yellow sign all the rats would squeak; a red sign told the “children” to giggle or scream; the blue signs actually had lines on them that the townspeople were to shout out.

It sounded like a dandy plan: short sessions with lots of variety. I was excited as I headed to the school that morning. The children also got excited, so excited they didn’t really listen or pick the right props. They were most interested in the make-up, which took longer to apply than I’d thought. Improvising action meant racing around, shouting. Still, we got through it. The first group did their little production. I was pleased.

At lunchtime, the teachers smiled and told me it was going very well. I was exhausted. We launched into the afternoon sessions. I read my voice hoarse. They improvised, shrieking and cavorting about the room. I slapped on make-up and shouted at them not to fight over the props. The show went on, rats squeaking when the townspeople were supposed to speak, children giggling when they were meant to cry.

They continued to enjoy themselves. I lost track of whether they were learning anything or whether the “show” made sense. When the bell finally rang at the end of the day, I barely had the strength to drag myself home.

All I could think was; “How do teachers do it?” I’d spent one day in the classroom, with a single task: to keep the students entertained. I repeated the same exercise with fresh groups of kids each time. I was completely flattened, if not incoherent, by the end of the day.

Teachers instruct the same students five days a week, for ten months. They teach many different subjects to children with different learning styles. And somehow, they remain cheerful, patient and enthusiastic. How lucky we are that skilled, caring individuals devote their lives to engaging rambunctious youngsters in learning. If you think their job is easy, try a day in the classroom. I dare you.

by Al Sygrove – Trustee – Northwest Huron

Historically girls have outperformed boys in school. As a former teacher and more importantly a grandfather of two young boys I was curious to find out why there is a gap between boys’ and girls’ school achievement. I also wanted to know what some of our local schools are doing to assist their male students.

David Booth, in his book Even Hockey Players Read, states “As we look at studies and reports that examine boys and girls and their learning styles and special interests, their growth patterns and stages of intellectual development, we do notice differences. While these differences are not seen in all boys or in all girls there are some obvious patterns.”

A paper produced by PBS Parents group states that boys’ learning needs do in fact differ from girls and offers some practical strategies for working with boys at school:

• Boys need lots of opportunities for physical activity. Don’t expect them to sit still for long periods of time.
• Boys learn best when learning is “hands-on”. They learn by touching, moving, and building things.
• Boys need to be exposed to reading that appeals to them and their particular interests ie. non-fiction materials such magazines, graphic novels, manuals and comics.
• Allow boys to write and talk about topics of interest to them.

Deb Johnson, Principal at Robertson Memorial Public School states, “We try to provide as much choice as possible as we know boys like to decide what it is they want to read and write about. We have spent quite a bit of money to build our classroom libraries with non fiction reading material. We also have a corner of the library dedicated to boys’ reading.”

Julie Holmes, Principal at Brookside Public School writes,” We tried to have a male only grade three class, but it turned out to be 18 boys and 2 girls. We are definitely taking a more active approach to teaching in that classroom with mini-activity breaks and lots of non-fiction reading materials. Our school’s literacy purchases have included only non-fiction reading materials for the past two years in order to inspire boys. Our library has dramatically increased magazine selections and graphic novels.”

Colborne Central Public School, according to Principal Angela Cowley, is working with six other area schools as a “networked learning community”. A primary focus of this group of schools is non-fiction writing as  it appeals to boys. She states that boys need a purpose for writing and non-fiction writing provides the opportunity “to describe, to persuade, to narrate, and to perform”.

Finally, Alice McDowell, Principal at Victoria Public School, informs us of an article written by teachers Abby Armstrong and Heather Ball which recently appeared in their teachers’ federation magazine. In it they describe the strategies and successes of the writing program at V.P.S.  They point out a main focus of the program was the use of technology to motivate boys to write.

While the gap between boys’ and girls’ school achievement continues to exist, through improved strategies based on an awareness that often boys and girls learn differently, the future looks bright  for not only our male students but for all of our students.

by Doug Pratley – Vice Chair of the Board and Trustee for the City of Stratford

A few months ago my wife and I moved to a new house. We left the home that we had built for us nearly thirty-three years ago. We had raised our three daughters in that house and experienced all the highs and lows of life inside the walls of that home that we still love. But it was time to move on. The house was too big for two people and one large dog; it was time to change.

Living in a new home is a big change. I’m learning what each of the wall switches operates and adapting to the different sounds of the appliances and furnace. The fastest routes to and from shopping are starting to become routine. I often can’t find my keys, or my shoes and the dog and I need to find new routes to walk. She, the dog, is adapting much faster than me. Economists tell us that we must change to survive. Certainly life teaches us that “the only constant, is change” and psychologists have learned that people who accept and adapt early to change are happier. Still change is something that human nature generally tries to avoid, delay, resist and sometimes even fight.

Change is a real problem for most children, especially children in the primary grades. Kids, mostly young children, need things to stay the same with very few surprises. This is especially true of children that have certain types of special learning needs. If things in a child’s life are predictable, life goes smoothly. When you think about it, that isn’t very different for most adults our lives go much more smoothly if things are predictable. However, teachers are also aware that they must prepare children to be able to accept change, to live through and adapt to change, perhaps even lead change. So as much as it is tempting to try to keep things the same, we really are doing no service to children if we let them believe that life will not change. It is only fair and right to introduce changes as that is what the real world is like. We usually find that children are more flexible than we give them credit for but still teachers, parents, all of us in our society must help children grow and accept change. Parents can offer that one to one reassurance that although some things in a child’s life do change there are lots of reassuring things that do not change. The key is to introduce change slowly and talk about it well before it happens if possible. We must also recognize that small changes, often not even on our radar, can be seen as threatening to children.

In the final analysis, change is good. Although personally I cannot see the value of having a cell phone, that has more features than a 747 cockpit, or having a Blackberry always within easy reach. Viewing a feature film on a screen that is ten square centimetres strikes me as just stupid. But enough of my personal struggles with change. Most change is positive and progressive. Now, even though I’ve admitted that change is good, it is still frustrating spending hours of my day retracing my steps and looking for my keys. Oh, there they are. Now what did I want them for? But that is a different problem

North Perth Trustee Jenny Versteeg is the new Chair of the Avon Maitland District School Board for 2009.  At its Inaugural Meeting held December 9, 2009 at the Education Centre in Seaforth, Versteeg was unopposed in letting her name stand for the position of Board Chair. Versteeg was Vice-Chair for the past year and served as Chair of the Board in 2007. Below is the Inaugural Address to the Board by Chair Jenny Versteeg.

I want to thank my fellow trustees for what I am choosing to believe is a vote of confidence in my leadership ability.

Something that was important to me when I was considering the position this year was knowing I can count on everyone of the trustees to thoughtfully and carefully consider the issues and the challenges that we face, and knowing we can work together. I know that you will freely express your opinions, and then work towards establishing the best possible path forward. Last week Meg told you that the trustees made the work as chair enjoyable – and while I’m hoping to enjoy the year, it’s our ability to work together that makes the role of chair doable for me.

Like Meg, my respect and admiration for senior staff is huge. The background information you provide – the resources, the expertise, along with your sound and thoughtful reasoning on all sorts of issues, mixed in with a more than generous dose of teaching ability, are key to trustees understanding the issues surrounding the decisions we make. This is essential to our work as a board, and to me as chair.

We have worked with each other for sometime now – some longer than others and it is a tribute to each of us one of us that the level of respect and confidence has grown among us. I think that’s because we all have a firm belief in the importance of Public Education to our society. Education has been good to us, and our families, and we want to give something back.

But far beyond giving back is being impassioned by what we can do in the future. We are a board that strives towards making education better.

And we have our work cut out to do that this year. We have some significant collective bargaining to work our way through. We will close schools. We will build a new school. We will help communities transition to new school environments, and we will develop a strategic plan for our future.

I was able to attend the Warden’s Inaugural in Huron County last week, and I was struck by a comment about the amount of work that Council wanted to get done before the next election. They are considering changing their structure, and I remembered the hours we spent several years ago to establish a more streamlined method of governance. While we were working on it, we talked about leaving a legacy.

The work this board does in the coming two years will obviously be the legacy we leave to the next board because they’ll have to deal with what we have done.  Still, I think there is in something in the process where I believe we can leave an important mark.

As we do the work before us:  strategic plans, bargaining, and multi-layers of multiple accommodation reviews, it is important for us to be consistent in  modeling the citizenship characteristics that our communities have asked us to teach to our students: fairness, honesty, empathy, respect, courage, integrity, optimism, compassion, responsibility and perseverance.

We can serve public education with nothing less.

by Meg Westley, Trustee for the City of Stratford

As our schools welcome back students for the new school year,I feel for parents with a first child about to start school.  I recall my first-born starting Kindergarten all too well.

Mike was keen enough, but I was a wreck. How could I abandon my child to strangers at such a tender age? I imagined a horde of children teasing or ignoring him, while a harried teacher hollered. Still, I wanted him to go, to gain independence and to learn. Sort of.

We lived one house down from the school. Mike didn’t even have to cross a street. I could be there in three minutes in an emergency. Holding his hand, I walked him to school the first day. Mrs. Currie, his teacher, smiled understandingly. “He’ll be fine,” she said.

I left reluctantly and paced the house until it was time to pick him up. He looked cheerful, his miniscule backpack bobbing on his shoulders.

“So how was it?” I asked. “What did you do?” My husband and I both leaned close to hear.

“Well, Mrs. Currie took us into a big room called Jim, and a guy named Prince Bull talked for a long time.”

“Did you make friends?” I asked, hiding my smile.

He looked at me blankly. I got worried. But the next day when I picked him up, he was racing around after another little boy. They didn’t speak, just wagged their fingers at each other like tiny swords, shrieked with laughter and ran. He’d made a friend. Whew.

At the end of the first week, Mrs. Currie called to ask if we would mind moving Mike to the afternoon class. I panicked.He’d be torn from his friends, plunged into a completely new class, just when he’d begun to adjust. But Mrs. Currie said most families could not move their children as they worked afternoons, and there were too many children in the morning class. After a sleepless night imagining Mike forlorn and sobbing among new classmates, I agreed.

He never noticed the difference. There were still lots of kids his size, and other boys to point fingers at. A week later, Mike solemnly informed me that I was not to kiss him in sight of the schoolyard. A week after that I was forbidden to walk him to school, although it was okay if I watched from the porch. Before long, he was bringing friends home from school. He’d made the transition.

So if you are feeling anxious about that first day of Kindergarten, rest assured. There will be a warm-hearted Mrs. Currie to welcome your little one, a Prince Bull to make sure all goes smoothly and a terrific room called Jim to play in.  And you’ll adjust too. Honest.