New Titles for Fall

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Annie McCarron

As the fall season gets underway here are some new book titles at OISE Library to add to your reading list for the classroom, your own personal education or for fun!

Homeschooling: the History & Philosophy of a Controversial Practice by James G. Dwyer and Shawn F. Peters

The practice of homeschooling is often viewed through a controversial lens. Those who support it highlight its ability to allow children to flourish individually without restrictions or bullying. However, many other individuals view it as a way to isolate children, neglecting their education and controlling their worldview. Dwyer and Peters examine the fundamentals of the practice of homeschooling and the long debate over the regulation and control the state should have on the education of children. The authors aim to get the facts straight, and take the time to look at both the arguments for and against homeschooling within the context of the American school system. Looking at the issue through a legal cultural lens, the authors evaluate the policies and reach a conclusion on the strategy of action around homeschooling. As the interest in homeschooling sees a resurgence, the authors aim to inform and inspire thought around the practice.

The Pencil by Susan Avingaq and Maren Vstula, illustrated by Charlene Chua

Growing up on the land in the territory that is now known as Nunavut, author Susan Avingaq’s writing is inspired by her cultural teachings and the land she calls home. This endearing story follows young Susan as she watches her Anaana (mother) write letters to people with her one and only cherished pencil. One day when Susan and her siblings run out of things to do, Susan and her siblings get to play with the pencil. As she and her siblings draw pictures for their Anaana the pencil becomes smaller and smaller, and Susan starts to worry how her Anaana will feel when she comes home. Inspired by the author’s upbringing, The Pencil demonstrates to young readers the importance of being mindful of how you use your resources.

The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag

This magical graphic novel follows a young boy, Aster, who is raised in a magical family where the girls grow up to be witches and the boys shapeshifters. The female witches are meant to manipulate and control magic, while the male shapeshifters job is to protect their community. Anyone who defies this rule is punished with exile. Aster, however, is fascinated with witchery and magic, and try as he might he as been unable to shift. As the danger of terrible monsters begins to threaten his community and friends, Aster is forced to accept his differences and hone his magic to protect them. This adventure follows Aster as he gains the courage to become himself and break away from the gendered stereotypes of his family. This book encourages readers to celebrate differences and demonstrates that you don’t need to conform to gender norms. This novel is recommended for ages 8 to 12.

Captive Audience: How Corporations Invaded Our Schools by Catherine Gidney

Captive Audience explores the long history of branding and monetizing the classroom within the Canadian Public School system. Gidney discusses the encroaching effects of capitalism within the system, and the pressures to fill funding gaps. Since the 1990s the rise of corporations and advertising has become an ever-present fixture within the public school system. Advertisement agencies have taken advantage of the funding cuts to our schools, and stepped in to finance programs and support students – at a cost. These charitable donations to schools are not meant to enhance the learning of the student, but rather to start building customer loyalty from a young age. Gidney discusses examples of this advertising within Canadian classrooms as well as looking at the effects of advertising on children’s learning. Large companies such as Home Depot and Apple have integrated themselves into the system in different ways, from sponsoring the building of playgrounds (with complimentary Home Depot merchandise), to equipping children’s classrooms with their products, and so aiming to create lifelong Apple customers.

Leila in Saffron by Rukhsanna Guidroz; illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova

Leila and her Naani (grandmother) are very close. While Leila is lacking in self confidence, through her family dinner visits on Friday night Leila comes across many things that she likes about herself and begins to build her self-confidence. Leila showcases her cooking skills, and notices which family members she takes after. Being at her Naani’s for Friday night dinner makes Leila feel snug and happy. Beautiful illustrations make this novel come alive as Leia’s Naani helps her find confidence in herself, and encourages her to see herself in the positive way that the rest of her family sees her. Illustrator Mirtalipova’s rich coloured mixed media drawings help to bring this story alive as Leila discovers the different parts of her that make her who she is.

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Ontario Treaty Recognition Week

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Desmond Wong

November 4 – 8, 2019 is Treaty Recognition Week in Ontario. This is part of a series of days bringing awareness to Indigenous issues known as Indigenous Education Month. OISE Library has a number of valuable materials for K-12, postsecondary and graduate students alike on Treaty Education. The Land which is now known as Toronto has been the subject of a treaty since the Toronto Purchase in 1787. It is also subject to the Williams Treaties. The current stewards and treaty holders for Toronto are the Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation. For more information on the treaties affecting Toronto, please see the Mississauga of the New Credit First Nation website on the Toronto Purchase and Treaty Lands & Territory. The University of Toronto Libraries also has a Research Guide entitled The Indigenous History of Tkaronto.

No surrender : the land remains Indigenous by Sheldon Krakowski details the negotiations of the Numbered Treaties, and especially the misleading of Indigenous Nations such as the Cree, Anishnabeg, Saulteaux, Assiniboine, Siksika, Piikani, Kainaa, Stoney and Tsuu T’ina Nations. This book focuses on the understanding that Indigenous Nations wanted to share the Land but the British Colonial and then Canadian Governments had no intention to negotiate in good faith.

Alex shares his Wampum by Kelly Crawford is a story of a student, Alex who talks about the importance of Wampums to his family and his community. In the story, Alex explains that Wampums were made to represent covenants and relationships that were meant to last. For a recorded reading of this book by the GEDSB Indigenous Education Youtube Channel, click here.

Treaties by Simon Rose is a reference material meant for students in primary grades to learn about the basics and definitions of treaties. Treaties reveals the pressures and negotiations that Indigenous Nations have felt over the continued stewardship and governance of Indigenous Lands.

For more Treaty Education materials, please refer to our book list Treaty Education and Geography.

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Featured Activity Kit: Let’s Go Code!

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Chelsea Humphries

Coding is a hot topic in education, but access to digital resources and technical know-how in the classroom can often make this subject challenging to teach, especially to the littlest of learners! This month’s featured activity kit, the Let’s Go Code! Activity Set, is a game that supports the introduction of coding principles in the classroom without screens or technical knowledge. It’s a game appropriate for ages 5+ that gets young learners up on their feet, physically moving through coding puzzles as they build and navigate mazes with their peers.

The Let’s Go Code! Activity Set consists of 20 colourful foam mat tiles that are laid on the ground to create “mazes” for students to navigate. These tiles map a route from a starting-point arrow to an end-point robot. To navigate the route to the robot, students can only move from one tile to the next by following a sequence of coded actions laid out in additional coding cards. There are 20 reversible coding cards included in the set, each indicating an action like “move forward” or “turn to the left”. Students must devise a sequence of these coding cards that will move them from the start of the maze to the finish.

This game uses kinesthetic learning to introduce learners to coding and programming ideas. As the Let’s Go Code! activity guide notes, “the real building blocks of coding are found in critical thinking, sorting information, mapping routes between endpoints, and in helping children break down large problems into smaller mini-puzzles that they can think through logically.”

The puzzles possible through this activity are endless, and they can be customized with the addition of special objects and special action tiles that can be incorporated into the maze, requiring additional problem solving. For instance, blocked tiles with a big “X” on the surface are impassable, unless students include the special action “Jet Pack” tile in their coding sequence to fly above it! Many ideas for maze layouts and related games are included in the Let’s Go Code! activity guide.

Let’s Go Code! is a chance for creative and kinesthetic learning in Kindergarten and early grade classrooms. It can be used just as effectively during periods of free play as during scheduled activities, existing as one station among many exploring coding and programming themes. For more introductory coding activity ideas, check out some of the OISE Library’s other resources, including Coding as a Playground: Programming and Computational Thinking in the Early Childhood Classroom and How to Think Like a Coder Without Even Trying

To see the Let’s Go Code! Activity Set and related books about coding (and to try it out for yourself!), find them on display in the Display & Play area on the third floor of the OISE Library.

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October Lobby Display: Environmental Education

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Sarah Morelli

The OISE and TDSB Environmental Education in Action Conference will take place on Oct 26, and was created with teachers and graduate students in mind. There will be keynote talks, interactive workshops, and an EcoFair to provide ideas, strategies, and resources. OISE has many resources on environmentalism in education, but here are some highlights in the spirit of the conference!

The Environmental Toolkit for Teachers written by Neil Fraser and illustrated by Hanna Forsgren

While this book is geared towards those teaching in the United Kingdom, environmentalism is worldwide. This book was published with the goal of reducing the ecological footprint of the school, as the UK has tasked schools with being sustainable by 2020. Schools have opted to do this by appointing an eco-teacher, who can use the appointment to involve students in learning. This toolkit contains information and ideas that: make the best use of time, set out fun and educational eco-projects, provide opportunities to practice active citizenship, and save research time by listing the most helpful resources. The Environmental Toolkit is divided into 4 chapters that discuss principles and background, waste, litter, and energy. This book is an excellent resource for educators looking to engage their students in environmentalism.

Aquicorn Cove written and illustrated by Katie O’Neill

Lana and her father travel to visit their seaside hometown to help clean up after a storm and to visit Lana’s Auntie Mae. One day while walking along the beach, Lana discovers a unique, seahorse-like creature. This discovery leads to Lana learning about her aunt’s adventures on and under the sea, including Mae’s visit to the home of the Aquicorns. Thanks to the Aquicorns, both Mae and Lana learn the importance of ocean conservation and the difference one small village can make in bettering the environment. This richly illustrated graphic novel is best suited to students in grades 5 and up due to the discussion of the loss of a parent.

Occupy Education by Tina Lynn Evans

This book represents the author’s attempt to theorize and practice forms of education that rise to the occasion in which the world finds itself at the opening of the 21st century. The author asks what should sustainability educators teach, and how? This book attempts to answer this question through the author’s theories and examples of practice. There is a higher education focus throughout this work, and Evans also draws on Western and Indigenous theorists. This book contains chapters that explore the critical social theory of sustainability, a critique of globalized political economy and theory of enforced dependency as a pillar of the late capitalist system, and local food sustainability, among other topics.

Teaching Secondary English as if the Planet Matters by Sasha Matthewman

This book examines the potential for English to respond to the issues raised by the planetary emergency. The author posits that the environmental crisis is about cultural responses. Infusing English with a sense of value of the natural world encourages environmental activism and ecocritical awareness. This book presents thought provoking material about both English teaching and environmental questions. Topics featured in this work are connections between reading texts and reading the environment, the re-examination of the history of teaching English from the perspective of environmental education, and sustainable cities. This book is an excellent resource for ESL educators looking to infuse environmentalism in their teaching.

Natural Curiosity 2nd Edition: A Resource for Educators by Doug Anderson, Lorraine Chiarotto, and Julie Comay

The second edition of this book was created after the incredible success of the first edition. There were high rates of downloads in both French and English, and thousands of paper copies were sold. The impetus for a second edition came from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendation to bring Indigenous perspectives to Canadian education. The concepts in this book have been rethought and refined. For example, the theoretical section is followed by stories written by the teachers, in their own voices. In the first edition, one of the authors was writing the teachers’ stories on their behalf. This book is an excellent handbook for educators who wish to bring Indigenous perspectives on environmentalism into the classroom.

These books can be searched through the OISE catalogue, or visit the 2nd floor service desk for help locating these titles.

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Indigenous Histories

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Jenna Mlynaryk

This October, our Ground Floor Display celebrates Indigenous Histories. Describing the events, experiences and heritage of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, this month’s collection includes narratives, biographies and creation stories from Indigenous authors, as well as resources on treaties and historic events. Common throughout these resources are themes of celebration of identity and resistance.

This Place: 150 Years Retold Foreword by Alicia Elliot, with stories by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and 10 others

This brand new anthology of graphic narratives showcases Indigenous histories, focusing on the last 150 years. In its pages, you will find the stories of “Annie of Red River” – a glimpse into the life of Annie Bannatyne, a prominent charity organizer whose rebellion against a newspaper article attacking Métis women in Red River that may have very well inspired Louis Riel; “Migwite’tmeg: We Remember It”, a story recounting the salmon raids during the 1970’s and 80’s in the Lisstuguj First Nation; and “Warrior Nation”, describing the Oka Crisis, the 78-day standout between Mohawk protestors, Quebec police and the Canadian army for the land between the Haudenosaunee of Kanesatake and Oka in 1990. Other stories include “Like a Razor Slash”, following resistance efforts against the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline led by Fort Good Hope Chief Frank T’Seleie in 1975, and “Kitaskînaw 2050”, a story of Indigenous futurism in a post-apocalyptic world. Each of the ten graphic narratives is prefaced with a contextual description by the author, and a timeline of events framing the emergence of each story.

Thunder in My Soul: A Mohawk Woman Speaks by Patricia Monture-Angus

At the time of its publication in 1995, Monture-Angus’ biography was the first collection of essays from a Canadian university to specifically address Indigenous experiences with education, racism, feminism and criminal justice. Drawing on her life as a Mohawk lawyer and professor, Monture-Angus uses storytelling to reflect on her experiences of the injustices faced by Indigenous people. Beginning with the essay “Flint Women”, the first section of the book tackles Monture-Angus’ troubling experience at an academic conference, leading on her to reflect on her sense of self and community. Other sections of the book focus on law school, women and politics, and justice for Indigenous peoples, making Thunder in My Soul a multi-disciplinary reading that can be used in a variety of post-secondary classrooms.

Nation to Nation: A Resource on Treaties in Ontario produced by the Union of Ontario Indians

As described in the introduction by Maurice Switzer, “First Nations believe…that their rights to govern their own affairs were given to them by the Creator. These rights include the rights to land, resources, the right to self determination and self-government, and to practice one’s own culture and customs”. This handbook explores how these inherent rights are affected by treaties – agreements between First Nations and colonial governments on sharing land and resources. Nation to Nation unpacks the history of treaties in Canada and Ontario, carrying readers from first contact the present day. Accompanied by photographs, maps and illustrations, this handbook is a useful guide to navigating historical and contemporary issues surrounding the rights of Canada’s Indigenous peoples. The French version De Nation à Nation is also available at OISE.

Travellers Through Empire: Indigenous Voyages from Early Canada by Cecelia Morgan

Beginning in the late 18th century, an influx of Indigenous travellers voyaged across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving in the British Empire. Focusing on the histories of Ontario First Nations, Travellers Through Empires explores the stories of Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabeg, and Cree people who journeyed to Britain in pursuit of advocacy, missionary and fundraising work, as well as education. Examining the written remnants of their travels including letters, logs, and diaries, Travellers Through Empire relays a narrative of resistance. Stories of the Mississaugas of New Credit peoples including Anishinaabe Methodist minister Peter Jones (Kahkewāquonāby) and missionary Catherine Sutton (Nahneebahwequa) are also recounted.

To borrow these titles and more, visit the Indigenous Ground Lobby Display case on the first floor of the Library. You can take books out directly from the display, or ask a librarian for assistance.

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