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Terrace Review —— Wednesday, October 9, 1991 21

~ Professional day turns teachers into students

' by Nancy Orr

No one had to stay after school.
There were no marks or grades, no
compulsory attendance, and stu-
dents picked and chose the classes
to attend. There were even prizes
to entice attendance.

This was the day teachers
became students in School District
#88 — the Non-Instructional Day,
or the NID day as it has become
familiarly known, held at Caledo-
nia Senior Secondary School on
Sept. 27.

Teachers gathered from through-
out the district: Stewart, Hazelton,
Kitwanga and Terrace, together
with Nisga’a staff and some
teachers from other neighbouring
districts. .

Global Education was the theme
for this year’s conference.

The main speaker, Dr. Maurice
Gibbons of Simon Fraser Univer-
sity, opened the day with his intro-
ductory lecture at the R.E.M. Lee
Theatre. From there the groups
dispersed into every classroom,
lecture theatre, library and avail-
able space at Caledonia to partici-
pate in subjects according to their
interests and the grades which they
taught.

There were classes in creating art
murals, in mask making, music,
photography and dance, but the
main theme of more than a third of
the seminars was the subject of
"Global Education". Other work-
shop topics included non-tradi-
tional classes in present day
themes of conflict resolution, em-
powering, review of material from
the World Wildlife Federation,
methods of getting funding, life-
styles and a host of social con-
cerns,

The Terrace District Teachers’
Union (formerly the Terrace Dis-
trict Teachers’ Association)
arranged for the event, under aus-
pices of the B.C, Teachers Feder-
ation. Charlene Walker, a librarian
at Caledonia and one of the con-
ference organizers, explained that
this was the second year of the
Global Education Project. Funding
came from the B.C, Global Educa-
tion Project, the BCTF, the con-
tractual arrangements with School
District 88 (Terrace), the Nisga’a
schoo! district and local teachers.

"Global Education is cross-disci-
plined,” said Walker, "The four
main themes are Environment,
Human Rights, Developing Coun-
tries and Conflict Resolution incor-
porated inte all subject areas."

According to one of the papers,
"Essentials for a Global Education"
by Willard M. Kniep, “Global
Education has a relatively short
history. Born in the sixties, it is
based on the beliefs that schools
have not been doing enough to
prepare young people for life in
the future."

Interdependence, economics,
political activity, ecological and
technology systems, human values
and cultures, global problems and
issues, human exploitation and
management, universal rights and
denial and abuse and... “finally,
national security is nearly a global
obsession" says Kniep "How can
individual citizens influence the
security policies of their nation?

"In the final analysis, school [f
programs will be truly global when [
the distinctive content of a global §

education is reflected across the
entire curriculum."

What happened to the “three
R’s"? "The early grades take care
of that for us," said Walker.

The serious undertone of the §
- subjects had lighthearted moments

as teachers were put into situations

that students commonly encounter §
— in one classroom, self-con- £

scious members tried dance rou-
tines’ to enhance their learning,
techniques. Down the halls blind-

folded people with canes learned i
different pergpectives in a support- |
ive role. In another room, a group ;

argued vehemently as to what
should be included in their collage.
Lunch breaks and coffee breaks

encouraged more discussion and =

exchange of ideas, and a banquet
wound up the day with a chance
for conference participants to
renew acquaintances from through-
out the Northwest.

Educators became the educated at Caledonia school on the first non-instructional day of tie

year, The school library was one of numerous venues for workshops and other exercises in-

learning.

Education not keeping pace with
world-wide changes, consultant warns
Less content, more process oP eee

by Betty Barton

The Terrace District Teachers
Association held their first pro-
fessional development day of the
school year Sept. 27, focusing on
ihe theme of Global Education.

The activity was initiated, devel-
oped and carried out be teachers
working within the TDTU. It was
conceived as a kick-off for a year-
long teacher commitment to
themes of global education, rather
than as a single-day isolated event,
says the association’s community
relations officer, Ray Walker.
Walker, his wife Charlene, Doug
Webb, Lisa MacBean and Mary
Delecuw were the main local or-
ganizers of the conference with
guidance from Pat Clarke, the
coordinator of B.C. Global Educa-
tion project, sponsored by the
Canadian International Develop-
ment Agency and the B.C.
Teachers’ Federation.

The keynote speaker of the Glo-
bal Education conference was Dr.
Maurice Gibbons, an independent
educator, consultant, writer and
sculptor who was, until recently, a
professor in education at Simon
Fraser University.

As an introduction to a day of
global education workshops, Dr.
Gibbons spoke, at the R.E.M. Lee
Theatre, about changes in the last
five decades and related it to
necessary educational changes in
education which have culminated
in the Year 2000 program. He
began, "There have been more
changes in the last five decades
than in any other century.” With
thal, he described the 1940's as the
first time in history that people had
the technology 1o destroy the
world; the °50s as the first time
with space technology that we

could sec the carth as a whole; the

‘60s as the first time, through
communication technology, that

people routinely became a part of

what was happening in the world
as a whole; the '70s as the begin-
ning of the computer age; the *80s
as the age of globalization; and the
"00s, as yet unknown but possibly
the decade of robotization and
human space travel.

"Human change has been incred-
ible," summarized Dr. Gibbons.
"Educational change has not. The
Year 2000 will be the most dra-
matic and important change in
education.” Dr. Gibbons stated
that, in his opinion, the Year 2000
will have much less passivity in
learning, and be more individual-
ized and self-directed. He says the
learning will be less of content and
more of the processes by which
students can adapt to and master
their own futures. There will be a
change from presentation to shared
learning and increased attention to
the idea of global learning.

Dr. Gibbons stated with convic-
tion, "Change is hard. It’s always
been difficult to come into the new
world. We, as teachers, have the
role of leaders in this process."

Dr, Gibbons advocates teaching
people to act, in order to make a
difference, to urge them to become
informed on an issue and then take
action. The Universal Curriculum,
ihe Year 2000, provides the oppor-
iunity to take informed action, the
ability to feel what other people
fecl and the ability to be self-
aware.

Dr. Gibbons concluded, "Do
whal you can and make a differ-
ence." Ravi Gill of the Nisga’a
School District thanked Dr. Gib-
bons for his presentation, saying,
"We have a firm commitment to
help children make a better 21st
century, Thank you, Dr. Gibbons
fot your energy and enthusiasm."

Dr. Maurice Gibbons: Human change has been incredible,
Education change has not.

WCB PROBLEMS?

¢ Having problems with your WCB claim?

* You can get free, confidential advice, when a
Workers’ Adviser visits Terrace on October 24.

¢ To make an appointment for a personal interview,
call the Government Agent’s Office at 638-3200.

* The interviews will be held at the B.C. Access
Centre, 101 - 3220 Eby Street, Terrace.

For advice without an interview, contact Workers’
Adviser office in Richmond toll free 1-800-663-4261.

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