Special Education Program

In high school, I was placed in a special education program instead of regular classes because I couldn’t learn like the other students. I felt I was being “left on the shelf” — not important enough to be given the opportunity to learn to my potential. I felt like a yo-yo, bounced between special education and “regular” classes. I was not being challenged in ways that would enrich my learning. To make things worse, I was bullied. Throughout my years at school I didn’t feel safe, or even that I belonged. I would come home in tears, reluctant to go back to school each day. My experience made me question my ability to learn, and I felt stupid.

During this time I would often sit at a nearby lake where I could be alone with nature. As I got to know myself in that place of silence, I came to the realization that I would have to stand up and be strong for myself. It took a long time for me to build confidence in myself and realize my true potential. I was someone who could learn. Everyone has different learning styles, and I was able to recognize the difference in my learning from others in my class.

As I began to speak up against the bullying, other students would share their experiences of bullying with me. I encouraged them to continue in their classes, which gave them courage to stand up to their bullies. In this way, learning and sharing was empowering.

A hard lesson came when I was told by a college admissions officer that I did not meet their entrance requirements. I was demoralized but my mother told me that I was able to learn no matter what others thought and she encouraged me to continue studying. It was then that I entered the Street Haven Learning Centre (SHLC), and spoke to the program manager who listened to my concerns, and believed in me and my ability to learn.

I registered for their literacy program, which would help me upgrade my skills in preparation for college. At the Learning Centre, the instructor and staff were caring and encouraged my goal to study at college. Classes at Street Haven were fun, and I discovered for the first time that I was good at reading and math. More importantly, the experience reinforced my previous discovery — that I am capable of learning.

My time taking classes there helped me to better understand the unique way I learn. I felt blessed to be at the Street Haven Learning Centre, where I was a member of the class, feeling safe, surrounded by those who accepted and encouraged me.

I enjoyed learning at the SHLC, spending three years there. Community involvement and activism was an important part of my life throughout this time. I was a committed member of an organization dedicated to improving the lives and working conditions of people in low-wage and unstable employment, participating in campaigns, outreach, and awareness work.

My comrades there were a source of support and encouraged me to apply to college. Determined to pursue this goal, I enrolled in as many learning programs as I could, including other community classes and free online courses.

These experiences were valuable and helped me to explore my interests in community work and to prepare for college. It was not always easy, as there were people around me who told me to find work instead of applying to college. Always determined, I knew college education was my path. There came a point when I was ready: I knew I had developed the skills to re-apply. Through the support and guidance of my counsellor and my instructors, I re-applied, and was finally accepted into Transition to Post-Secondary Education program at George Brown College.

I am currently in my fourth semester at George Brown College, have been on the Dean’s List twice, and just won a third scholarship to continue in my studies for the next year. I feel motivated and engaged every time I attend class. At this point in my life, I feel good, knowing that I have achieved my dream of studying at college. Developing strength and determination to become an advocate for others has directed my college studies.

I am now preparing for entrance into the Community Service Worker program, a step on the route to my goals to become a support for others in the community. I am proud of myself for not letting the barriers I faced in high school hold me back, and for persevering to get to where I am now. The lesson I learned from overcoming the barriers I faced was that you cannot give up hope, as there is always something greater for you if you persevere.

Article Source:

By Street Haven – https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/street-haven/dream-of-education_b_14055022.html/

Teachers & Students

Among the groups that I saw at the Toronto march was a contingent of elementary school teachers. As most people know, the great majority of elementary school teachers everywhere are women. As women, they have experienced more than their fair share of discrimination, pay inequity, and even violence in the workplace. Do teachers deserve better? Without question.

But should teachers have the right to protest and then to bring their views and opinions into their classrooms? It might depend on the views and how they are expressed.

Kids around the world have either participated in or have seen news about the protest marches that followed the inauguration of President of the U.S., Donald J. Trump. With any luck, they will be asking questions. How should teachers respond to such questions as, “Where you at the march?” and “Why or why not?”

Teachers, please tell your students the truth. If you attended the march, you can use this as a wonderful opportunity to tell your students about democracy. Wherever you were, someone was calling out “THIS is what democracy looks like.” Why? Because democracy depends upon free expression and dissent. It is a patriotic act to stand up to authority and speak the truth.

Teachers who have the courage of their convictions are at the forefront of those who can now act. They can find out what their students think, and they can encourage their students to organize and act in creative and lawful ways to get their ideas across to others. And no, students do not need to agree with their teacher’s views to learn this.

If a teacher was not a participant, she should be free to tell her students her reasons, or to keep those reasons to herself. She may have had personal reasons that she does not wish to share. That is not a problem. She has the right to privacy. However, to say that she disagrees with a political position is also a way of letting students know about freedom of expression and democracy.

If she disagrees with the dissent, if she agrees with the positions taken by the U.S. President and his administration, she should be free to tell her students her views. However, she should not be free to demand that they agree with her views nor to disseminate “alternative facts.”

It is a teacher’s responsibility to teach their students to be literate. This includes language, numeric, media, and citizenship literacy. Today, perhaps more than ever before, our teachers must be free to engage their students in examining what they think, what they know and how they know it. We need the next generation to challenge inequities and iniquities wherever they find them. How else will democracy survive?

Article Source:

Danielle S. McLaughlin – Director of Education Emerita, Canadian Civil Liberties Association – https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/danielle-s-mclaughlin/womens-march-teachers_b_14350148.html/

In 2016, as our children watched, bullying became legitimate. What we accept without dissent, what we allow to be framed as normal, alters according to our level of desensitization. Over the past year or so we have become increasingly desensitized to bullying behaviour.

Children are sponges. They watched and listened. Groups of people reveled in the abusive behaviour of one person on TV. They saw some in that large group chiming in with their own forms of bullying; taking misogyny, racism, name calling to new levels of revulsion. Shock and awe would be descriptors for some of the public behaviour we all witnessed over the past year.

Would we have allowed our child’s classroom teacher to behave this way?

Telling lies has become the new normal for 2017. Without hardly raising an eyebrow, each new week provides more fodder for the acceptance of lying becoming the new truth. Media outlets laboured over the decision to use the word lie in their news reporting last year and ultimately decided there was no other option. A lie is a lie.

All of that has energized bullies and given them validity and an effective platform.

How do we sound credible to our children with the “don’t do as I do — do as I say” parenting line? We don’t. I wonder how the adult children of those powerful, bullying people react to that notion. Do they ever look at their parent and say enough is enough? Or do they take notes?

Why did these loud mouth bullies with power not consider that all children, including their own, were listening to them? Parents were left with the distressing task of explaining the more scandalous news bytes.

This conundrum has not gone unnoticed and our children have witnessed all the ugliness. They are quick studies. If adults do it, at one level that is covert permission to behave in the same way. Our new normal sanctions bullies to survive and thrive everywhere including your child’s peer group.

There have been and will always be bullies in your child’s life in some form. But vigilance is needed more than ever to mitigate their effect. Potential bullies will have constant reminders of how to lie and intimidate. They will be saturated with daily examples of vitriolic and vehement cyberbullying. Why was so much time and effort spent on anti -bullying programming to end up here?

What can you do as a parent to alleviate this bully effect in your child’s life?

Be aware of your child’s peer group. All bullies have similar markers. As a society we’ve spent a year doing post graduate work — being schooled in the fine art of bullying.

Bullying is attention seeking behaviour. If we needed any new affirmation of that point, then look at the way those powerful bullies crow, swagger, bluster and gloat.

Bullies are name callers. When the juvenile act of name calling is thrown around by leaders in public office, then it is a license to use the same language. How do you explain to a child it is OK for an adult with considerable power to use denigrating language but not OK for them?

Answer the ‘why’ in that question for your child.

Bullies are often loud. They use being loud as a method of intimidation. They also have ‘staying power’ with that loudness. They will be the last person standing shouting at others. Bullies are thin skinned. If you want loud, suggest their ideas might be flawed.

They invade personal space, mentally and physically, which is another form of intimidation.

They lie with impunity and ignore anybody who dares challenge them on those lies. They scare others with those lies. They might threaten and intimidate your child into submission with acts they have no intention carrying out.

They gather like-minded people around them, pitting one against the other. People who may not have the chutzpah to be the leader are quite happy to be a follower, and bask in the glow of the bully.

They are masters at being a chameleon. Think of a friend of your child’s who made a positive first impression. They have assurance, conversation skills, and as a parent you are charmed. Remember, charm is a bully’s middle name. With the flip of a switch, they go from charm to harm. As a parent be mindful of that possibility.

When criticized, bullies blame others. Externalizing the blame is the term and bullies know full well how to shine the blame spotlight on others. It is more than just blaming others, it is about absolving themselves of any wrong doing. Bullies refuse to accept responsibility for their actions and they dismiss it out of the narrative.

For years we have advised our children about the bystander effect. Bystanders are just that — people who stand by and let bullies have their power. However, standing up to a bully is the only way to diminish their power. And stand up we must. Children learn what they live.

Article Source:

By Linda Simpson – writer, poet, guidance education advocate, loving Mum and Gramma https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/linda-simpson/kids-imitating-bullies_b_14221286.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-parents/