school / en U of T professor’s book explores Toronto’s diversity through local public school /news/u-t-professor-s-book-explores-toronto-s-diversity-through-local-public-school <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T professor’s book explores Toronto’s diversity through local public school</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Vipond%20main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=wbn6oPX1 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Vipond%20main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=CjODsYX8 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Vipond%20main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=MEgw-Czv 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Vipond%20main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=wbn6oPX1" alt="Robert Vipond"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Romi Levine</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-04-19T17:00:17-04:00" title="Wednesday, April 19, 2017 - 17:00" class="datetime">Wed, 04/19/2017 - 17:00</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">U of T professor Robert Vipond sits in the library of the Clinton Street Public School (Photo by Romi Levine)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/romi-levine" hreflang="en">Romi Levine</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Romi Levine</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/urban" hreflang="en">urban</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/diversity" hreflang="en">Diversity</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/school" hreflang="en">school</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Making a Global City by Robert Vipond tracks the history of Clinton Street Public School</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The tiny archive room at Clinton Street Public School in downtown Toronto tells a fascinating story, not only about the 129-year-old primary school but also about&nbsp;the city’s journey to become the multicultural metropolis it is today.</p> <p><strong>Robert Vipond</strong>, a Ƶ political science professor at the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and the interim director of the <a href="http://munkschool.utoronto.ca/csus/">Centre for the Study of the United States</a>&nbsp;at the&nbsp;Munk School of Global Affairs, tells the school’s story in his book, <a href="http://www.utppublishing.com/Making-a-Global-City-How-One-Toronto-School-Embraced-Diversity.html"><em>Making a Global City: How One Toronto School Embraced Diversity</em></a>, published by Ƶ Press.</p> <p>Coming across the Clinton’s story was somewhat of a happy accident, says Vipond, whose daughter was a student at the school.</p> <p>“Most of my academic career, I've worked on American-Canadian politics, especially constitutional politics so I touched briefly on education and immigration but had no deep or abiding interest in it,” he said.</p> <p>That was until he was told about the extensive catalogue of registration cards – from 1920 to the 1990s – housed in the school’s archive room. The cards provided details about the students and their families – including their ethnicities and parents’ professions – that painted a picture of the school’s population over time, mirroring&nbsp;larger immigration trends in the city.</p> <p>“I began to realize a lot of the work I've done has centred on the ideas of citizenship and that's what came through in the book – these debates about citizenship changed over the course of the years but were really important for gateway schools,&nbsp;immigration and immigrant kids.”</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4320 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/vipond%20embed%20card.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Researchers sorted through thousands of registration cards like this one to learn more about the students who went to Clinton Street Public School (photo by Romi Levine)</em></p> <p><strong>Korryn Bodner</strong> worked as a researcher on the book while completing her master’s in political science at U of T. She analyzed the extensive data collected from the registration cards, identifying immigration patterns.</p> <p>“Delving into the school, it really paints a picture of how diverse it was and is, and how much that's changed over the years,” says Bodner, who is currently working toward a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology.</p> <p>Bodner says she and a team of researchers were able to spot the exact moments when the school’s population shifted between different immigrant groups.</p> <p>Through this research, Vipond identified three distinct periods in the school’s history:&nbsp;from the 1920s to 1950s, a large Jewish community came to the school, from&nbsp;the 1950s to the 1970s, it was students from Italy and Portugal, and from the 1970s onward, students came from all over the world.</p> <p>“Each of those periods have a distinct approach to citizenship, and each of them had a signature issue that distinguished the school from other schools,” says Vipond.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4322 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/1920s%20photo.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>A household science class at Clinton in the 1920s when the school had a large Jewish population (photo courtesy of Ƶ Press / Clinton Street School Archives)</em></p> <p>In the 1940s, for example, schools were required to provide religious Christian instruction to students, but with a large Jewish population, teachers decided to rebel, he says.</p> <p>“What happened in that case was the teachers of Clinton took a pass – they showed a little bit of civil disobedience actually in just not complying with that law,” says Vipond. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>In the 1950s, Clinton developed its own English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum, long before it was formally a part of the Toronto public school system.</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hBj4ehkbvT0" width="640"></iframe></p> <p>Of the 75 Clinton graduates, parents and administrators that Vipond interviewed, some memorable stories stuck with him.</p> <p>A notable graduate was Richard Reed Parry, who went on to become a musician in Canadian super-group Arcade Fire. Parry attended Clinton in the 1980s where he was encouraged by one of his teachers to pursue music. &nbsp;</p> <p>“Music at Clinton really changed his life and made him realize what a great medium it was, and that he could do it,” he says.</p> <p>Vipond also recalls a teacher named Mr. Timpson who built a menorah from hula hoops so his Jewish students could celebrate Hanukkah at school. &nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__4323 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Clinton%20exterior%20embed.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>Clinton Street Public School is located on Manning Avenue&nbsp;between College and Bloor streets (photo by Romi Levine)</em></p> <p>While countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and even Canada are struggling with their cultural identity in a multicultural world, Clinton can be seen as a crucible for how diverse groups of people can find middle ground, says Vipond.</p> <p>“The language around citizenship and multiculturalism has been degraded by being set into a polarized binary,” he says. “Either you're in favour of multiculturalism, or you're in favour of something like complete assimilation, or closing doors to immigrants all together.”</p> <p>“I'm reminded of the old joke, ‘Why did the Canadian cross the street?’ The answer is ‘to get to the middle.’ I think that actually describes&nbsp;the Clinton approach to diversity.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 19 Apr 2017 21:00:17 +0000 Romi Levine 106846 at TDSB students tackle problems in transit, zoos and more at U of T /news/tdsb-students-tackle-problems-transit-zoos-and-more-u-t <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">TDSB students tackle problems in transit, zoos and more at U of T</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/VR%20goggles%20resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=fa1Q7n-r 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/VR%20goggles%20resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=MoEeSg7R 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/VR%20goggles%20resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SNoY6R4g 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/VR%20goggles%20resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=fa1Q7n-r" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-01-20T15:27:53-05:00" title="Friday, January 20, 2017 - 15:27" class="datetime">Fri, 01/20/2017 - 15:27</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A student tries on a pair of virtual reality goggles during the event (photo by Yana Kaz) </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Geoffrey Vendeville</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/roger-martin" hreflang="en">Roger Martin</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-school-management" hreflang="en">Rotman School of Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/students" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/school" hreflang="en">school</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/community" hreflang="en">Community</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/outreach" hreflang="en">Outreach</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/tdsb" hreflang="en">TDSB</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Rotman School of Management hosted event for Toronto elementary and high school students</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Elementary and high school students, their teachers and parents came to U of T’s Rotman School of Management this week to unveil projects they completed using an innovative problem-solving technique coined by business strategist and former Rotman dean&nbsp;<strong>Roger Martin</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <p>Called integrative thinking, the method&nbsp;is meant to help anyone wade through enigmatic choices by weighing different ideas and coming to a “creative resolution of the tension” between them.&nbsp;</p> <p>It may sound complex, but teachers at&nbsp;the Toronto District School Board had apparently no trouble explaining it to students&nbsp;ranging in grades from 2 to 12. Students used integrative-thinking&nbsp;to solve an array of problems.&nbsp;</p> <p>Jade Mantadee and her classmates&nbsp;in the combined Grade 4 and 5 class at Fairbanks Public School tackled the question of whether to keep animals in captivity.</p> <p>“We were trying to see if we could make both sides into one solution&nbsp;so we came up with virtual reality,” she said.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3202 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/Becky%20and%20VR%20goggles.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Becky Zaimi, a teacher at Fairbanks Public School, uses&nbsp;a virtual reality headset, which was part of her&nbsp;students' class project, looking at&nbsp;whether there should be zoos (photo by Yana Kaz)&nbsp;</em></p> <p>Their&nbsp;teacher,&nbsp;<strong>Becky Zaimi</strong>, a graduate of U of T's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, said&nbsp;her class came up with the idea themselves after they read a collection of persuasive texts by fourth graders entitled&nbsp;<em>Should There Be Zoos? </em>and a book about cyberspace. &nbsp;</p> <p>They used a pro/pro chart, an integrative thinking tool, as opposed to the traditional pro/con chart&nbsp;to arrive at a solution.&nbsp;</p> <p>Another group, the Grade 1&nbsp;class at Park Lawn Junior Middle School, analyzed problems of racism and sexism raised in the children’s book, <em>Amazing Grace</em>, by Mary Hoffman.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3203 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/Amazing%20grace%20photo%201.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Students at Park Lawn Junior Middle School explain their project to grown-ups. Their project was&nbsp;based on the children's book “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman (photo by Yana Kaz)&nbsp;</em></p> <p>“It’s about a girl, Grace, who wants to be Peter Pan in the school play. But the other students say Peter Pan is a boy. He’s white, and you’re black,” said a volunteer and recent OISE grad at the school, <strong>Kathryn Bryce</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <p>After a discussion about racial and gender stereotypes, the class – including Deandray Spencer – concluded that Grace should play Peter Pan anyway.</p> <p>“It’s awesome because they’re so young, and yet they were still able to think in a good and productive way,” Bryce said.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3204 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/Deandray%20Spencer.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Deandray Spencer presents a class project on the children's book “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)&nbsp;</em></p> <p><strong>Mitzie Hunter</strong>, Ontario’s minister of education and a Rotman graduate, came to the event to tell students that integrative thinking has applications outside the classroom.&nbsp;</p> <p>Speaking about the pro/pro chart, she said it was useful because it helps her balance the interests of many different stakeholders: teachers, principals, boards and labour unions.</p> <p>“When I use pro/pro, I try to find elements of common ground where we can work towards an outcome, taking the best ideas from both sides,” she said.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3205 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/MItzie.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter spoke to students at Rotman about using integrative thinking in her work (photo by Yana Kaz) &nbsp;</em></p> <p>For Grade 12 students at <a href="/news/toronto-school-named-for-john-polanyi">John Polanyi Collegiate</a>, integrative thinking helped them take on a challenge posed by Metrolinx.</p> <p>The students were asked to find the best way to build “employee resource groups” within the transportation agency's workforce as part of a new diversity and inclusive intiative.&nbsp;</p> <p>One group suggested organizing a "discovery fair," where employees could set up booths, showcasing their hobbies so they can find co-workers with similar interests.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3206 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/Metrolinx%20project.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>The Grade 12 business leadership class at John Polanyi Collegiate brainstormed ideas for building "employee resource groups" at&nbsp;Metrolinx (photo by Yana Kaz)&nbsp;</em></p> <p>A first-year&nbsp;Rotman commerce student and former intern at Metrolinx, <strong>Kate Azizova</strong>, helped arrange the partnership.</p> <p>She had once learned about integrative thinking in Rotman's business leadership class. Martin is now the academic director of Rotman's Martin Prosperity Institute.</p> <p>“This class is very different from any other you take in high school,”&nbsp;she told <em>U of T News</em>. “There are no tests. Everything is based on whether you choose to speak up.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The biggest thing I learned was to take initiative.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:27:53 +0000 geoff.vendeville 103393 at