National awards for two teachers from Glendale Sciences and Technology School

Red Deer Public Schools

Published

2 years ago

7 minute read

Two teachers at Glendale Sciences and Technology School have been recognized at a national level for their excellence in teaching.

Ashton Lutz, Learning Facilitator, is one of 10 teachers across Canada to be awarded the 2022 Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, while Amy Mathison, Grade 7/8 Math Teacher, is one of 25 teachers across Canada to be awarded the 2022 Certificate of Achievement for Teaching Excellence.

Both teachers were nominated by the school’s Principal Sandre Bevan, and Vice Principal Jeff Plackner.

“I feel very honoured and very grateful that I was nominated and selected for this award and that there is a belief in me by the people around me,” said Ashton, after learning she was a recipient. “I have a lot of gratitude and appreciation.”

In her new role as a Learning Facilitator, Ashton makes the connection between the Grade 2 curriculum and the daily lives of her students in order to fully engage each and every one of them. “What I really love about my role is that I get to connect with so many people and make a difference in so many lives,” she said. “When you come to school and a student has a great day, then you have a great day. I get to be a person in a child’s life that gets to make a true difference for them. It’s really rewarding.”

Amy added she also feels honoured to be recognized.

Amy Mathison (middle)

“I was not expecting this to happen. I was honoured to be nominated out of the many teachers in our Division, and then to receive the recognition feels amazing,” she said. “My parents are both teachers, so they were really proud.”

Both Ashton and Amy added they enjoy teaching at a school with a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

“The role of science and technology is really important to engage learners and it’s really important that kids have that hands-on experience,” said Ashton. “With technology, I am able to pace instruction based on each student’s needs. For example, if a student is having trouble with a concept, they can get remediation at the same time that other students can move onto higher concepts.”

“The biggest thing about STEM learning is how engaged students are,” added Amy. “They are getting deeper learning with STEM. They get to do 3D printing and laser cutting – which are some pretty unique learning opportunities, and we have so much fun with it.”

Ashton’s interest in becoming a teacher stemmed from her time teaching swimming lessons. “I was taking college courses that didn’t allow me to teach swimming anymore and I really missed it,” she said. “I graduated with my combined Bachelor of Education and History degree from the University of Lethbridge in 2015 and moved to Red Deer, and I have been teaching elementary school ever since.”

For Amy, growing up in a household where both parents were teachers was inspiring. “At the dinner table they would always talk about teaching, and I started coaching sports when I was 16 and I loved it,” she said. “I went to school at the University of Lethbridge where I made the swim team and I was working on my degree in Kinesiology. A couple of years in, I applied to the Education program and got accepted. I completed a combined degree in Kinesiology and Education, and moved to Red Deer afterwards.”

Amy, who is in her ninth year of teaching, said she loves teaching in middle school. “I love the age of middle school kids – they are fun to teach, independent, and I appreciate their sense of humour,” she said. “I also love teaching at Glendale. We have some really great, supportive, and knowledgeable staff members. I enjoy the subjects and courses that I teach, as well as coaching volleyball here.”

Meanwhile, Ashton will fly to Ottawa next week to present with the other Teaching in Excellence Award recipients from across the country. “The presentation I have chosen is called Meeting Kids Where They Are At,” she said. “I have a true belief that everyone gets a seat at the table and it’s important that we meet their needs so they can be successful at school. So I’m going to be talking about what I feel my best practices are regarding that.”

Sandre added Glendale Sciences and Technology School is incredibly fortunate to have two phenomenal teachers.

“Our students, their parents, and our staff all benefit greatly from their respective efforts,” she said. “Ashton works hard to set students up for success in all aspects of their schooling. She has incredible insight about her students and works tirelessly to meet each of their individual needs. And Amy’s students truly believe that they can be successful in math, which is no easy task when a lot of people think that you are either good with numbers or you aren’t. We are so incredibly proud of them both.”

“The Board congratulates both Ashton and Amy on their national recognition,” said Board Chair Nicole Buchanan. “It is an honour for Red Deer Public to have dedicated and passionate teachers who go above and beyond every day for our students, ensuring there is excellence in teaching and learning in our classrooms.”

Ashton Lutz: Leadership in new learning

Certificate of Excellence Recipient

Glendale Sciences and Technology School
Grade 2, Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, Art, P.E.

Amy Mathison: Leaving no child behind

Certificate of Achievement Recipient

Glendale Sciences and Technology School
Grade 7, Mathematics, Physical Education and Foods

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TMU Medical School Sacrifices Academic Merit to Pursue Intolerance

Published on November 12, 2024

Todayville

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Susan Martinuk

Race- (and other-) based admissions will inevitably pave the way to race- (and other-) based medical practices, which will only further the divisions that exist in society. You can’t fight discrimination with more discrimination.

Perhaps it should be expected that a so-obviously ‘woke’ institution as the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) would toss aside such antiquated concepts as academic merit as it prepares to open its new medical school in the fall of 2025.

After all, until recently, TMU was more widely known as Ryerson University. But it underwent a rapid period of self-flagellation, statue-tipping and, ultimately, a name change when its namesake, Edgerton Ryerson, was linked (however indirectly) to Canada’s residential school system.

Now that it has sufficiently cleansed itself of any association with past intolerance, it is going forward with a more modern form of intolerance and institutional bias by mandating a huge 80% diversity quota for its inaugural cohort of medical students.

TMU plans to fill 75 of its 94 available seats via three pathways for “equity-deserving groups” in an effort to counter systemic bias and eliminate barriers to success for certain groups. Consequently, there are distinct admission pathways for “Indigenous, Black and Equity-Deserving” groups.

What exactly is an equity-deserving group? It’s almost any identity group you can imagine – that is, except those who identify as white, straight, cisgender, straight-A, middle- and/or upper-class males.

To further facilitate this grand plan, TMU has eliminated the need to write the traditional MCAT exam (often used to assess aptitude, but apparently TMU views it as a barrier to accessing medical education). Further, it has set the minimum grade point average at a rather average 3.3 and, “in order to attract a diverse range of applicants,” it is accepting students with a four-year undergrad degree from any field.

It’s difficult to imagine how such a heterogenous group can begin learning medicine at the same level. Someone with an advanced degree in physiology or anatomy will be light years ahead of a classmate who gained a degree by dissecting Dostoyevsky.

Finally, it should be noted that in “exceptional circumstances” any of these requirements can be reconsidered for, you guessed it, black, indigenous or other equity-deserving groups.

As for the curriculum itself, it promises to be “rooted in community-driven care and cultural respect and safety, with ECA, decolonization and reconciliation woven throughout” which will “help students become a new kind of physician.”

Whether or not this “new kind of physician” will be perceived as fully credible, however, is yet to be seen. Because of its ‘woke’ application process, all TMU medical graduates will be judged differently no matter how skilled they may be and even when physicians are in short supply. Life and death decisions are literally in their hands, and in such cases, one would think that medical expertise is far more important than sharing the same pronouns.

Frankly, if students need a falsely inclusive environment where all minds think alike to feel safe and a part of society, then maybe they aren’t cut out to become doctors who will treat all people equally. After all, race- (and other-) based admissions will inevitably pave the way to race- (and other-) based medical practices, which will only further the divisions that exist in society. You can’t fight discrimination with more discrimination.

It’s ridiculous to use medical school enrollments as a means of resolving issues of social injustice. However, from a broader perspective, this social experiment echoes what is already happening in universities across Canada. The academic merit of individuals is increasingly being pushed aside to fulfill quotas based on gender or even race.

One year ago, the University of Victoria made headlines when it posted a position for an assistant professor in the music department. The catch is that the selection process was limited to black people. Education professor Dr. Patrick Keeney points out that diversity, equity and inclusion policies are reshaping core operations at universities. Grants and prestigious research chair positions are increasingly available only to visible minorities or other identity groups.

Non-academic considerations are given priority, and funding is contingent on meeting minority quotas.

Consequently, Keeney states that the quality of education is falling and universities that were once committed to academic excellence are now perceived as institutions to pursue social justice.

Diversity is a legitimate goal, but it cannot – and should not — be achieved by subjugating academic merit to social experimentation.

Susan Martinuk is a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and author of Patients at Risk: Exposing Canada’s Health-care Crisis.

Education

Too many bad ideas imposed on classroom teachers

Published on November 12, 2024

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Michael Zwaagstra

The Waterloo Region District School Board recently announced it would remove garbage bins from classrooms, before suddenly reversing itself.

Strange as it sounds, the school board planned to replace classroom waste bins with larger bins in common areas outside of classrooms, ostensibly to reduce the amount of waste produced by schools. Apparently, the facilities superintendent and senior facilities manager (the people behind this idea) think garbage magically appears when garbage bins are in classrooms and disappears once you get rid of these bins.

Of course, reality is quite different. Students still must dispose of dirty Kleenex tissues, empty pens and used candy wrappers. The aborted plan gave students a ready-made excuse for extra hallway trips. To prevent this from happening, teachers would have to provide makeshift garbage bins of their own.

This is a prime example of administrators trying to impose impractical directives on teachers for the sake of virtue signalling. No doubt Waterloo school board officials wanted to be recognized as environmental leaders. Getting rid of garbage bins in classrooms is an easy and effortless way to look like you’re doing something good for the environment.

Indeed, teachers typically bear the brunt of bad ideas imposed on them from above. As another example, British Columbia K-9 teachers must now issue report cards with confusing descriptors such as “emerging” and “extending” rather than more easily understood letter grades such as A, B and C. A recent survey revealed that most parents find the new B.C. report cards hard to understand. While most had no trouble interpreting letter grades such as A, less than one-third could correctly identify what “emerging” and “extending” mean about a student’s progress.

While the B.C. Ministry of Education claims these new report cards are built on the expertise of classroom teachers, its own surveys found that 77 per cent of teachers were unhappy with the grading overhaul. Of course, their feedback was ignored by education bureaucrats, which means teachers must implement something most disagree with, and then bear the brunt of parental frustration.

And one can never forget the nonsensical “no-zero” policies imposed on teachers in every province, which prohibit teachers from giving a mark of zero when students fail to hand in assignments or docking marks for late assignments. The reasoning behind no-zero policies is that zeroes have too negative an impact on student grades.

Fortunately, no-zero policies have become less popular in Canadian schools, particularly after Edmonton physics teacher Lynden Dorval was fired for refusing to comply with his principal’s no-zeroes edict. Not only did the public overwhelmingly support Dorval at the time, but the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld an arbitrator’s ruling that Dorval’s firing was unjust. In the end, taxpayers were on the hook for paying Dorval two years of salary, along with topping up his pension. But this doesn’t mean no-zero policies have disappeared entirely. Plenty of assessment gurus hired by school boards still push them on gullible administrators and unsuspecting teachers.

Finally, there are the never-ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training sessions—possibly the worst fads ever imposed on Canadian teachers. In an obvious desire to justify their jobs, DEI consultants provide many hours of professional development to hapless teachers who have no choice but to attend.

When teachers push back, as Toronto principal Richard Bilkszto did during a DEI session a couple years ago, they’re subjected to harassment and derision. In this case, the social impact on Bilkszto was so negative he eventually and tragically took his own life.

The Bilkszto case had a chilling effect—teachers should go along with whatever they’re told to do by their employer, even when a directive doesn’t make sense. This is not healthy for any profession, and it certainly doesn’t benefit students.

Classroom teachers have far too many bad ideas imposed on them. Instead of making teachers implement useless fads, we should just let them teach. That is, after all, why they became teachers in the first place.