What a fabulous event 5X7 Dundas was! 7 speakers shared their ideas on how to make Dundas better. It was a mini-version of a Ted Talk, but better because it was local!
The range of ideas and enthusiasm was inspiring - from creating a farm day to connect the community to our food sources, to closing a street and creating a public square, to creating a mini version of Toronto's distillery district to a truly visionary plan for what to do with Parkside High that will keep it open and develop a centre for science innovation, to ...
One idea stood out for me: A sign of our failing school system is not low test scores, it's that youth are not becoming citizens - they are not voting - they are disengaged from political participation and this does not bode well for our future. How can we change this?
I felt privileged to be one of the speakers. Teachers don't usually have an opportunity to share our vision of education with such a diverse audience. It was so rewarding to be given the chance to demonstrate how school could be different. It is possible to step away from micromanaged classrooms and test scores. We can consciously shift into innovative and creative practices. It is possible to have enthusiastic students actively engaged in meaningful learning on a regular basis. It just will take a little bit of effort.
Once again I made many connections with incredible people who have ideas about how they might participate in this educational revolution. And these are not teachers. These are people from a broad range of fields who know that change needs to happen and that they have something to offer our youth. Let's seize that energy!
The range of ideas and enthusiasm was inspiring - from creating a farm day to connect the community to our food sources, to closing a street and creating a public square, to creating a mini version of Toronto's distillery district to a truly visionary plan for what to do with Parkside High that will keep it open and develop a centre for science innovation, to ...
One idea stood out for me: A sign of our failing school system is not low test scores, it's that youth are not becoming citizens - they are not voting - they are disengaged from political participation and this does not bode well for our future. How can we change this?
I felt privileged to be one of the speakers. Teachers don't usually have an opportunity to share our vision of education with such a diverse audience. It was so rewarding to be given the chance to demonstrate how school could be different. It is possible to step away from micromanaged classrooms and test scores. We can consciously shift into innovative and creative practices. It is possible to have enthusiastic students actively engaged in meaningful learning on a regular basis. It just will take a little bit of effort.
Once again I made many connections with incredible people who have ideas about how they might participate in this educational revolution. And these are not teachers. These are people from a broad range of fields who know that change needs to happen and that they have something to offer our youth. Let's seize that energy!
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