More than ever, classroom teachers need to take a leading role in the emotional well-being of their students, alongside parents who traditionally have been expected to assume this responsibility. It is this reality that has prompted Concerned Children’s Advertisers (CCA) to consider educators as a ...
Students with learning disabilities are meant to be part of the class, but are they?
This issue’s Talk Back columnist is a vice-principal and educator in southwestern Ontario. She is a mother of three adult children.
In Canadian schools, the term ‘inclusive education’ has replaced expressions like ‘mainstreaming’ and ‘integration’,...
Our Talk Back columnists are usually anonymous, but Bruce Patterson asked to be named. He has been an elementary school teacher in the public board for 21 years and lives in Carleton Place, near Ottawa.
Some provinces have stopped paying for religious schools, others maintain them, despite the duplicate costs.
Today,...
When my first-born was a few weeks old, I watched him cooing and thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if he turned out to be gifted? What an exhilarating adventure!” I knew very little back then. In fact, my son’s father and I knew nothing about...
PLANTING A SEED
A SCHOOL GARDEN CAN BE FRUITFUL IN SO MANY WAYS
ACROSS CANADA, more and more schools are helping kids connect with nature and food by planting gardens. While sowing seeds and nurturing young plants leads to a harvest of crunchy carrots, cobs of corn, plump pumpkins...
District staff, provincial Ministries of Education and parents expect a lot from public school teachers, but are those expectations always reasonable? The answer would be a resounding “no” from elementary school teachers and school administrators alike. Teachers are temporary parents, nurses, social workers, babysitters, counsellors … and teachers. They...
This issue's Talk Back teacher says parental involvement and academic expectations are the major differences between public and private schools.
I have taught in both publicly and privately funded schools – the last five years in a private school. My passion is finding unique ways to interact with children and...
Each issue, we invite an educator, who will remain anonymous, to dish the dirt about stuff you might hear in a teacher’s lounge. This issue we hear from a Grade 5 teacher.
A TEACHER'S REVENGE
It’s here; the night of parent-teacher interviews. Parents and teachers will sit down to address concerns...
I believe our schools, communities and each of us as parents need to teach the whole child – mind, body and spirit. As adults, many of us don’t really understand how much our physical health affects our mental clarity, energy and outlook. In our work culture, we tend to...
