{"id":52587,"date":"2015-09-08T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=52587"},"modified":"2015-10-22T13:55:49","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T17:55:49","slug":"back-school-use-city-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/09\/08\/back-school-use-city-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"BACK TO SCHOOL: Why I use the city as a classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this time of year, the signs abound. Colourful backpack displays have replaced the Slip-N-Slide demo at Walmart. And if you listened closely last week, you could hear the faint rumble of desks being rearranged in classrooms that will, beginning today, be jammed with young, spongy minds.<\/p>\n

Like thousands of other educators, I will take my place at the front of one of those classrooms and play my part in the time-honoured tradition of teaching and learning. Many assume that the role of the student is to passively absorb one version or another of a formal education. However, if you\u2019re like me, this approach falls dramatically short of making the grade. That\u2019s why it is so critical for educators to fashion learning experiences that extend beyond the sterile classroom and out into the streets, where critical minds will wrestle with the detritus of conflict and change.<\/p>\n

Last year, me and my class did just that.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
photo by Ryan Raz<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Regent Park Redux<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were 32 of us in all \u2014 28 grade 8 students from a suburban middle school, two teachers, a mom and a grandma, dropped off in the middle of Phase 5 of Regent Park\u2019s Revitalization project.<\/p>\n

Within moments of stepping off our still idling school bus, one of my kids says, \u201cHey Ms. Townshend, my cousin lives there!\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

We were standing at the foot of one of the few remaining low-rise buildings from the old Regent Park, Toronto\u2019s oldest public housing project. As the class shuffled past the crumbling and soon-to-be-demolished residence that now sticks out like a hangnail on a sore thumb, I was reminded of a guiding principle I encountered in a philosophy of education class back in the late 1990s. The personal is political.<\/p>\n

As educators, we often launch into classroom discussions about poverty, class, housing, and unemployment without always being mindful of the fact that despite the occasional commissioned report these \u201chot button\u201d issues typically simmer on politicians\u2019 back burners while they violently boil over in the lived experiences of much of our city\u2019s youth. Many of those young people attend my school, which happens to be situated between at least two \u201cpriority neighborhoods.\u201d Not an academic year goes by without the particulars of these priorities coming to light in the form of a child\u2019s empty lunch box or a neighborhood shooting.<\/p>\n

Each such incident offers a stark reminder that, first, the city\u2019s poorest communities include a doubly vulnerable young demographic exposed to the myriad ways we\u2019ve been shortchanging our country\u2019s greatest resource; second, education practices need to aid students in unpacking the glaring discrepancies between reforms proposed to improve quality of life and actual quality of life; and finally, educators must engage the imaginations of those most impacted by political lip service in solution-based dialogue that engenders self-advocacy and civic responsibility.<\/p>\n

This is the conversation I wanted to have with my Grade 8 students as we walked south on Sackville Street, past the impressive Regent Park sports field. These were the points I hoped would make their way into the consciousness of my students even as they stood, mouths agape, peering through the massive windows of Regent Park\u2019s state-of-the-art Aquatic Centre. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t they do this in our neighborhood?\u201d one student asked.<\/p>\n

It was a great question. Here was a perfect entry point into a discussion about who gets to make decisions that impact neighbourhoods \u2014 who is \u201cthey\u201d?<\/p>\n

The question may never have entered this student\u2019s consciousness had we not been surrounded by these polished new buildings, among them the arts hub across the street from the pool.<\/p>\n

This was the perfect moment to share a tidbit I\u2019d learned about the naming of the community centre. Residents and local stakeholders initially decided to christen the building \u201cThe Regent Park Arts and Cultural Centre.\u201d The Daniels Corporation (the developer responsible for the revitalization of Regent Park) swiftly purchased the naming rights for $4 million, so it would be dubbed The Daniels Spectrum.<\/p>\n

After hearing this anecdote, my students became quiet for a moment, and then cautiously attempted to communicate what they knew in their guts: the understanding that those who can pay for pretty things ultimately get to put their names on pretty things. Does it stop at naming? Do \u201cthey\u201d also get to dictate who uses pretty things and how? As one would expect with authentic inquiry, each question prompted remarkably honest and insightful responses.<\/p>\n

Why do you think developers chose not to build public basketball courts in Regent Park? Because they don\u2019t want teenage ballers hanging out and causing trouble? <\/em><\/p>\n

Who stands to benefit from the mixed-income housing model? The poorer residents benefit because their houses are nicer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why do families that were temporarily relocated find it difficult, if not impossible,<\/a> to move back to Regent Park? They probably like where they are now or can\u2019t afford the higher rent. <\/em><\/p>\n

How do you think Regent Park\u2019s long-standing residents feel about the changes taking place in their neighborhood? They likely have mixed feelings\u2026<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As we boarded the bus to head to the next destination on our “urban streets field trip,” I reveled in the knowledge that we\u2019d accomplished something no textbook or Ministry-mandated curriculum document could achieve: We\u2019d literally stood amidst the ruins of a failed social experiment; kicked rubble from old brick buildings along streets now lined with the crystalline glass of new condominiums, and in moments fraught with awe for the changing landscape and critique of the ongoing conflict, we had confronted, head-on, the double-edged sword of progress.<\/p>\n

One student, in fact, had announced that her cousin lived in the decrepit low-rise slated for demolition. No doubt, her cousin and family would soon be relocated to another community housing complex in the GTA \u2014 it could be anywhere: Malvern, Glendower, Chalkfarm. I imagined my student helping her cousin pack up her bedroom for the big move. I envisioned this moment as a crossroads in a relationship between two impressionable young people: one uprooted by gentrification development and the other whose eyes have seen the dubious writing on the walls of change.<\/p>\n

My hope for them \u2014 indeed for all of my students \u2014 is that despite feeling powerless in the face of upheaval, these future adult members of society would learn to navigate these unnerving intersections with the confidence, discernment and awareness of the crossing guards they\u2019ll surely encounter in the coming days.<\/p>\n

Laurie Townshend is\u00a0a Toronto-based media lit educator and film maker. Follow her at on twitter at @humanfreQ<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At this time of year, the signs abound. Colourful backpack displays have replaced the Slip-N-Slide demo at Walmart. And if you listened closely last week, you could hear the faint rumble of desks being rearranged in classrooms that will, beginning today, be jammed with young, spongy minds. Like thousands of other educators, I will takeContinue reading “BACK TO SCHOOL: Why I use the city as a classroom”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8277,"featured_media":52588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21758,18,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-neighbourhoods","category-urban-design"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBACK TO SCHOOL: Why I use the city as a classroom - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/09\/08\/back-school-use-city-classroom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BACK TO SCHOOL: Why I use the city as a classroom - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At this time of year, the signs abound. 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