Well, anyone following education news for the last several months in Ontario knows about the problems, especially with Bill 115.
I personally didn't agree with the law - it took decades of collective bargaining and destroyed it. However, the reaction from the public teacher federations, ETFO and OSSTF have been lacking as well.
In recent days, it was announced that elementary teachers were going to stage a one day walkout, which was to have happened today, but the Ontario Labour Board ruled it illegal, and it was cancelled.
Having the protest, especially barely a month after a legal one in December was ridiculous. All this trouble has only lost my profession even more support from the public.
However, I also take issue with the Labour Board - did they really have to take until 4am today to rule on this??? I'm no lawyer, but since we were no longer in a legal strike position anymore, the decision should have been easy. Not to mention that some boards still decided to either close schools or not run buses.
Hello? Most snow days aren't officially called until 6am. Even at 4am this morning, there was still plenty of time to get buses running for elementary students today. Ridiculous.
I've tried very hard to stay out of the political crap when it comes to teaching. As a
supply teacher on both sides, I'm actually a member of both feds. I was upset when ETFO did
the one day strike last month - I was told I had to participate,
even though I work on both sides of the fence, and the elementary side
only accounts for 20% or less of my work. I was told I couldn't work,
even on the secondary side that day, which I felt was incredibly unfair.
There needs to be some big changes in education in Ontario. Supply/Temporary teachers get the shaft, no benefits or job security - out of work up to 3-4
months of the year. Most boards in the last few years have been hiring teachers
almost exclusively on a temporary basis. Add to the fact that we have a HUGE over supply of teachers right now. The government and the Ontairo College of Teachers needs to regulate the number of people taking education degrees. In the last few years, Ontario has been overproducing approximately 7600 more teachers than needed every year. Seeing up to 200 teachers apply for one position is not unusual.
I hope with a new Liberal leader and/or new election that there will be some positive change and peace in education in Ontario... we desperately need it!
And Breaking news: OSSTF has said it will be cancelling its planned protest next Wednesday! :)
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Friday, January 11, 2013
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
More School Idiocy - Deaf Boy Not Allowed Sign Name, which "looks like a weapon"
I saw this article on The National Post website this morning and it made me burn something fierce:
Deaf toddler’s ‘name sign’ too offensive for school, so they’ve told him to change it
If you read the article, you see what the sign gesture for his name looks like. I've shown it to several people today. Nobody thought of a gun. Not one.
How some stupid are some school board administrators these days? Honestly?
A friend made a really great comment on this on my FB:
"Why do we, as a culture, have to bow to everyone else when everyone else finds something to be personally offensive. It's become a cheap tactic to hold power over other people -- and I find THAT to be offensive."
I totally agree with this. When idiotic crap like this happens, people NEED to stand up and say very loudly that they won't tolerate this garbage anymore. This was probably the decision of either one or a group of self-righteous pricks who think by doing this they are some how "protecting the kids" or some other nonsensical social engineering PC claptrap. It has to stop!
Deaf toddler’s ‘name sign’ too offensive for school, so they’ve told him to change it
If you read the article, you see what the sign gesture for his name looks like. I've shown it to several people today. Nobody thought of a gun. Not one.
How some stupid are some school board administrators these days? Honestly?
A friend made a really great comment on this on my FB:
"Why do we, as a culture, have to bow to everyone else when everyone else finds something to be personally offensive. It's become a cheap tactic to hold power over other people -- and I find THAT to be offensive."
I totally agree with this. When idiotic crap like this happens, people NEED to stand up and say very loudly that they won't tolerate this garbage anymore. This was probably the decision of either one or a group of self-righteous pricks who think by doing this they are some how "protecting the kids" or some other nonsensical social engineering PC claptrap. It has to stop!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Post Denver Thoughts on Guns
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-moyers/watch-living-under-the-gu_b_1691100.html
A friend on my FB called this "brilliant". I disagree. I love how when a singular lunatic does something like this, the NRA and gun owners as a whole get blamed. Moyers is trying to score cheap points. Some of the "facts" in his editorial are dubious at best and have some pretty heavy historical distortions. The whole incident is tragic, but to paint all gun owners with the same brush is pretty low and offensive to me, as a gun owner. Canadian laws are different, mind you, but I have taken the required courses, filled out my paperwork, been checked out by the authorities. There has always been a gun in my home since I was an infant, and it has never been raised in anger or malice towards anyone, ever. If people didn't have guns, or anything that could be considered a traditional weapon, they'd fashion their own, or resort to their bare hands. If someone wants to kill, they will. No laws on earth could ever hope to stop that. He was right on one point, violence is ingrained in humans, not to mention most animals. But its the humans that cause these things to happen, not inanimate objects. And to cast blame at gun owners, who are mostly law abiding people is shameful and disrespectful to the victims.
Bottom line: Its not the majority of gun owners that are the problem here. They are responsible about their guns, whatever type they happen to be. It is a very small number that cause a problem. Deal with them, and the criminal element. That is where the problem really lies. But its easier to go after legal gun owners, because they have nothing to hide and are an easy target.
Banning guns isn't going to make the problem go away. You are just taking them away from people who didn't cause a problem in the first place.
Most gun owners have shown that they can be trusted owning them. If someone shows they can't, then they should be taken away, no question. I don't have a problem with people owning any type of gun if they are responsible about it.
People ask why should it be allowed? Why not? Its people's private money and if they want to spend it on guns, so what? If they aren't hurting anyone, there is no harm. Last time I checked we were a supposedly free society. By all means, have regulations, courses, permits etc prior to owning them. Education is never a bad thing. Not only that, it is an industry and keeps many people employed as well.
As an aside, I was introduced to guns at a very young age. I was taught the proper handling and respect that they deserve. When I was young, we had a .22 in the corner of the living room, loaded. I never once touched without permission or treated it as a toy. Guns themselves aren't bad. Shooting a gun, although not a necessary skill for most people, does have benefits.
I found the following from 2008: http://gunowners.org/op0302.htm
Some of it I think is somewhat subjective, but some of the benefits I agree with from that page are (I've adding the bolding):
"1) It is a Fun Sport. No fancy excuses or rationalizatio n here, the shooting sports are just plain fun. Whether shooting inside, using your BB or pellet gun, or outside plinking at cans, target shooting, or cowboy action shooting, it is great fun. However, as important as words are to good communication, this "fun" element of the shooting sports cannot fully be described. It must be experienced! So, grab a friend and go the closest shooting range and "taste and see" for yourself.
2) It is a Safe Sport. Though the instruments of this sport can be dangerous, in reality when compared to other individual or group sporting activities (football, basketball, tennis, swimming, driving, biking etc.) the shooting sports are quite safe.
According to the National Safety Council, Injury Facts, 1999 and a 1991 Harvard Medical Practice Study:
You are 100 times more likely to be injured in a swimming pool than by a gun.
You are 31 times more likely to be injured riding in a car than by a gun.
You are 1,900 times more likely to be injured by an "iatrogenic" error than by a gun ("iatrogenic" error is medical speak for a doctor or hospital injuring you accidentally).
And, with the growing number of gun safety/training programs, the number of injuries are declining and are at an all time low. This is in contrast to the fact that the number of firearm owners in America (as a whole) is on the rise.
3) It is a Family Sport. This is a sport that almost every family member can enjoy together. It is also a sport that boys and girls, or men and women, can participate in together. Granddad and grandson, father and daughter, great family memories lasting a lifetime are made here. Why not start making some of your own, now!
4) It is an Individual Sport. You can also shoot by yourself without any assistance from anyone, if that is your desire. Here, you have time to think and enjoy solitude. Time to grow in your marksmanship abilities at your own pace.
5) It is a Lifetime Sport. Shooting can begin early and continue through most of an adult's normal life span. And, with the expansion of high-tech gadgets available today, many disabled individuals can excel in some of the highest levels of competition.
6) Its Training: Builds Physical Discipline. In an age of the "couch potato," this sport can help build many physical disciplines that are not only healthy but enjoyable. Increased strength, stamina, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills are just a few of the physical disciplines acquired in the shooting sports that apply, not only to this sport, but to all of life.
7) Its Training: Increases Mental Discipline. To the surprise of many, the shooting sports are primarily mental sports. Experienced marksmen think sport shooting is 90% mental. Concentration levels are sharpened and expanded. Multiple problem solving activities involving logic, mathematics, and creative thinking (thinking "outside the box") are needed and employed to succeed at any level of the shooting sports. This is truly a "thinking man's" (and women's) sport.
8) Its Training: Advances Personal Responsibility . Personal responsibility is taught throughout the shooting sports to advance both safety and skill development. The shooting sports also cultivate personal responsibility because they are a foundation for both security and liberty in any family or nation.
"Liberty means responsibility . That is why most men dread it." -- George Bernard Shaw
13) Its Training: Provides Enhanced Educational Opportunities. Another little-known fact is that the shooting sports are some of the most popular events in the Olympics. 17 Olympic events (10 for Men and 7 for Women) in four Olympic disciplines (rifle, pistol, running target and shotgun) were held during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and are scheduled in the 2004 Athens Games. This is why several universities and private trusts have monies allocated providing scholarships for young marksmen, male or female.
14) Its Training: Is Conducted in a Friendly and Helpful Environment. The people involved in the shooting sports are some of the most helpful, honest and "salt of the earth" kind of folks you will meet. Most are friendly people who are both able and willing to help you improve in any aspect of this sport.
15) Its Training: Promotes the Values Needed for a Safe, Courageous and Self-sacrificing Society. Character development is always necessary and good. The shooting sports can help you overcome fear, grow in patience and think of others as you would have them think of you ("Golden Rule" and "Good Samaritan" character traits).
"Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords." -- Theodore Roosevelt (America's 26th President)
Note: A parent added to the above by stating: "It's affordable, you learn to overcome peer pressure, to laugh at yourself and learn from your mistakes, you become a 'good sport', learn how to set goals and achieve them, and you meet new people. "
A friend on my FB called this "brilliant". I disagree. I love how when a singular lunatic does something like this, the NRA and gun owners as a whole get blamed. Moyers is trying to score cheap points. Some of the "facts" in his editorial are dubious at best and have some pretty heavy historical distortions. The whole incident is tragic, but to paint all gun owners with the same brush is pretty low and offensive to me, as a gun owner. Canadian laws are different, mind you, but I have taken the required courses, filled out my paperwork, been checked out by the authorities. There has always been a gun in my home since I was an infant, and it has never been raised in anger or malice towards anyone, ever. If people didn't have guns, or anything that could be considered a traditional weapon, they'd fashion their own, or resort to their bare hands. If someone wants to kill, they will. No laws on earth could ever hope to stop that. He was right on one point, violence is ingrained in humans, not to mention most animals. But its the humans that cause these things to happen, not inanimate objects. And to cast blame at gun owners, who are mostly law abiding people is shameful and disrespectful to the victims.
Bottom line: Its not the majority of gun owners that are the problem here. They are responsible about their guns, whatever type they happen to be. It is a very small number that cause a problem. Deal with them, and the criminal element. That is where the problem really lies. But its easier to go after legal gun owners, because they have nothing to hide and are an easy target.
Banning guns isn't going to make the problem go away. You are just taking them away from people who didn't cause a problem in the first place.
Most gun owners have shown that they can be trusted owning them. If someone shows they can't, then they should be taken away, no question. I don't have a problem with people owning any type of gun if they are responsible about it.
People ask why should it be allowed? Why not? Its people's private money and if they want to spend it on guns, so what? If they aren't hurting anyone, there is no harm. Last time I checked we were a supposedly free society. By all means, have regulations, courses, permits etc prior to owning them. Education is never a bad thing. Not only that, it is an industry and keeps many people employed as well.
As an aside, I was introduced to guns at a very young age. I was taught the proper handling and respect that they deserve. When I was young, we had a .22 in the corner of the living room, loaded. I never once touched without permission or treated it as a toy. Guns themselves aren't bad. Shooting a gun, although not a necessary skill for most people, does have benefits.
I found the following from 2008: http://gunowners.org/op0302.htm
Some of it I think is somewhat subjective, but some of the benefits I agree with from that page are (I've adding the bolding):
"1) It is a Fun Sport. No fancy excuses or rationalizatio n here, the shooting sports are just plain fun. Whether shooting inside, using your BB or pellet gun, or outside plinking at cans, target shooting, or cowboy action shooting, it is great fun. However, as important as words are to good communication, this "fun" element of the shooting sports cannot fully be described. It must be experienced! So, grab a friend and go the closest shooting range and "taste and see" for yourself.
2) It is a Safe Sport. Though the instruments of this sport can be dangerous, in reality when compared to other individual or group sporting activities (football, basketball, tennis, swimming, driving, biking etc.) the shooting sports are quite safe.
According to the National Safety Council, Injury Facts, 1999 and a 1991 Harvard Medical Practice Study:
You are 100 times more likely to be injured in a swimming pool than by a gun.
You are 31 times more likely to be injured riding in a car than by a gun.
You are 1,900 times more likely to be injured by an "iatrogenic" error than by a gun ("iatrogenic" error is medical speak for a doctor or hospital injuring you accidentally).
And, with the growing number of gun safety/training programs, the number of injuries are declining and are at an all time low. This is in contrast to the fact that the number of firearm owners in America (as a whole) is on the rise.
3) It is a Family Sport. This is a sport that almost every family member can enjoy together. It is also a sport that boys and girls, or men and women, can participate in together. Granddad and grandson, father and daughter, great family memories lasting a lifetime are made here. Why not start making some of your own, now!
4) It is an Individual Sport. You can also shoot by yourself without any assistance from anyone, if that is your desire. Here, you have time to think and enjoy solitude. Time to grow in your marksmanship abilities at your own pace.
5) It is a Lifetime Sport. Shooting can begin early and continue through most of an adult's normal life span. And, with the expansion of high-tech gadgets available today, many disabled individuals can excel in some of the highest levels of competition.
6) Its Training: Builds Physical Discipline. In an age of the "couch potato," this sport can help build many physical disciplines that are not only healthy but enjoyable. Increased strength, stamina, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills are just a few of the physical disciplines acquired in the shooting sports that apply, not only to this sport, but to all of life.
7) Its Training: Increases Mental Discipline. To the surprise of many, the shooting sports are primarily mental sports. Experienced marksmen think sport shooting is 90% mental. Concentration levels are sharpened and expanded. Multiple problem solving activities involving logic, mathematics, and creative thinking (thinking "outside the box") are needed and employed to succeed at any level of the shooting sports. This is truly a "thinking man's" (and women's) sport.
8) Its Training: Advances Personal Responsibility . Personal responsibility is taught throughout the shooting sports to advance both safety and skill development. The shooting sports also cultivate personal responsibility because they are a foundation for both security and liberty in any family or nation.
"Liberty means responsibility . That is why most men dread it." -- George Bernard Shaw
13) Its Training: Provides Enhanced Educational Opportunities. Another little-known fact is that the shooting sports are some of the most popular events in the Olympics. 17 Olympic events (10 for Men and 7 for Women) in four Olympic disciplines (rifle, pistol, running target and shotgun) were held during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and are scheduled in the 2004 Athens Games. This is why several universities and private trusts have monies allocated providing scholarships for young marksmen, male or female.
14) Its Training: Is Conducted in a Friendly and Helpful Environment. The people involved in the shooting sports are some of the most helpful, honest and "salt of the earth" kind of folks you will meet. Most are friendly people who are both able and willing to help you improve in any aspect of this sport.
15) Its Training: Promotes the Values Needed for a Safe, Courageous and Self-sacrificing Society. Character development is always necessary and good. The shooting sports can help you overcome fear, grow in patience and think of others as you would have them think of you ("Golden Rule" and "Good Samaritan" character traits).
"Aggressive fighting for the right is the noblest sport the world affords." -- Theodore Roosevelt (America's 26th President)
Note: A parent added to the above by stating: "It's affordable, you learn to overcome peer pressure, to laugh at yourself and learn from your mistakes, you become a 'good sport', learn how to set goals and achieve them, and you meet new people. "
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Changing Education Paradigms
Just saw this video (sorry, Blogger won't let me embed it): http://www.vimeo.com/24489852
This has been one of those game changing videos for me. Amazing and very true.
I loved the bit on ADHD... my own thoughts: I believe it exists, and I had a professor in teachers college who had a pretty remarkable opinion: That it is a modification in how our brains work, and that it is likely happening on a genetic level. Considering all of the various technologies and the multitasking required to operate some of them, I think (and so did she) that ADHD is a modification on our brains that allowed people to to do these multiple tasks better. Ever see an ADHD kid playing a video game? Some people watch and say "How do you do that, its so fast?" or "How do you keep track of it all?" And why can't everyone do it? Because not everyone has caught up yet. Not in a good or bad way, they just haven't. Considering the massive advances in technology in the last 30 years, its no surprise that some are still feeling left behind.
I made it all the way through public school, high school, college and university with virtually no support at all (this was a time when real knowledge of ADHD was in its infancy) and I did it and still do it without any kind of medicinal aids. I think the speaker on the video hit the nail on the head about drugging kids up. ADHD can be managed without medication, but it does take work and effort. It seems that nobody wants to find solutions anymore, just quick fix solutions that make problems go away. And ADHD is certainly NOT a problem, at least not in my eyes.
I certainly applaud the speaker in this video and I certainly agree with a lot of his ideas regarding education. The paradigms in education certainly need to change. As a supply teacher, I meet many different students, in many situations and to a very large degree we do certainly turn off students to education. However, it is hard considering the demands of the ministry of education, the school board and the curriculum to keep everyone turned on. The mindsets of the higher ups still dwell on the older ideas of education, and unfortunately, I find it to be a bit of a trap as well. Its very easy to hang on to those old notions, because everyone around you is doing it too. If anyone has any suggestions how to make change, on a large scale, lets do it, please? Its easy to make changes in one room, but all the rooms need to change too.
This has been one of those game changing videos for me. Amazing and very true.
I loved the bit on ADHD... my own thoughts: I believe it exists, and I had a professor in teachers college who had a pretty remarkable opinion: That it is a modification in how our brains work, and that it is likely happening on a genetic level. Considering all of the various technologies and the multitasking required to operate some of them, I think (and so did she) that ADHD is a modification on our brains that allowed people to to do these multiple tasks better. Ever see an ADHD kid playing a video game? Some people watch and say "How do you do that, its so fast?" or "How do you keep track of it all?" And why can't everyone do it? Because not everyone has caught up yet. Not in a good or bad way, they just haven't. Considering the massive advances in technology in the last 30 years, its no surprise that some are still feeling left behind.
I made it all the way through public school, high school, college and university with virtually no support at all (this was a time when real knowledge of ADHD was in its infancy) and I did it and still do it without any kind of medicinal aids. I think the speaker on the video hit the nail on the head about drugging kids up. ADHD can be managed without medication, but it does take work and effort. It seems that nobody wants to find solutions anymore, just quick fix solutions that make problems go away. And ADHD is certainly NOT a problem, at least not in my eyes.
I certainly applaud the speaker in this video and I certainly agree with a lot of his ideas regarding education. The paradigms in education certainly need to change. As a supply teacher, I meet many different students, in many situations and to a very large degree we do certainly turn off students to education. However, it is hard considering the demands of the ministry of education, the school board and the curriculum to keep everyone turned on. The mindsets of the higher ups still dwell on the older ideas of education, and unfortunately, I find it to be a bit of a trap as well. Its very easy to hang on to those old notions, because everyone around you is doing it too. If anyone has any suggestions how to make change, on a large scale, lets do it, please? Its easy to make changes in one room, but all the rooms need to change too.
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