Educators

So a few weeks ago I blogged about how I felt that as a teacher I was sometimes left out in the cold when it came to level of safety I felt in the classroom.  But as I contemplated my own experience I recognized that the thing that kept getting me up in the morning was that I cared about the students.  I cared about the ones who were brilliant and well behaved and I cared about the ones who made me feel less than safe in my own classroom. 

I used to be an inner city elementary school teacher.  I loved my job.  I loved seeing students' faces light up when they learned something new and I enjoyed going to work everyday knowing that I had the opportunity to make a difference in the world.  

Today marks exactly one year since a 15-year-old boy, Jeffrey Manners, was gunned down during school hours in a hallway at C.W. Jeffreys High School in Toronto, Ontario.

I posted to another blog about this horrific tragedy this time last year - and I can't say it's any easy to contemplate it now.

I lost my own teenage son, to different circumstances (workplace accident) but what he and Jeffrey had in common was they went off those fateful days to environments they assumed were safe.

Safe at school. Safe at work.

I recently attended my first Toronto Football Club (TFC) game. I am a big sports fan so it was great to go to the BMO stadium and cheer with all the wild fans.  And when I say wild I mean crazy wild.  I drove into the city around noon (the game didn’t begin until 3:30), and by that time it seemed that everywhere was a sea of people dressed in the red jerseys of the TFC.

I do love a good bit of marketing spin. As a former marketing executive, I appreciate a unique approach to selling knowledge to a tough audience. So I sat up and took notice at how the principal of Grimsby Secondary School introduced me to his students the other day: "You're about to hear and see the ultimate reality show!"

Jim Heywood was trying to catch the attention of 1,100 students settling into their seats, luring them with the prospect of a form of entertainment all of them know well.