Partnership With Craig Kielburger Still Strong 10 Years On

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I started working at TEAM/Mentor as a phys. ed. teacher (it was several “blood moons” ago!) so while I got the chance to pass along my sporting knowledge, I didn’t really get the opportunity to use my History B.A. I have now spent over half of my life working at the school and as a result, I notice that I have become one of the unofficial school “historians”. My short-term memory is lacking (if you believe Mrs. Starkey) but I am blessed/cursed with being able to remember details from long ago.

As I was helping to chauffeur our more than 60 students and staff members (from three divisions of our school) to We Day yesterday morning, I remembered the very first encounter our school had with that organization. It was the 2005-2006 school year and Craig Kielburger was the presenter at our annual Speaker Series. Me to We and We Day did not exist at that point; Craig and his brother Marc were the co-founders of Free the Children and were just starting to make headlines.

Kielburger had a huge impact on the audience of teenagers and teachers and soon afterwards, the Take Action Group was formed. This team of high school students and staff held a very successful charity golf tournament the following spring and similar groups sprouted up in the TEAM and Intermediate divisions as well. In the past decade, the growth of the Kielburgers’ organization has mirrored that of the clubs that Craig’s speech here at our school spawned. Free the Children, Me to We and the hottest-ticket-in-town “We Day” have grown exponentially over the years.

Craig’s message at the Air Canada Centre today will no doubt be similar to the one he passed along to us 10 years ago: if he (as a 12-year-old boy) could affect change on the other side of the world in the sweatshop garment industry, what was stopping Mentor/TEAM students from doing the same? Our student groups have been inspired to do everything from a “guess the number of jelly beans” contest to support a local animal shelter to a major fundraiser for a school-building project in Sierra Leone to student trips in India, Ecuador and Kenya. And to bring things full circle, we have a former student who works full-time for Free the Children and there are at least four alumni volunteering their time at We Day today! It has been a wonderful 10-year partnership and we cannot wait to see what the next decade will bring.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Ms. Weinkauf, Mastery, and Mental Math

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Weinkauf C.I began working when I was 16 years old. In-between then and my first teaching job, I worked at a fast food restaurant, a clothes store, a movie theatre, a snack shop, and a home decorating shop. When I remember these jobs, I think of two commonalities. First, they all went out of business when I left their employ (just saying, Mr. Macdonald!). Second, I had to take a math test to demonstrate that I had the necessary skills to work on the cash. And I will tell you, I still take secret joy at calculating my change before the cash register does.

In my own education, a calculator wasn’t put into my hands until my upper year mathematics when I had to calculate cosine and derivatives. I was never very good at proofs, but I knew my facts. I couldn’t always explain why, but I could calculate it. It wasn’t until I began teaching that I started to understand why. Why fractions must have a common denominator when you add or subtract. Why the answer is larger than the dividend when you divide by a number that is less than one, and why it is smaller when you divide by a number greater than one.

We hear a lot today about new math vs. old math, and has the pendulum swung too far. To me, it is really a question about math literacy. In our Intermediate Division, knowing the multiplication table up to factors of twelve and being able to mentally subtract sixty seven from one hundred are as important as knowing how to read and write. We want our students to be able to explain the why of math, and explore truths, but without the basic facts under their belts, their knowledge will never be complete. How can we expect them to “explore” the value of fractions when they don’t recognize that the numerator and denominator of 6/21 have a common factor of three!

That is why we don’t allow our students the use of calculators until the upper years, and that is why we have school wide mental math drills. We strongly believe that we need to create opportunity to practice, and yes, drill math facts, so that when they have mastered the how, they can understand the why.

Kris Weinkauf
Vice-Principal
Intermediate Division

New Year, Get Involved!

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With the first day of the school year in our rear-view mirror and back-to-school routines slowly falling into place, it is time for all of us to start looking further ahead into the school year.

Next Tuesday, a notice will be sent home with all of the extra-curricular activities available to your child this year. I will warn you; it will seem like a very daunting list and no matter how much your child may protest, there is no way that he/she can do everything. I do want to encourage you, however, to ensure that your child is getting involved in something each term.

For new students, it might be tempting to say “let’s concentrate on academics and then join something later in the year” but we think it is important for our new students to get involved right away. When I look back at being the new kid at a school 4 times in my educational career, it was the almost-instant feeling of acceptance by getting involved in extra-curriculars that made the transition easier.

You know your child the best, though. If they are the type of student who needs a little “nudge” to get involved, please let the homeroom teacher know.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

See You In September!

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See you in September.
See you when the summer’s through!

That song was an oldie but a goodie. The lyrics are actually written from the perspective of a teenager saying good-bye to his girlfriend before they part ways in June for summer vacation but the advertising industry has focused on those two specific lines and it has been used many times over the years in back-to-school advertisements.

Speaking of oldies but goodies, my mom was a teacher until her retirement and for her, these days in August were the ones when she started to prepare herself (and her kids) for the upcoming school year. She began to put things aside for her classroom, her school day planner began to fill up and my sister and I would need to try on all of our fall clothes to see if a shopping trip to London was required.

Next week, our teachers will start to trickle into the schools and turn cold, empty walls and bare bulletin boards into a warm “home” for their students to start the school year. The MT Room has seen a number of Moms like mine in the past week…ones who have started checking if the gym clothes and blazer still fit and want to avoid the last-minute rush there or at InSchoolwear.

There is still a bit of summertime left, so in between your back-to-school shopping trips, get outside and enjoy the summer while the weather stays warm!

Bye-bye, so long, farewell
Bye-bye, so long, farewell

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

Almost Time For Good-Bye

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By the time you read this, most of our high school students will have completed their final examinations, our Grade 8s will be planning their pre-graduation rituals and our junior kindergarten to Grade 7 students will be preparing for their final assemblies.

The last day of school is a bittersweet time. Teachers say good-bye to their students knowing that their charges will be moving on to another grade next year when another teacher will become the “best teacher I ever had” come September. Our Grade 8 students celebrate with each other on their graduation night and then have a tearful good-bye at the end of their dance. Students and staff alike say good-bye to our Grade 12 students as they begin the next journey of their academic careers.

We hope to see many of you over the next 24 hours so please say “good-bye” to us if you have the opportunity. We will have one final weekly update next week so I will save my good-bye until then.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School