Songs of peace

Making the world a better place
Simon Fraser Elementary School Peace Choir

By Murray Dobbin

Marisa Orth-Pallavicini has been the teacher-librarian at Simon Fraser Elementary School in Vancouver for six years, and today she is also the choir master of the school’s Peace Choir. Both themes—peace and music—come naturally to Orth-Pallavicini. The politics of social justice permeate her life and that of her husband, Vancouver City Councillor David Cadman. And music is key to her life as well, she has been co-writing the music for the Euphonious Feminist Non-Performing Quintet for 12 years. She believes music is a powerful force for good in the world and that belief was at the root of her decision to form and lead the choir.

"The Simon Fraser Peace Choir began in April of 2006 when I had an invitation to bring together a choir to perform at the Opening of the Mayors for Peace and the International Peace Messenger Cities’ conference, which was part of the World Peace Forum in Vancouver in June of 2006. As teacher-librarian at Simon Fraser who had led student choirs in the past, I decided that this was a wonderful opportunity to start a choir with a purpose: to sing for peace, and to try to do what we could to make the world a better place."

Membership in the choir was voluntary and was open to all grades except half-day Kindergarten because of rehearsal scheduling. The Peace Choir’s first concert was performed at the Orpheum Theatre on a Saturday morning in June. "It was a very exciting start for our choir. One of the people who heard us that day was Reiko Ono, a survivor of the atomic bomb dropped on the city of Nagasaki during World War II. She was so impressed with the choir that she asked to come and visit our school."

In September 2006, the Peace Choir members met again and decided to sing for the school’s Remembrance Day assembly. After each concert, membership in the choir is again open to all students, so that students can join after having seen a choir performance. "The Peace Choir meets when we have a concert to practise for or when they need to learn a new song. The repertoire of the choir is now up to 12 songs." They meet at lunchtime once a week and on Wednesday afternoons during the last period of the day. The choir has grown from its original 40 members to 71 and they need to hold separate rehearsals for primary and intermediate students until the last week of rehearsals before a performance because the space is limited in the library.

Word of the choir gets around. Last December, they received an invitation from the teacher-librarian at Emily Carr Elementary School to do a concert. That led to an interest in Simon Fraser’s Student Council (Orth-Pallavicini is their teacher/ advisor) project to raise funds for children in Malawi who had been orphaned or seriously affected by HIV/AIDS. The council was raising money by selling beaded AIDS ribbons made by the children in Malawi and their caregivers. "The students and staff at Emily Carr decided to have a penny drive and sell some of the pins to support our efforts," says Orth-Pallavicini, "The Peace Choir worked on a song, For Nkosi, sung in English and Zulu, and a script explaining the issue of HIV/ AIDS. This was a real challenge for them but it turned out wonderfully."

Teacher newsmag spoke to five of the young students in the choir: James Cuevas, Anika Hundal, Amber Looi, Misa Lucyshyn, and Kieryn Silver. All were enthusiastic about the singing—James revealed, "I used to just sing in the bath tub and in the shower but in the Peace Choir I could really sing." But they were just as excited by the theme of the choir and its overseas project. Misa Lucyshyn said, "What’s important about peace?

The world is not all peaceful. If children see violence every day they will grow up to be violent and afraid. If children grow up in peace they will grow up to be peaceful people that will make the world better and safe."

All five were especially proud that they were helping people in Africa who were suffering from AIDS or who were orphaned by the disease. The impact of the lives of orphans on the lives of Canadian children was obvious. "The children in Africa have just been forgotten," said Amber. "Their parents have died of AIDS and now they just have to find a way to fend for themselves. It’s very sad."

All the choir members have their favourite song, it seems, but one was top of the list for several. That was For Nkosi. The song, written by Orth-Pallavicini and her fellow songwriter, Pat Davit, is a dedication to Nkosi Johnson. This slight 11-year-old South African captured the hearts of millions of TV viewers, when his address at the 13th International Aids Conference in Durban, South Africa in 2000, was televised worldwide. Subsequently he and his adoptive mother, Gail Johnson, established a series of Nkosi’s Havens for mothers with AIDS and their children. Nkosi died in 2001. His entreaty to everyone—"Do all that you can, with all that you have, in the time that you have, in the place where you are"—is featured in the song.

After the choir performed at Emily Carr Elementary School on March 12, the school community raised just over $500 selling the beaded AIDS ribbons. In June 2007, the peace choir recorded a CD of eight songs called Songs for Peace with the support of the parents and the school. These CD’s are still available at a cost of $10 to cover recording and production costs.

For Orth-Pallavicini, the choir experience has been both a joy and a challenge. The biggest surprise? "I had expected the older kids to be the most eager to join initially but was actually deluged by the youngest ones—Grade 1s and even Kindergarten—wanting to join. And even more surprising, the young ones loved the more complex songs and had no trouble with foreign languages (like Zulu). They were fine with complicated lyrics and for many of them English was their second language."

The challenge in the HIV/AIDS project is "...keeping alive the links and connections with real people in Africa. Those personal connections are powerful learning experiences. We get letters from CAYO (Counselling of the Adolescent and Youth Organization) the group on Malawi we work with. CAYO’s Executive Director Fryson Chodzi visited the school last June."

The next major external gig for the Peace Choir will be at the BCTF’s Public Education Conference on Friday evening, January 25. Orth-Pallavicini is a little nervous as any choir master is when challenged by an important performance. But she’s confident her children will be ready.

Murray Dobbin, a Vancouver author and writer, is acting assistant director and Teacher editor, BCTF Communications and Campaigns Division.

DROP EVERYTHING AND READ!

BCTF E-news - October 10, 2007

The organizing committee of the BCTLA 2007 Fall Conference has come up with a challenge in honour of National School Library day, October 22. As host of the BC Teacher-Librarians' Association Conference, the Surrey chapter of the BCTLA is issuing a challenge to the citizens of British Columbia: Drop everything and read.

In celebration of the joy reading can bring, the Surrey BCTLA is envisioning every child, staff person, administrator, and parent stopping to read for 15 minutes at 1:00 p.m. on October 22, National School Library day and International School Library Day.

Teacher-librarians in BC

BCTF research on staffing

Teacher-librarians in BC are certified teachers typically with further education beyond a bachelor degree in teacher-librarianship. The role of the teacher-librarian has been described as involving two main areas. One is to provide instruction for all grade levels in research skills and reading, and to enhance information and technological literacy. The second area is the development, maintenance, and management of a well-stocked school library. This includes selecting appropriate reading material in a variety of media (books, CD-ROM, interactive computer technology, for example), as well as ensuring the school library materials are current and complement curricula.

According to The United Nations (UNESCO, 2000), "the school library provides information and ideas that are fundamental to functioning successfully in today’s society, which is increasingly information- and knowledge-based. The school library equips students with lifelong learning skills and develops the imagination, enabling them to live as responsible citizens." Further, a strong relationship between the presence of a teacher-librarian in an accessible, well-stocked school library, and student success has been well documented (see Haycock, 2003).

Despite the demonstrated importance of teacher-librarians and libraries, library services was one of the areas hardest hit by funding cutbacks and teacher lay-offs resulting from removal of staffing formulas from teacher collective agreements, implemented by the provincial government in 2002.

Since that time, funding for K–12 public education has been partially restored and teacher-librarian staffing levels have slowly begun to improve. Table 1 shows the changes in library services (program area 1.07) staffing levels since 1997. For example, in 1997, there were 778 teacher-librarians and 20 administrators assigned to the library services program area.

Between 2001 and 2003, teacher-librarian staffing levels were cut by over 23%. It was not until the government removed a funding freeze and began to put money back into public education in 2005 that staffing levels began to recover. 2004–05 was the last year of a five-year decline in staffing levels and the 2005–06 school year saw an increase of 7% in teacher-librarian staffing. However, by 2006–07 there were still 175 fewer (19%) full-time-equivalent teacher-librarians compared to 2001.

Table 1 also shows that the number of administrators assigned to the library area has increased steadily over the 10-year period shown. Since 1997–98, FTE administrators working in the library services area have increased by over 50%.

The full report is on the bctf web site: bctf.ca/publications.aspx?id=5630.

Table 1: Library Services staffing, 1997–98 to 2006–07

New BCTF School Libraries web page

New content on the BCTF web site:
School libraries web page

http://www.bctf.ca/IssuesInEducation.aspx?id=13266

Impact of Bill 33 on Class Size and Class Composition

http://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Education/Bill_33/BCTFSubmission.pdf

What is the school library’s role?

The following letter to the minister of education from teacher-librarians in School District 68 (Nanaimo) is printed here with their permission.

We, the teacher-librarians of School District #68, are very pleased with your commitment to improve literacy in BC. We have just read your recent press release, which outlines the millions of dollars to be spent enhancing the public library system, as well as increasing support to these programs: ReadNow BC, Ready Set Learn, Literacy Now, and Adult Education.

We are wondering, however, what role you see for the school libraries in British Columbia. Almost all children attend school in BC, and all schools have a library. Many international studies have shown that a professionally staffed and adequately funded school library will improve student literacy and achievement (Lance, Keith Curry, 2005).

School libraries not only provide access to quality literature, they are the focal point in the school for teaching research skills, the use of databases, and appropriate use of online information sources. School library collections are developed to support the K–12 curriculum, are age appropriate, and are staffed by teacher-librarians qualified to assist students with their literacy needs.

Public libraries do not share this mandate, as their audience is much larger and public library collections are not curriculum specific. School libraries are, therefore, an integral part of any literacy program, and need to be recognized and supported.

Equitable access to literacy materials is essential for all school-aged children. Unfortunately, many school-aged children are unable to access a public library due to geographic or social difficulties. This is not a consideration with school libraries, which, in theory, should be accessible to all school children each school day.

We would like you to explain, Ms. Bond, why your government is so completely silent on the important role played by school libraries in improving literacy for the children of BC? Why are school libraries not mentioned in any of your publications? We would like to hear from you how you intend to increase support for school libraries, which have been notoriously understaffed and underfunded for years.

Elsa Armstrong, Lynn Barnes, June Bouchard, Janice Brantner, Helen Fall, Linda Irvine, Karen Leeson, Margaret Litch, Cindy Lowry, Robert Lussier, Donna McDaniel, Kathy McKierahan, Iris Mennie, Katherine Miller, Robyn Mylett, Bonnie Palfrey, Ann Rainboth, Lene Rounis, and Elizabeth Sansoucy-Jones.

A note from your teachers

A report from the BCTF to the members of the legislative assembly
http://www.bctf.ca/publications/NoteFromTeachers.aspx

Good article on self censorship

I commend Murray Corren for his timely argument against a parent’s right to remove her child from parts of the curriculum ("A censor? Who, me?" Jan./Feb. 2007 Teacher). Last year I had a child removed from my class production of A Christmas Carol because the parents objected to the Christmas (not Christian) overtones. The child clearly wanted to participate in the play and, in my view, would have benefitted from doing so.

If it can be shown that parts of the provincial curriculum are harmful to the development of a child, reason would dictate that the curriculum be changed. The governmentally sanctioned policy of pulling one child out of the classroom seems wrong, not only because of what the child will miss, but because the other children would suffer—if indeed the curriculum was harmful. Of course no parent(s) has convinced the provincial

Also in your Jan./Feb. issue of Teacher, is a letter from Richard Peachey who maintains that a parent should, and does, possess the right to remove her child from parts of the curriculum for "genuine conscientious reasons." What Peachey finds objectionable is homosexuality. Yet the position of our courts and governments, as made plain in The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is that homosexuality is acceptable in our society. As Corren rhetorically asks, how can a parent be allowed to restrict learning stimuli from her child that the society has affirmed to be worthwhile and in a child’s best interest to learn?

For "genuine conscientious reasons" our provincial government has included instruction on same sex families. I think it is timorous for the same government and school boards to permit some parents to dispense with parts of the curriculum, particularly instruction that promotes sensitivity toward people with a different sexual orientation. Peachey’s putative right to deny his child this instruction is not defensible in a society expressly opposed to bigotry and hate.

Jim McMurtry, Surrey

Liberal budget fails students

BC students have been ignored in the Liberal government's budget-a document that fails to improve students' learning conditions-but focusses resources on additional bureaucratic government assessment and data collection.

"There is nothing here for our students," says Jinny Sims, president of the BC Teachers' Federation. "Public education does not benefit from BC's robust economy. Overall, education funding in relation to the province's GDP continues to decline, and the government continues to pay less per pupil than it did in 1990." The government would need to increase funding to school boards this year by more than $200 million to restore funding to 1990 per student levels.

Sims says, "This budget provides virtually nothing to improve education services for our kids, and certainly, there is nothing to ensure students receive the learning resources that are so lacking in our schools."

Sims says, "The premier's priority is literacy, but there is a disconnect in this budget as it does nothing to address the real needs of students in our classrooms. Instead, the government implements one-off literacy programs that are nothing more than photo ops.

The budget fails our most vulnerable students and the government concedes that its education system does not perform well in serving some groups. Sims says, "This budget provides nothing to help the critical needs of students who require additional assistance to succeed. Our students with special needs are ignored. Over the past four years, we have lost many of our specialist teachers, such as librarians, counsellors, and learning assistance and special education teachers."

Instead of providing our kids with the learning conditions they need, this government is focussing on the further bureaucratization of our schools and collecting data. Neither leads to improved learning.

A censor? Who, me?

(BC Teacher: 2007 January/February) by Murray Corren

I have just finished gushing to a colleague about the Breadwinner trilogy of children’s novels written by Canadian writer Deborah Ellis and how they would make a thought-provoking choice for literature circles in her Grade 5 class.

"Oh, but I have a child in my class who is Muslim and his mother is very sensitive about anything touching on that. In fact, I would have to let her read the books first before I could use them in my class," she replies.

In the September issue of Teacher, I published an interview I conducted with Ellis during the World Peace Conference in which we discussed the trilogy. The novels tell the story of the experiences of two girls whose lives were profoundly affected when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. When I asked her what message she hopes her books send to young readers, Ellis replied, "If kids who read my books remember them when they get to be decision makers, and their government says it’s time to go to war, hopefully they’ll remember that there are real people under those bombs... and will think seriously before letting their government get away with killing [those people] in their name." It seems to me that is a pretty important message to give to kids who are about to become the adults of tomorrow.

But should a teacher allow one parent’s sensitivities to decide whether or not these, or any other children’s novels, be read in her classroom? To what extent do we deprive children of opportunities to view the world from a variety of perspectives because of a fear of parental backlash? Whose worldview should we privilege and whose should we censor? Who should decide what gets taught and what doesn’t?

I have seen and heard about numerous other examples of how we self-censor in our classrooms or have our classrooms censored for us. At one elementary school where I taught, two children were excused from the entire year’s music classes because of their parent’s religious beliefs. Last year, when C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe hit the big screen, a teacher who intended reading the novel to his Grade 3 class stopped doing so after the first chapter when a child indicated he couldn’t sit through the read-aloud because he is a Jehovah’s Witness. A student teacher told me of a parent who insisted his child was not to see any images of people or animals where the eyes could be seen and that she had to black them out! I am certain just about every teacher in this province could tell similar stories.

So, the question then is: What rights do parents have to determine what parts of the provincially mandated curriculum their children will learn and how they will learn it? Many teachers may be surprised to learn that those boundaries are very restricted and, have, for years, been clearly defined by the Ministry of Education. The policy, currently described as the Alternative Delivery Policy, clearly defines the areas of the curriculum where students and their parents or guardians may arrange for alternative delivery of instruction; namely, the Health curriculum organizer of Health and Career Education K to 7, Health and Career Education 8 and 9, and Planning 10, and the Personal Development curriculum organizer of Personal Planning K to 7. The policy does not apply to any other prescribed learning outcomes in those IRPs. Nor does it apply to any other BC provincial curriculum.

In a letter from the deputy minister sent to all the education partner groups in September 2006, this policy was, once again, reiterated "in order to clarify some common misunderstandings" with regard to its application. "The policy does not permit schools to omit addressing or assessing any of the prescribed learning outcomes within the health and career education curriculum," the letter states, and goes on to say, "Neither does it allow students to be excused from meeting the expectations of any prescribed learning outcomes related to health. It is expected that students who arrange for alternative delivery will address the learning outcomes and will be able to demonstrate that they have done so."

Just so that we are all clear, the Alternative Delivery policy applies only to the health organizers of the above-named IRPs and to no others. What this means is that there are no other areas of the curriculum that students have the option of not being in attendance or accessing alternative means by which to achieve the required learning outcomes. So, when a student says he or she can’t participate in lessons, other than those of the health organizers, for whatever reason, our response needs to be that they are required to be in attendance and are not exempted from meeting the prescribed learning outcomes.

This brings us back to the examples described earlier where teachers have allowed parental pressure to determine what and how we teach to meet the requirements of the curriculum. As professionals, we have a duty to address the learning needs of all our students by ensuring that they be exposed to ideas, materials, and knowledge that informs and educates them about the world in which they live. When we relinquish our right to professional autonomy and bend to the dictates of a small segment of the parent population, we do a disservice to our students as a whole.

So, when a parent declares that a teacher’s choice of a novel to be used in class must be vetted by the parent first; when, in social studies, children are learning about the different family models, a parent objects to the inclusion of same-sex parented families; or when a child is not permitted to attend music or physical education classes because of the religious beliefs of the family, we need to take a stand. Our response should be, "This is the public education system and I am required to follow the mandated provincial curriculum. If you are not happy about that, there are other educational options available to you and to your child."

I have often heard it said that if we take such an approach, we shall lose students to the private education system. My response to such an assertion is, an overwhelming number of parents want their children educated in a public system that reflects the values of a diverse and inclusive Canadian society, values espoused in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In other words, why should we allow ourselves to censor and dumb down public education and reduce it to its lowest common denominator simply because the system doesn’t meet the needs of a few parents and their children?

Let us now replay the encounter I described at the beginning of this article. This time, the teacher immediately sees the value in using novels such as the Breadwinner trilogy with her students, asserts her professional autonomy, and declares, "I think it’s important for my students to learn about the plight of children in Afghanistan, and I’m going to use those books to help them see the world from another perspective."

My question to all of us, as the guardians of public education, is: Are you prepared to protect and uphold the right to do what is best for all your students, to provide them with quality opportunities to learn about the world around them, and to fend off efforts to censor teachers and, ultimately, the children we teach? I hope your answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

Murray Corren is a Coquitlam teacher at the Winslow Centre, Curriculum and Staff Development Department.

The Alternative Delivery Policy can be found on the ministry’s web site at: www.bced.gov.bc.ca/policy/policies/alt_delivery.htm.

Free library cards!

(BC Teacher: 2007 January/February)

The Ministry of Education recently sent out notices to all students in the province offering them a "free" public library card.

Coquitlam teacher, Jennie Boulanger wrote the following letter to her MLA:

Dear Diane Thorne, MLA

I am a resident of your constituency and an elementary teacher in Burquitlam’s riding. Please find enclosed a class set of notices given to me today to distribute to my Grade 4 students.

If you could be so kind, please return these to Honorable Minister of Education Shirley Bond. I find it appalling that our precious tax (education) dollars would be spent on such an outrageous piece of (false), self-congratulatory propaganda.

I’m sure that there was at least one BC student not eligible for a free public library card prior to our current government’s probable policy change. What I’m not so sure of is why the money for this lovely letterhead and distribution to probably 500,000 students wasn’t spent on buying library books for schools instead.

Once again, we are subjecting our children to a shameless piece of advertising. "...our government’s way of encouraging you to ...enjoy the gift of reading." Indeed.

Unfortunately, my 10-year-olds didn’t receive these to take home. Instead we discussed how this "news" seemed strange, considering that we have been to two local public libraries already this school year and already had our "free" library cards for some time. Some students brought up concerns about saving our trees instead of using paper needlessly for notices such as these.

Perhaps (if a Spring Session is held) you could bring up some of our future-voters’ concerns in Legislature. Thank you for considering my request.

Jennie Boulanger, Coquitlam