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PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, June 1, 1999 - 25 "A Family Tradition for 132 Years" Honoured for excellence Port Perry woman receives national recognition for school program By Sally Cooke ort Perry Star A Port Perry woman and her colleagues have received national recognition for an innovative pro- gram they introduced to a Durham high school. Carolyn Humphrey shared a Prime Minister's Award for Teacher's Excellence with Jo- Anne LaForty and Lucy Sharp. The award honours their STEM program, an acronym for Science, Technology, Esteem Matters. Running for four years, the program for Grade 10 students at O'Neill Collegiate in Oshawa tar- gets high school girls at risk of dropping science and computer programs. It's an effort to reverse a trend which in the past has seen a much higher percentage of male students in these programs in the more senior grades. Ironically, the program will be discontinued next fall, despite the federal governments' feting of its achievements. Mrs. Sharp is the Head of the Science Department at O'Neill. She noticed girls weren't answer- ing questions in class, while the boys became much more vocal, and willing to take risks. As boys' confidence increases throughout high school, the girls' self-esteem becomes more affected by peer pressure, she said. "It's not all of them," said Mrs. Sharp. "Some tend to do very well. But others feel they're not good enough to specialize or take OAC credits in the sciences." As head of the library at the school, Mrs. Humphrey teaches the other component of the STEM [_ SCUGOG FINANCIAL | 8) 34% (0 ON WOR program. "Information and electronic lit- eracy can be taken as a business or English credit," said Mrs. Humphrey. The two-credit course looks at information such as how the brain absorbs information, and combines ethical and evaluation strategies. Components of the course include researching relat- ed issues through linked comput- ers and the Internet, within the library course. The science side has career options built into the program. "We are partnered with GM, Lakeridge Health Centre Oshawa, and the Ontario Science Centre," said Mrs. LaForty, the third member of the team. She's on sabbatical this year. The STEM program began as a pilot project, connected with an Ontario Institute for Studies in Education study. During that first year, O.1.S.E. funded the program by paying - salaries for replacement teachers when they were on a three-day training program at the Institute, or on an associated field-trip. "Initially, participants were chosen by random selection," said Mrs. Sharp. "After the first year, girls were signed-up. Last year, girls wanted to take it." The three educators saw the students change during the course of the program. "They came to feel special, and glad they participated," said Mrs. Sharp. In the first year, they ran math and English classes as part of STEM. "It was a problem time-tabling three classes," said Mrs. LaForty. "Now we bring in awareness to some of the strategies within the regular classes," said Mrs. Humphrey. All three educators agree the program is being discontinued due to lack of support, and more demands on teachers. + Teachers are bound by an arbi- trated agreement with the Durham District School Board which requires full-time teachers to spend in class, allowing for less preparation time and extracurric- ular activities For instance, a part-time teacher involved in the program went from three to four periods a day, and no longer had time to do workshops on self- esteem that were an important part of STEM. Mrs. LaForty said the program had become so much extra work for the teachers they couldn't do it without taking too much time away from their own families. "In the past, we sent letters home to the parents, 'explaining what we were doing. The whole program was a lot of extra work," she said. And other elements of the pro- gram meant more work for col- leagues not directly involved in STEM. "Every time we go on a field trip, other colleagues have to cover. And we had no pool to call from," said Mrs. Humphrey. The Prime Minister's Award was announced a few weeks ago. The teachers from O'Neill were among a number of educators in the GTA to be honoured for their innovative efforts. ® Annual Rates ® "HERBALLY YOURS BRAND" Herbally Yours Health Foods er Natural Products 4 ZINC CITRATE Reg. $8.99 50 mg. SALE | GIC RRSP SR OMNIPLEX 1 YEAR ..coemraenenes 4.80%.......4.80% PRODUCTS righ Potency $099 o o M 2 YEAR ..occcoononinen 5 20% -- 3.20% A Co 517.90 SALE 3YEAR.....ccceue. 5.35%....... 5.35% Canadian Made Quality at Competitive Prices. Expires June 30/99. o 4 YEAR............... 5.40%.......5.40% Your Healthy General Store 5 YEAR .....cceunenes 5.65%....... 5.65% Friendly Knowledgeable Sta 30 DAYS ................ 4.20% 51.000 minimum Na Go Anywhere Else! 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