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In elementary school, I had a favourite teacher, Mrs. Parker. I (and my parents) requested that Mrs. Parker be my teacher for as long as possible; she taught me for three years in a row. The experience was about as good as one can get in a school: I arrived early and engaged in activities with abandon. I believe these years were rich in social and emotional learning.

This changed in high school. In grade 8 (1997), I became withdrawn and experienced mild depression.  Much of this is attributable to unavoidable factors, but I also believe a lack of social and emotional supports extended and intensified my experience. Progressing upwards to Grade 12, SEL was increasingly substituted by content acquisition and competition. None of this is wrong, of course (high school is meant to prepare students for the outside world). That being said, I strongly believe the outside world needs more compassionate citizens who have a high degree of awareness of self and others. My inquiry project is intended to explore methods for creating socially and emotionally supportive senior-level classrooms, and examining links to student wellbeing, academic performance, and quality of life in adulthood.

I’ve been reading about the Finnish education system. It has many proponents and I think these are the reasons vis-a-vis the North American model:

-more outdoor playtime

-smaller schools and class sizes

-long-term educator – student partnerships (students and teachers are paired for more than five years)

-“whatever it takes” attitude towards struggling students (for instance, one-on-one instruction, more than adequate learning supports)

-Teachers have high status and autonomy (politicians and business people don’t influence policy)

-positive discrimination is used in high-need catchments (funding is provided for special resource teachers, counselors and special needs classes)

A doctor from Ontario recently took a leave of absence to assist some of the hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving into Europe. All are vulnerable and many are sick and injured. Today, a ship with almost 250 individuals sank off the island of Lesvos.

The doctor from Ontario, who has been posting about her experiences via Facebook, wrote this today:

In my ignorance, I hadn’t heard this news and looked on BBC for more info. It wasn’t even a headline. Instead, it was tacked on to an article about Austria putting up physical barriers to stem the flow of migrants.

This is a tragedy of global significance and universal resonance, and some news outlets can’t be bothered to put it front and centre.

History is repeating itself seventy years later right in front of our eyes.

October 23rd was a professional development day in BC schools. As such, my amazing group of teacher candidates went to the BC Business Educators Association annual conference at David Thompson Secondary.

Sessions included learning resources from Junior Achievement and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives through to yoga in the classroom!

Thanks, Lily, for providing the photo below. I’m the guy on the ground. 

Welcome to my first post! There’s more to learn about me than this blog can handle, so get in touch with questions at mattrobsonvancouver@gmail.com.

Quick facts about me (one of these isn’t true, guess which one!)

-I was born at Grace Hospital near Vancouver Children’s Hospital

-I’ve run into the Queen of England three times in London

-Tea always before coffee!

-I love the outdoors and go rooting around for wild orchids and mushrooms

Since October 2014, I’ve been volunteering three hours a week with Pathways to Education. This programme supports students academically and emotionally in Vancouver’s Strathcona and Hastings neighbourhoods. Pathways has had astounding success in other Canadian regions, and I feel honoured to be a part of their new learning community in Vancouver.

A story: Last Spring, I was working with a student on his grade 8 math homework. He didn’t like the subject and quickly stopped working on it. Since I couldn’t force him to complete the homework, I decided to open up an atlas of the world with him. We looked at the map legends, and started measuring distances using thumb widths (i.e., if 1 thumb is 100 km, then 3 thumbs is 300 km). He enjoyed this linkage to the real world, and his attitude towards math improved. In subsequent weeks, he did his math homework without protest. I hope that he was more engaged because I invested in his progress and he didn’t want to let himself – or me – down.

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Fall, or Autumn, is one of my favourite times of year (next to spring and summer). The word Fall is very appropriate for the time of year, and has Germanic roots. Autumn is borrowed from the Latin, Autumnus, for the passing of the year.