Peter Atkinson: May 2012

Sunday, 27 May 2012

A Busy 4-Day Week

Digital Day of Learning at St. Joseph H S

Through funding provided by our Student Success Department (Secondary), many teachers at St. Joseph High School participated in a day of digital learning in the school's Learning Commons. This collaborative, hands-on workshop allowed teachers to share their innovative classroom projects with each other. I particularly enjoyed learning about classroom applications of Edmodo from Maria Dupont and QR bar codes from Paula Joly.

Teachers Carrie Lindsay, Tara-Lynn White, & Paula Joy check out a QR Bar Code

Asian Heritage Celebration at St. Emily

I was pleased to attend a colourful Asian Heritage celebration at St. Emily School on Thursday, May 24. There were several impressive performances by children attending the school and by individuals from the community. A hi-light for the children was the Dragon Dance:

Leadership Journey Celebration

On Wednesday, May 23, I attended the annual Leadership Journey Celebration at the Centurion. This year's celebration included a guest speaker - Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie. He spoke, of course, on the topic of leadership, and explained that effective leadership looks the same regardless of whether it's employed in schools or in the field of battle. Over 300 people attended the Leadership Journey celebration, and those that attended all sessions of a specific Leadership Journey program received a well-deserved certificate at the celebration.

Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie addresses a packed room of OCSB leaders

Book Review: We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin is a disturbing novel about a nasty teenager named Kevin Khatchadourian who is responsible for a Columbine-style school massacre. Told as a flashback, using the epistolary structure (a series of letters written by Kevin's mother, Eva, to her apparently estranged husband), the story focuses on the dysfunctional relationship bewteen Eva and Kevin. As Eva looks back on her relationship with her son, she acknowledges her ambivalence towards motherhood from a time even before Kevin was born and accepts that the lack of a mother-child bond was a factor in her son's deviant behaviour. Despite knowing from the beginning of the novel that Kevin commits a school slaughtering, the reader encounters quite a surprise at the end.

As I read We Need to Talk About Kevin, I thought about attachment theory and the work of Dr. Gordon Neufeld. Clearly, Kevin Khatchadourian's pathological behaviour is connected to a lack of maternal attachment, though the reasons for Kevin's school massacre are, ultimately, incomprehensible - as are the reasons for all such horrific crimes.

Hockey For Hearts

Over the weekend, I participated in the annual Hockey For Hearts tournament at the Bell Sensplex. The tournament was well organized and loads of fun, although at my age, playing 3 games in less than 24 hours was quite exhausting. Thank you to all my friends, colleagues, and family members who sponsored me for Hockey For Hearts. Tournament organizers are still counting all the coins, but something in the neighbourhood of $45,000 was raised for the Heart & Stroke Foundation.

Last year's Hockey For Hearts Team Picture (NHL All-star
Marcel Dionne joined us for our final game)

Week of May 14-19 Student Voice is Alive!

Elementary Peace Festival

On May 17 and 18, I attended the Peace Festival at St. Paul High School. Students from elementary schools across the Ottawa Catholic School Board came together to celebrate their efforts to make their schools safe, inclusive, and caring environments. There were many impressive student presentations, including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton students speaking about their SIMPLE initiative - Students in Motion Putting Love Everywhere, and St. Anne students candy cane reindeer fundraising project in support of Roger's House. St. Andrew's student Olivia Clement also spoke about her campaign to protect polar bears, an endangered species.

Excited Students await start of Peace Festival

The keynote speaker at the Peace Festival was Fr. Bob Holmes of Christian Peacemakers. He challenged the students to use "Jesus' 3rd Way" when they are confronted by violent behaviour. Thanks to Mr. Paul McGuire, Principal of St. Gregory, you can view many pictures from the Peace Festival:

http://animoto.com/play/dGBW1Qvs1UgQkmplBalMHg

Congratulations are extended to all students and staff who helped out with the organization of the Festival - and particularly, Ms. Luce Paradis, Principal of Assumption Catholic School, and Mr. Bill Barrett, Principal of St. Paul H S.

Peer Assistance Camp

On Friday, May 18, I also attended the annual Peer Assistance Camp. Peer leaders from all of our high schools spend two days at the Y Outdoor Camp in Dunrobin to receive training in peer assistance, to celebrate student voice, and to have loads of fun. At the camp, I had lunch with students from St. Francis Xavier and was impressed with their commitment to student leadership and involvement in this growing school community. Congratulations to the event organizer Ms. Joanne Gosselin, Coordinator of Student Success - Secondary.

Student leaders in Peer Assistance Getting into Motion

St Nicholas Adust High School - a Special Place

Last Thursday, CTV Ottawa's Amazing People featured a story on a recent graduate from St. Nicholas High School, John Leclair. This story is indicative of the amazing work of the staff of this school in helping people turn their lives around. The St. Nicholas Graduation Ceremony will take place at Nepean Centrepointe Theatre on June 21.

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/AmazingPeople/

Book Review Beyond The Gods & Back

Author Reginald W. Bibby subtitles this book Religion's Demise and Rise and Why it Matters. In fact, Bibby argues less about the demise of religion in Canada and more about the increasing religious polarization of society as people either "take a pass" on organized religion or firm up their church membership. He acknowledges that since the 1960s, in Canada and most of the world, the proportion of people ambivalent to religion has grown. In Canada, 40% of the population "are sitting in the middle of the God continuum, undecided on belief versus non-belief."

However, rather than be troubled by the growing religious polarization and distressed over the drop in church attendance, Bibby is convinced that there continues to be "a market for religion". He demonstrates that while research supports the conclusion that membership in organized religions has been on the decline, belief and spirituality continue to be very strong. Furthermore, he notes that with all their incredible break- throughs, science and tecnology have failed to provide plausible and consoling answers to the big "ultimate questions pertaining to the meaning of life and death". He notes that we still need the gods to answer these questions.

With respect to Christianity and specifically the Roman Catholic Church, Bibbly maintains that the time is ripe for a comeback. For one thing, Christianity is the world's fastest growing faith and Catholicism is spreading throughout the world. He also maintains that a large percentage of people currently ambivalent towards religion are now willing to give religion a second look and can be expected to start with the traditions with which they have some kind of affinity." Hence, the Roman Catholic Church has "a unique opportunity and huge maket advantage".

Sunday, 13 May 2012

Catholic Education Week in Review

Last week, I visited all 12 schools in my Family of Schools and enjoyed the Catholic Education Week Open Houses, liturgies, assemblies, and special events put on by the school staffs.

My Education Week travels began on Tuesday, May 8 at St. Patrick's Elementary, where I participated in an assembly at which the Unity Cross was introduced to the students and staff. The Unity Cross has made a two-year journey from school to school in the Ottawa Catholic School Board. Later that morning, I visited the Open House at Monsignor Paul Baxter, which was attended by both Trustee Alison Baizana and City Councilor Jan Harder. Tuesday afternoon, it was a bullying awareness assembly at St. Jerome featuring guest speaker Nathan Perrott, a former professional hockey player with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

L to R: Monsignor Paul Baxter Principal Richard
Chaplinsky, City of Ottawa Councilor Jan Harder,
Trustee Alison Baizana, & V-P Sean McGuire

Unity Cross arrives at St. Patrick's Elementary

Wednesday, May 9 saw me visit another four schools. I attended morning Open Houses at both

St. Emily and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. There were many fine student performances at both open houses and large crowds. A donation of $4,200 was made to the Canadian Hunger Foundation by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

L to R: St. Jerome Principal Steve McGarrity,
ex-Toronto Maple Leaf Nathan Perrott,
& Superintendent Peter Atkinson

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Principal Jim Rogers
presents cheque for $4,200 to representatives
of the Canadaian Hunger Foundation

The annual Education Week barbeque was held at both campuses of St. Nicholas Adult High School on Wednesday. I was pleased to attend the BBQ at the Graham Street Campus. My final visit on Wednesday was to the Open House at Mother Teresa High School, where a Ken Spence Award from the Canadian Education Association was presented to Mother Teresa teacher Patrick Coxall along with Cathy Vachon from St. Luke (Nepean) for their student apps project.

L to R: Ottawa Catholic School Board Chair Mark D. Mullan,
St. Nicholas V-P Bev MacKillop, & Teacher Richard Bercuson
at St. Nicholas Graham Campus Barbeque

Ken Spence Award Presentation
L to R: Superintendent Atkinson, Mother Teresa teacher Pat Coxall,
St. Luke teacher Cathy Vachon, Trustee Alison Vachon, and
Ken Spence Award representative

Thursday, May 10 was my busiest day of Catholic Education Week, during which I made visits to five schools. My day started at St. Luke (Nepean) and a great assembly in support of our troops. Next up, was a Recognition assemby at St. Bernard at which several students received awards for respectful behaviour, and a cheque was presented to the OK Clean Water Project.

St. Luke (Nepean) students with L. Colonel James Price

St. Bernard presents cheque for OK Clean Water Project

Later in the day, I attended the Open House at St. Joseph High School, where I was impressed by student talent on display at a coffee house and a video essay and Shakespearean soliloquy presentation in the library. Then it was off to a well-attended Open House at St. Andrew and an incredible celebration of the arts at St. Francis Xavier High School.

St. Andrew student Olivia Clement sells
products at Open House for protection of
endangered species

Sunday, 6 May 2012

School Visits & Celebrations, April 29 - May 6

On Saturday, April 28, I attended a wonderful talent show entitled Many Dreams, One Voice, which was put on by students in our International Languages program. In the finale, over 300 students stood on stage together and sang "We Are The World". Look for this talent show to be aired on Rogers TV in the near future.

Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting St. Francis Xavier High School for an update on student success initiatives. The school's Back on Track program for credit rescue and student voice initiatives are going well. I also participated in a district review at St. Jerome Elementary school, where aboriginal awareness initiatives, eco-schools projects, and restorative practices are most impressive.

St. Jerome District Review Team confers following Learning Walks

On Sunday, May 6, I served as Master-of-Ceremony for the Ottawa Catholic School Board's 17th annual Choral Celebration - the official kick-off to Catholic Education Week. The Choral Celebration took place at St. Joseph Parish. In all, 8 elementary schools participated: Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Corpus Christi, Dr. F. J. McDonald, Holy Family, Our Lady of Peace, St. Clare, St. Elizabeth, and St. George.