The Vision:
In 15 or 20 years, Canada can have the most culturally diverse, best educated, economically advanced and politically sound society in the world. We will have personal ties to every country in the world. This diversity that has bothered many Canadians for so long, and has been such a political weight on us, will become our greatest natural resource - unique in the world. (Read more)
The key to building that society lies in the troubled schools. Even in the schools of very highest achievement, educational structures skew learning environments in ways that stifle real creativity and collaboration - real engagement in students' own work. At root in many of the troubled districts is students' disengagement with education and absent self-respect, the consequence of which is the biggest challenge to local and national success.
The core issue is in student self-respect in school. Students want good, safe schools. They also want to help to build them rather than just attend them. The L2L program gives them the opportunity. Students build self-respect in school by doing well academically or in programs that lead to some important outcome. Most students face demoralizing educational situations from time to time. That is healthy if the supports are there to carry on. For some 30% of the students, there are not sufficient supports, so they drop out, and a small but still too large number, turn to gangs and crime to build their self-respect. Social and educational reforms will not eliminate this problem, but addressing systemic reforms can make huge dents in the disengagement rates on the one side, and energise the program for those who need a more purposeful program for the future on the other.
Successive governments have tried diligently to address this problem, yet the learning results decline even as the need for more complex and diverse thinkers grows. Large sums have been invested in a system that for understandable reasons is no longer able to deliver what society now requires. The reality, it appears, is that a system that brought us to our present favoured position in the world cannot take us the next step into that world of increased complexity and diversity. What needs to change is the learning model, and while L2L cannot provide that, it can provide a model that will help at the most basic level for students at risk, underachieving or new to the English language, to have plentiful, informed, cost-effective and low-burden help unavailable in any other way.
<top>
The Goal:
There are multiple issues related to student self-respect, but L2L concentrates on one key goal: enabling students at risk, underachieving or new to the English language to 'Hit a Higher Mark'. Most importantly, L2L takes the position that students will better engage in their learning if they start from their interests and own learning profiles and strengths. 'Tutoring' is much different from 'teaching'. Tutoring is one-on-one so personal attributes can be primary in t he learning process. 'Teaching' implies instruction to large groups of students who may or may not have common strengths and interests. So that cannot be the focus of 'teaching'. But it can be in tutoring, especially with a 'personal educational trainer' – the L2L tutor. Here is how L2L does that.
<top>
The Training
L2L trains and certifies volunteer student tutors in middle and secondary schools. The pairing and supervision of the tutors and students is the responsibility of the schools.
The Tutor: Thought of as an L2L Personal Academic Trainer
The L2L tutor takes on a 20 hour co-curricular 'course' for each level of certification. The basic certificates are interim and full certificates at the Junior and senior levels. Students and teachers can also gain certification as trainers and trainers of trainers. The goal is for the schools to take on their own training in collaboration with L2L.
Middle and High School Tutors (Grades 7 through 12)
The L2L Course - basic: 20 hours for certification
- 2 one-hour introductory sessions explaining the purpose and benefits of the program plus two key topics:
- Roles and responsibilities of all students in the program
- First coverage of L2L?s Personal Learning Profile
- Then the tutoring begins. There are 3 5-session tutoring blocks in each course. After each 5 tutoring sessions the tutors complete L2L online feedback journals reflecting on the process and on their student's progress. The results of this feedback will be summarized and fed back to the schools and L2L for validity and quality assurance. This process is monitored and refined by an outside professional education program evaluator.
- Tutors must have high standing in the subjects they tutor in. L2L training is one of learning environment and conditions. A key incentive for extra help has been proven to be cookies!
- Each tutoring session has a specific learning goal, and tutors track the progress of the students in class assignments and tests. The object is to 'Hit a Higher Mark!' This is tracked in the journals.
- After each 5 tutoring session block, the tutors meet to reflect and compare results of their experience.
- If all is complete and satisfactory, the tutors receive their certificates, community service hours where relevant and thanks from their schools. Not surprisingly, tutors' marks often go up, too.
- Subsequent levels of courses include the same basic routine but incorporate L2L's Personal Productivity Program : the skills of learning.
<top>
Secondary School Curricular Course
L2L has also collaborated very successfully in the Ontario secondary course GPP30: 'Leadership and Peer Support'.
L2L's Personal Learning Profile Kit, Leadership Definition and Evaluation Tool, Personal Productivity Program and Web site resources form the basis of four very strong units that emphasize student tutoring, participation and engagement. With one semester of collaboration completed, L2L will pilot a test course with the TDSB with the prospect of building a model course for full Board use.
|
