Retired Teacher lays out the case for restoring Rotary in grades 7 & 8

 

Letters

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To the Chair and Trustees of the Bluewater Board of Education
 
 I am a retired teacher and for most of my career I taught intermediate grades. I find it unbelievable that you have approved a policy which does not allow rotary classes in grade 7 and 8.

By approving this policy you are depriving the students of the opportunity to receive instruction from teachers who have passion and training in a specific subject area.
 
When I started my teaching career, elementary teachers were generalists, but by the time I got to the end of my career the curriculum had been compacted.

In order to teach the subject material with confidence, a teacher required specific post secondary training within his or her field.
 
Do you expect each classroom to be equipped with textbook and reference books for each subject area? Where would one store all of this material? Is each classroom equipped with materials for science experiments and art supplies? One might be able to read in a text the rules of basketball or volleyball but would reading the book provide the teacher with the physical skills to impart those skills to the students? These are only a few of the questions which need to be examined before you ask one teacher to perform all of these tasks.
 
 Students in grade 7 and 8 are one or two years away from secondary school. There throughout the year, they will be taught by eight different teachers. The students need to learn the organizational skills required to move from class to class.

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24/04/2009 12:57 AM

 We know that teachers and students have different learning and teaching skills. Although teachers try to plan their lessons to appeal to the various learning skills, there are advantages to be exposed to different styles of teaching.
 
Each school has a school council. How were these councils consulted about this major change in curriculum delivery? It is my understanding that the school councils were not consulted. I believe that this contravenes the policy of the Ministry of Education.
 
Have you, the board members, listened to the concerns of parent groups, student petitions and protest marches? Do you read the newspapers and not understand how unpopular and unwise this experiment has been? If you can turn deaf ears to the pleas of the students and their parents, then you are not fulfilling your duty as elected members of your communities.
 
The time has come for you to stand up to the administrators who have pushed this policy through without consultation and without empirical studies to back up this change. It is wrong and there is time for you to correct this grievous mistake for the sake of the students who are
the ultimate losers in all of this. Having the Minister of Education called in to look at what is going within your board will take a long time and another group of students will suffer another year under this system. You need to act NOW and restore rotary for the school year
beginning in September 2009.
 
 I look forward to your response to my concerns.
 
 Sincerely,
 
 Beverly Harris
 
 harphill@bmts.com
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