Ontario College for Teachers Council Site Review

The home site for Council is very blank. By this, I mean the whole content of the Council site is filled with just words and links to pdf’s. There are no pictures to describe the council. If there were pictures of the members of the council, it would be very interesting to see how they project their ideas to one another.

Giving a little more information about the main people of the council would also be good so as people read the website, they’ll get to know more about the qualifications about the council members.

Other than this factor of more appeal to the site, I feel that there is a lot of information that may be useful. I was never aware of such a council for teachers at Ontario College for Teachers. The council is made up of 23 members from the college and 14 from the public elected by the provincial government. The council holds meetings almost every 2-3 months. The meetings are always held in the council chambers of the 6^th floor of 121 Bloor Street East, Toronto.

Having public members being part of the council, I think, is a good idea because then the other college council members can analyze the teaching standards of the teachers and see if they are fit for the job or if they should be replaced. Overall, the site is okay, but would be more effective if there were a few pictures of the meetings or a few of the faces in the council and if they could give some information on the main council members.    

Teaching in the 21st century

A student’s education, it is said, depends on a good school, but more than the school, a student learns from a teacher. A teacher teaches students new methods of problem solving or teaches them to work out challenging problems in order to enhance their knowledge and learning skills. If a teacher doesn’t teach properly or doesn’t follow the curriculum properly, a student will never be able to learn how to learn. Canada’s teaching methods were once really outstanding, but now, other countries’ schools are improving their teaching standards. A solution to this is improving the standards of teaching here in Canada. This could enhance the knowledge of students and introduce them to concepts they might have never heard of or learned, or review a concept they’ve already learned, but in greater detail. My opinion is that improving teaching standards here in Canada would benefit everyone.

AFRICENTRIC PLAN SPARKS CONCERN

I feel that an africentric school might be a good idea---if it stops the 40% dropout rate of black students. One problem I find in the concept is that the black students will learn more about their background/culture in depth and the other students will also be required to learn this. Now, most parents might not agree to this condition; many parents might be against the fact that the students might only learn about black history. A possible solution to this situation could be that the other parents demand that the board introduce an “asiancentric” school (one already exists), or any other school that promotes only one specific culture. Such a situation could disrupt the interaction of all the students in the school. When you have an africentric school, you have only one specific race learning about its cultural heritage. If it were a normal high school, everyone would interact with different people and learn more through their friendship. Maybe introducing better teaching methods might interest students enough to keep them in school or offering specific courses such as History, but only on Africa, for example. Then, that way, the students could choose their courses, but still maintain an interaction with other students of different backgrounds. In my opinion, I think the idea is okay, but would be better if it could avoid possible reasons for racism or exclusion.

Shakespeare Video made by ENG1D6-comments

I felt that the video was really good, for a first attempt of our own filming. The only problem was that many people's facts about Shakespeare were not posted on the video. It would have been better if everyone's facts were on the video. Also, as all of us said two facts, mostly one fact from each person that was on the video was posted. Overall, the video was very good and very enjoyable. The background noise was a slight disturbance, but it can be fixed for next time. Good job guys!

Guinea Fowl Child

Overall, to me, the story seemed very smooth. It had a nice flow to it. I felt that the story didn’t have much of a climax; there wasn’t a point in the story that seemed very exciting or mind-blowing. One part I liked in the story was how the guinea fowl had tricked Mzizi and his new wife into killing themselves just because they had singing dinner in their stomachs. The main theme in the story that I understood was that one must have trust, love and compassion for another human being, no matter what struggles life may bring. Having full trust and love on someone can bring a lot of understanding and compromise in situations that may cause problems. I, as a human being, always trust the people around me that I love the most. Some people that I’ve known were not quite trustworthy, but many other people have been very trustworthy and loving. As you’ve known people for many years, your bond with them expands and you get to know more about them; their dislikes, their qualities, their dreams, their desires. And as you get to know them better, you can start to realise a friendship bloom between you because you may share some of the same qualities or some of the same desires or some of the same dreams.

Over the Edge Reflection- Birunthaa Jeyanandan


For me, while watching the video, I was unable to relate myself to Sam seeing as I don’t like taking life-threatening risks or putting myself into danger, but I do like the aspect of challenges, just as long they don’t involve mountain biking the way he did or anything else life threatening. Besides the fact of relating myself to him, I really enjoyed the video because it showed me that there are some people in the world who are born to do anything at any time, even though it can bring a danger to their life. While watching the video, I had no assumptions except one major one; he would die in the helicopter crash. Unfortunately, my assumption was partially true and partially not. He did die, specifically suicide in a jail cell not dying from a helicopter crash. It was pretty sad realizing that what caused his death was drug-smuggling, especially because he was very young. One part of the video which I did not seem to like was the way that the police were trying to capture Sam. The methods that they used almost put his life in danger. Their main goal was to capture Sam and have him in jail, but while I was watching the video, it almost seemed as if Sam’s life was in danger and that he would leave the world before entering jail. Thankfully though, he managed to live. Unfortunately, he was caught by the police and put in a jail cell.