OPEN Sat. May 18th – 12:30-5:00pm
CLOSED Sun. May 19th
CLOSED Mon. May 20th

Regular hours resume May 21st.
Have a great weekend!

Due to a complete water shutdown, Duncan McArthur is closing at noon. The Teacher Resource Centre will be closed starting at 12pm. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Check out these new resources at the TRC!

Early learning K-grade 2
Blue board/Flannel board (attach felt pieces from the many kits)
- Emotions
- Four Seasonal settings
- MyPlate

Primary
I can dance series (comes with book and CD)
Real life learning poster series (large coloured posters)
- Insects
- Birds
- Farm Animals
Percussion/bucket ensemble kit
SMARTboard compatible graphic organizer activities

Junior
Internet literacy
Science for everyone Binder plus program
- Earth science
- Life science
- Physical science
Balances [kit]

Intermediate
Season of rage: Hugh Burnett and the struggle for civil rights (multiple copies available)
Common threads: from Canada to South Africa combatting HIV/AIDS together
Full Circle: First Nations, Metis, Inuit Ways of knowing [DVD]

Senior
Two new class sets
Honour on trial (Shafia case)
Three day road (Joseph Boyden novel)

Please note our hours for Easter Weekend:
OPEN
Sat, March 30
12:30 – 5:00 pm
Mon, April 1
8:30am – 7:00pm
CLOSED
Fri, March 29

Please note that during the March break our opening hours will be as follows:

Mon, March 11 – Friday, March 15
8:30 am – 5 pm

Saturday, March 16th
12:30 – 5 pm

Enjoy your break !

This year’s World Water day on March 22, coincides with Canada’s designated Waterweek March 18-24.  There is no shortage of concern within the scientific community about the need to conserve fresh water supplies within Canada to prevent a global fresh water crisis. Our young people need to understand the impact of their daily lifestyles on future water supply, as well as the importance of ensuring government and private enterprise make wise and informed decisions regarding water regulation around the world.

Luckily, there is no shortage of materials available at the TRC to support the work of teachers spreading the word about why and how we can reduce daily water use, as well as the more complex issues surrounding water. Our collection material covers such topics as the commodification of drinking water and the concerns over fresh water loss and contamination through hydraulic fracturing.

Along with the resources available for elementary and secondary classes here, teachers of any grade may be interested in accessing these quality websites for information and high quality teacher resources:

Canada Waterweek

Canada Water Network

CBC News Indepth – Water

TVO – The Water Brothers

The Water Project

Want to shake up your classroom’s  recreational reading selections ? Reading research shows again and again; variety and self-selection are key to getting kids to read.  The TRC has many novels reaching across literacy and interest levels for your students to try. You don’t have to study them as a class; just make them available !

Bring in – or borrow from us – a container to check out a selection of  Teacher Librarian recommended reading materials to have on hand in your class.  After one batch has been explored, exchange them for some new titles to keep the selection options coming.  Teacher and student feedback and book reviews are always welcome and helps to keep our collection relevant to our users.  Interested ? Contact Peggy at the TRC and tell me about the readers in YOUR class.

Please note that the TRC will be observing the Family Day holiday on Monday, Feb 18th. We ARE open on Saturday, Feb 16th and will resume regular opening hours of 8:30 – 7 pm on Tuesday, Feb 19th.

Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs …what’s wrong with that ? – Paul McCartney

There’s plenty of research out there demonstrating that relationships can help keep us both emotionally and physically healthy, but not all relationships are healthy ones.  The pressure to be “coupled up” is so strong, young adolescents may be starting unhealthy relationship patterns that could last a lifetime.

A 2006 article, If it hurts you, then it’s not a joke in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence studied students in Grades 9 – 11 at Canadian high schools. The authors found that while physical abuse in dating relationships appears to be declining, psychological abuse is prevalent.  Further, there are stark gender differences in perception of what is and what is not abusive behavior.   A willingness by young people to accept partner behaviors considered emotionally or physically hurtful for the sake of remaining in a relationship requires attention.

Why not use  Valentine’s Day observances as an opportunity to widen the narrative on love?

Instead of focusing solely on romantic love, choose stories and films that demonstrate the many types of love a person can give and receive.  Love is a verb as well as a noun,  and actively  choosing a life committed to kindness, compassion, community engagement and caring towards others can open up a world of friends, of all ages,  that may offer support during tough times outside of a spousal relationship.

Seeing examples of love in action, leads to developing more positive ideals of what constitutes loving and being loved. Provide your students with textual examples of love in its most powerful form, as a VERB !

The Teacher Resource Centre has lovingly acquired resources at both the elementary and secondary level to help you demonstrate healthy relationships, encourage kindness, compassion, acceptance, and other meaningful ways to love one another.

And for the record teachers ?  We love you !

Contemporary educators know that reading is not as simple as comprehending the words on a page. We know that reading is a complex mix of cognitive and metacognitive processes. To further complicate this process, the subtleties, nuances and constructs present in today’s sophisticated, high speed, multi-format media texts – like interactive websites – can make it difficult to tell where the messaging begins or ends !

Branding and lifestyle based advertising have been exposed for the powerful tools they are.  In a study in the March 2012 issue of the journal Psychology & Marketing, children as young as three demonstrated a preference for playing with children wearing or holding the products of specific corporate brands.

Parents and educators alike have long been concerned with what children are learning – and imitating –  from the media they consume. Sexism, racism, ageism, abilism, classism and other destroyers of social cohesion are all areas of concern.  Ontario Curriculum consistently states that giving students critical literacy skills is a priority learning outcome across subject areas.

But how exactly do you do this?

There are things we CAN do to combat problematic messaging.  Teach students to identify a social construct, what makes it problematic, and to then CHOOSE to buy into or discard this construct. When viewing a text of any format – picture book, magazine ad, music video, novel, film – students can be prompted by teachers to ask these critical questions: Who is being portrayed? How ? Is this a respectful or demeaning portrayal? In what ways ? Who benefits from this portrayal ? Who loses ? What are the consequences of these types of portrayals to larger society ?  Are you ok with this person being portrayed this way ? Why or why not ?

Only when able to ask themselves these types of questions can students further learn to ask themselves even more important ones as they enter adulthood: If I don’t accept this messaging, what am I prepared to do about it ?

The Ontario Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat has created an excellent series of  documents called the Capacity Building Series. These are available to the public and can be easily obtained  at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/capacityBuilding.html

Within this series, one document specific to Critical Literacy has been created. It  provides a wealth of pedagogical background, explanations, and teaching resource links to support teachers who want to ensure that their classroom is one that supports this important aspect of contemporary literacy.

With what we know about how media imaging influences the values and world views of children, it is reassuring to know there is something else we can offer them to combat the concerning and damaging messaging that floods the media they consume.  We can present them with alternatives to those images; those that portray people and situations that are diverse, flawed, and complex to add to their definitions of acceptable. We can help to give them a sense of power over accepting negative portrayals as the ones to believe and emulate in their lives.

The Teacher Resource Centre has many resources at both the elementary and secondary level that can support teachers tackling this complex and challenging branch of literacy.  Check out our  LINKS  under Media/Critical Literacy to authoritative and useful sites like Media Smarts and Read, write, THINK !