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Friday, October 9, 2020 3 Brooklin Town Crier BHS Teacher Wins Prestigious PM Award Brooklin High School's James Cook, a Grades 10-12 history, social justice and human rights teacher, has been awarded a Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence Certificate of Achievement. The Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence have honoured exceptional elementary and secondary school teachers in all disciplines since 1994, with over 1,600 teachers honoured to date. Teaching Excellence Awards recipients are honoured for their remarkable achievements in education and for their commitment to preparing their students for a digital and innovation-based economy. In the equity and social justice course he created, students research topics that engage them, such as climate change, pay equity, mental health and electoral reform. In weekly community- building circles, students discuss nuanced social issues, complex curriculum concepts, short stories, and values, all helping them develop empathy, communication skills and collaboration techniques. One nominator wrote of him, "When my class leaves high school to embark on further prospects, we will remember every life lesson learned in Mr. Cook's class. We will also remember the way he made us feel -- valued, heard, and empowered." According to the Government of Canada site describing the award, James Cook inspires at-risk teenagers and keen students alike to not only learn about the world but also to advocate for change. He introduces them to leaders - everyone from United Nations employees to Canada's chief electoral officer-both as guest speakers and as resources they can interview for projects. Students and teachers comment that he has made them better people. In the classroom: Facilitates class community- building circles: at least once a week, students discuss nuanced social issues, complex curriculum concepts, short stories, and values, all helping them develop empathy, communication skills and collaboration techniques. Creates unusual exams: Grade 10 history exams ask students to trace the origin of a current issue (such as the Indigenous water crisis) and explain its significance using skills learned in class, rather than simply asking them to repeat memorized information. Gives students flexibility: provides time frames rather than hard deadlines for projects; students comment that this reduces their stress and makes them feel empowered. Connects with students on multiple levels: coaches soccer and baseball; runs the school newspaper; chairs the Literacy Committee; outside class hours, students often discuss career plans, problems with friends or other personal issues with him; one student wrote, "Our class has become like a family." Outstanding achievements Runs school's Model United Nations: school's team has won multiple awards; a shy student who had never participated in extracurricular activities became a more confident public speaker; another student says he is now more aware of world events and injustice. Builds capacity among fellow teachers: created board-wide workshops on professional resiliency and on helping students use social media; collaborated with the other teachers in his department to develop new ways to assess students on skills acquired rather than simply facts learned. Introduced completely online, open-book exams, the first head of a Canadian and world studies department in his school board to do so. The Prime Minister's Awards are offered at the national (Certificate of Excellence) and regional (Certificate of Achievement) levels and carry cash prizes of $5,000 and $1,000 respectively. Each recipient receives a letter of congratulations and a certificate signed by the Prime Minister. Letter to the editor: A Community without a Centre Due to the current pandemic, in March the Town of Whitby rightly closed the Brooklin Community Centre and Library. Now, seven months later, these remain shuttered with the Library open only for pickups. Other communities have re-opened their libraries and community centres with some restrictions. In the hot summer we missed out on the opportunity to have a cooling centre for residents who may not have air conditioning. Now that winter is approaching, my suggestion would be to temporarily repurpose the BCC by opening with a limit on the number of people entering the facility. This would provide a safe environment for residents' access to internet and for students to meet with tutors, etc. There would be a need for socially distanced seating in some of the rooms on the Centre's main floor which could easily be achieved by placing small tables and chairs in say the gym with tape on the floor to keep people distanced. The BCC already has the furniture so all that would be required is tape. BCC users would be required to wear masks at all times. Once the doors to the BCC are opened, the Library can also open, again with numbers being restricted according to available space. Of course, regular activities - Pickleball, computer courses, etc. - would not be provided until safe to do so. There would be a requirement for additional cleaning and surveillance to ensure safety rules are not being abused as well as asking health related questions upon accessing the building. Perhaps access to the building could be provided by the front doors and with the rear doors as emergency exits only. Finally, access to the BCC second floor would have to be closed off. It's time for the Brooklin community to have a Centre again. To be fair, I have emailed the Town of Whitby Mayor who looked upon my suggestion to open the BCC with a temporary re-purposing and forwarded my email to the Town of Whitby Chief Administrative Officer, but I have yet to receive a response Vince Pileggi