Grades 2/3: Rhiannon's Story The Grove Community School
About The Grove Community School: A new alternative school in the west end of Toronto with a joint emphasis on ecological sustainability and social justice. Students are from diverse racial, linguistic/ethno-cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Rhiannon has taught for three years, all in the Primary grades, at two different alternative schools in the Toronto District School Board. The Grove Community School was in its first year when she began there as a Grade 2/3 teacher, and all of her students had transferred from various other schools.
It was a unique situation: The school was working hard to establish its focus and its sense of "alternativeness". The class had a wide range of needs as well as expectations for its new school. And Rhiannon was introducing a new approach to teaching and learning!
Rhiannon was excited and hopeful, but also a little worried. How could she cover the Ministry's expectations for curriculum and planning and still use the Environmental Inquiry approach? "I came to realize that it is very possible to do both," she says. "I know I still have a lot to learn, but I am excited to continue on this journey."