{"id":16668,"date":"2015-11-16T05:29:39","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T10:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=16668"},"modified":"2015-11-20T06:26:42","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T11:26:42","slug":"walking_with_teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/walking_with_teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking downtown with LaSalle and Verdun teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"teachers<\/a>
Striking teachers walking past Douglas Research Institute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday morning November 16, at 8:40, a couple of dozen striking teachers and one reporter left LaSalle Community Comprehensive High School on 9th<\/sup> Avenue in LaSalle and began walking downtown.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to walk to where the common front is meeting at the Metropolis near Place des Arts,\u201d said Paul Wasacz, who teaches a semi-skilled program at the high school. \u201cWe did it a few years ago during our 2005 contract talks and found that it\u2019s a good way to get together, a good way to stay united.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Walking is also a good way to get noticed. As we walked north on 9th<\/sup> Avenue and east on Champlain, cars and trucks continually honked. The noise got even heavier as we passed striking workers at the Douglas Research Institute and Beurling Academy.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re noticing more support these days,\u201d said one of the teachers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eight teachers from Beurling Academy joined the group and four others from Pearson Adult Career Centre (PACC)\u00a0joined in at a mini-break at Atwater Market.\u00a0The group then continued along Atwater and east on Sainte Catherine before reaching Metropolis at 11:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

As we walked in the sun, one after another of the teachers explained their concerns about large classes and diminishing special need services. The broad strokes of teacher rights and obligations\u00a0are outlined within a 73-page agreement<\/a> between the Lester B. Pearson school board and the Pearson Teacher\u2019s Union.\u00a0The details, however, are much more restrictive. According to the teachers, government bureaucrats and union number crunchers force them to report where they are and what they\u2019re doing every second of every day.<\/p>\n

None of the teachers who spoke were complaining, and all of the stories included heartwarming incidents serving students. To someone who hasn\u2019t been in a classroom in years, however, their stories emphasized an unbelievable rigidity in schools these days.<\/p>\n

From 8:29 in the morning until 3:29 in the afternoon, teachers and students follow a regimented routine. Classes last only 50 minutes in Beurling and 53 minutes in LaSalle Comprehensive and the curriculum is designed to take up every one of those minutes. Schedules rotate around six days, with five periods and lunch covering each day. Teachers have to fill in reports justifying lessons in each period.<\/p>\n

The timetable allows for no extra discussions with students, no marking time and no bathroom breaks.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no free time to speak with one another, no time to encourage one another, no time to use the washroom or take a walk. This rigidity affects every classroom.\u00a0For example, a physical education teacher described the difficulty ensuring that students use only three minutes to get changed so that they can move for more than half an hour.<\/p>\n

A science teacher described the challenges ensuring that every student gets a hands-on chance to conduct an experiment in a class of 38 students. Imagine a room in which nine groups of four or five students gather around hot plates, trying to determine how heat affects the amount of sugar dissolving in water.<\/p>\n

A drama teacher spoke about the challenges keeping students on task when so many of them\u00a0constantly check their latest social media messages.<\/p>\n

An art teacher described his frustration trying to answer all students\u2019 questions while still ensuring that everyone has a chance to draw or paint before having to pack away their materials.<\/p>\n

Other issues they\u2019re facing are challenging too. One teacher described relatively small classes of only 23 and 28 students. Each of them had 14 students with \u201cindividualized education plans\u201d or IEPs. IEPs enable teachers to understand special needs of a student, which can range from a hearing disorder that requires seating in a specific location to autism.<\/p>\n

My classes seem small when you don\u2019t look at the details of who I\u2019m working with,\u201d said the teacher. \u201cIt\u2019s those details that the government proposes taking away.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, November 16, striking teachers from LaSalle Community Comprehensive High School, Beurling Academy and PACC walked downtown to join the common front.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23,29,22],"tags":[368,741,459,796,795,793,794],"class_list":["post-16668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lasalleposts","category-quebec","category-verdunposts","tag-beurling-academy","tag-lasalle-2","tag-lasalle-community-comprehensive-high-school","tag-pacc","tag-pearson-adult-career-centre","tag-striking-teachers","tag-walking","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-4kQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17156,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/lasalle-borough-meeting-last-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":16668,"position":0},"title":"LaSalle borough meeting last night","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"May 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The LaSalle borough meeting took place last night. Citizen questions focused on a petition against a new dog park in L'Hereux Park, transport struggles for LaSalle residents due to the 5,000 unit development in Lachine East between 6th and the train tracks, perks such as parking, La Ronde and Oceaga\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LaSalle"","block_context":{"text":"LaSalle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/lasalleposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16061,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/congratulations-school-commissioners\/","url_meta":{"origin":16668,"position":1},"title":"Congratulations School Commissioners","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"November 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 Congratulations to Diane Lamarche-Venne and Suanne Stein Day, the new school board presidents. Congratulations also to the new Verdun and LaSalle school commissioners. Lester B. Pearson Reps Mary Ann Davis, Verdun and the Bronx and Frank di Bello, rest of LaSalle. Marguerite Bourgeoys Reps Sarita Benchimol in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Journalism"","block_context":{"text":"Journalism","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/writing\/notable-nonfiction\/journalism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20Marie-Ann-Davis.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3211,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/lasalle-and-verdun-budget-meetings-tonight\/","url_meta":{"origin":16668,"position":2},"title":"LaSalle and Verdun Budget Meetings Tonight","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"January 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The boroughs of LaSalle and Verdun will present their budgets and propose service taxes during extraordinary meetings of their councils set for tonight. Both boroughs must present their 2014 budgets and regulations imposing new taxes prior to adopting them. Presumably, both need them approved by Montreal\u2019s executive council before Montreal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LaSalle"","block_context":{"text":"LaSalle","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/lasalleposts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17219,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/lasalle-crawford-lachine\/","url_meta":{"origin":16668,"position":3},"title":"June 22 in LaSalle, Crawford Park School and Lachine 350th","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"June 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Two stories appeared in the city edition and one story appeared in the West Island edition of The Suburban today. LaSalle to hold public consultation June 22 The story on page A7\u00a0of The Suburban outlines four projects that will be presented to citizens by the borough of LaSalle at a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Island Report"","block_context":{"text":"Island Report","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/canada\/island-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NDG-annexe-2_Lloyd-George","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/NDG-annexe-2_Lloyd-George.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15979,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/english-commissioners-verdun-lasalle\/","url_meta":{"origin":16668,"position":4},"title":"English commissioners in Verdun and LaSalle","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"October 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Voters in Verdun and LaSalle have to choose between two and four school-board commissioner candidates, depending on where they live. People living in Lester B. Pearson\u2019s ward 1, which includes Nun\u2019s Island and mainland Verdun plus the Bronx in LaSalle, will choose from among Sergio Borja, Jim Bytheway, Mary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Journalism"","block_context":{"text":"Journalism","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/category\/writing\/notable-nonfiction\/journalism\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/38FRANK-di-BELLO.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15897,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/three-year-capital-expenditure\/","url_meta":{"origin":16668,"position":5},"title":"Budget Meetings in LaSalle and Verdun Tonight","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"LaSalle and Verdun will both pass important budget items during extraordinary meetings held prior to their regular meetings this evening. Public notice about both meetings occurred in mid-August. 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