Grade 7: Discovering Ourselves as Students

After today’s session, I have learned many things that surprised me the most about myself. In class, we took an opinion survey in our Executive Functioning packet that focused on things to do with school and being a student. There were many points to rate ourselves on. For example, a couple of the issues were, ‘I like school work best when it makes me think hard’ or ‘I like school work best when I can do it perfectly without any mistakes.’ We were to give ourselves a score from one to six on how well the question described you. Then we added up the points according to what number score we gave ourselves and matched the result answer with the range the profile number falls into. We then read the section that applies to the result to see if the sentences matched the way we think and feel about our school work. The sentences that I read applied to me as a student but I did find out that I may have had a tendency to care more about my marks then the actual learning. Now I appreciate that learning for the sake of learning should be valued more. I have also realized that although some of my past marks weren’t as high as I would have liked, the more I enhance my intelligence by making mistakes and can still have fun while I’m learning! –Grade 7 Student

Grade 7s Ponder Growth and Fixed Mindsets

In class today, we learned about what it meant to work harder, and how to achieve better marks. Lots of people think they know the answer to this question, but it turns out that they really don’t! We learned that to “work harder” really meant to change your method of learning; not just to look over your work over and over again or to do it longer, but to use a different tactic or strategy of learning. Knowing HOW to work harder will really help me in my school work.

Another method of learning we learned in class today is to use the right tools. For example: if you hire a handyman for your house, but he brings no nails, drill, or hammer, how does he work on your house? The same goes for learning. If you always use the right tools to learn, you will succeed.

The last discussion in class today was about growth mindsets and fixed mindsets. People with growth mindsets tend to succeed more, by embracing challenges instead of avoiding them unlike people with fixed mindsets. They do not give up as easily as people with fixed mindsets, are very persistent, are not afraid to try, learn from mistakes, and do not think that if someone succeeds that they will not succeed or feel threatened by them. Clearly, what I have learned today will change the way I complete my schoolwork in grade 7. –Grade 7 Student

Grade 7: Preparing for Success

LCC grade 7 students are spending the first week of classes in a special orientation program to help them prepare for a successful Middle School experience. Here are two reflections from our grade 7 students:

  • Today we had a class about your brain. We did an activity where you were supposed to be an event planner. Part of the time, the entertainment, food, and the location of the event were chosen by you, and the other half of the activity was you rolled a die to determine place, entertainment and what you ate. Luck, or chance, was mostly to do with this, and the thing is, to be a successful student, you can’t rely on luck alone. To be a successful student isn’t really about being smart. It’s about having good organization, writing things down so you remember them, and planning ahead and not leaving everything to finish on the last night. If you never do well in one subject doesn’t necessarily mean you’re bad at the subject, it may just mean you forgot to do an assignment or didn’t ask for another explanation in class even if you didn’t get what was going on. The successful student tries hard, studies for tests, does their homework on time. All in all, there are not really unsuccessful or successful students. There are simply those who don’t try their best, and those who do.–Grade 7 Student

  • Today we learned a lot about the brain. We learned things that I didn’t know yet. Even though we learned a lot of things about the brain, there are three things that really amazed me about it. I learned that you only use approximately 12% of your brain. I learned that the brain controls everything that you do such as walking, talking and moving around. Those things were pretty neat but the coolest thing about the brain that we learned today is that your brain is like a big filing cabinet. You have different sections of the brain that remember important things that you hear everyday. The brain is really neat and very cool to learn about. There are many things I still don’t know about the brain but I think that it is the coolest part of your body. The most fun I had all day was learning about the brain and I can’t wait to learn more about it tomorrow.–Grade 7 Student

  • The Value of the Library

    Lower Canada CollegeWhile in Toronto recently I was struck by the front-page headline in the Toronto Star: “Ontario Schools shelve libraries.”

    In a controversial decision, the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board recently laid off all but four of its 39 librarians and is now dismantling all of its libraries. The board intends to revamp the use of space and use it more as student centres with computers and reference materials, or open it up for arts activities. This move has been attributed to two main factors: First, the ongoing shift to digital technologies resulting in declining use of books and journals by students. The second factor is cost savings, as that particular school board faces declining enrolment and an $8 – $10 million deficit in the next school year. So tough choices have to be made to avoid further financial losses.

    Interestingly, that school board in Ontario is actually reflective of a broader trend across Canada. Although schools have not necessarily taken the drastic step of closing their libraries, very few are still staffed with a qualified librarian. To put things in perspective, understand that we have three full-time librarians here at LCC to staff our Junior and Senior libraries. In the public school system in the province of Nova Scotia there are none, there are only three left in all of New Brunswick, and numbers have declined notably in Alberta and BC’s public school systems as well. In Ontario primary schools, only 12% have full-time librarians.

    In the face of this discouraging trend in Canada, studies have actually shown a strong relationship between professionally-staffed libraries and student achievement in school, including better scores on standardized tests (as much as 8%) and much more positive attitudes toward reading.

    Meanwhile in Europe in the past decade, the trend has been the opposite of what’s happening in Canada. Europeans are investing in and developing libraries as a force to improve education. So in the Canadian context, I guess here at LCC we are “countercultural” relative to our Canadian counterparts and have aligned ourselves more with Europeans.

    Although we have been proactive with the use of digital media at LCC, we also believe in the value of the book. We support the importance of the library as an information centre and oasis of calm in a noisy world. In the library students can read quietly, reflect and harvest the seeds of their creativity.

    We have a reading week in our Junior School and our LCC Reads initiative in Middle/Senior School remains an important and interesting activity in our annual calendar. As the broader debate on libraries continues, one thing is for sure, the level of literacy that each student develops during their time at LCC will likely define much of their success in university studies and likely in professional life. So despite a host of other attractive options in their busy lives, young people need to make time to read; it will definitely make a difference in their futures.

    Keeping our LCC libraries open is our priority and we will continue to actively support the development of literacy across all grades. By the way, our annual Book Fair is around the corner: May 26-27. Be sure to pick up a copy of the new LCC Reads book, The Heart Specialist. I hope you find something there that tweaks your interest. –Chris Shannon, Headmaster

    Pondering the Future of Montreal @ LCC

    What’s the future of Montreal? This was the focus of this year’s annual Destiny Quebec student leadership conference held this week at LCC. What an excellent topic for those of us who live in this great city. (view gallery)

    DQ2011_28Congratulations to DQ 2011 student Co-Chairs Kasha Bonneville ’11 and Greg Sigler ’11 who guided an enthusiastic committee of student leaders. After months of planning, students investigated this question with visiting experts. This was done through the lens of our aging infrastructure, evolving university and health care institutions, the vibrancy of Montreal’s culture, and emerging areas of economic challenge and leadership in the city.

    Keynote speaker Alexandre Trudeau presented a fascinating perspective to all Senior School students and visiting delegates. He noted that in Montreal – and indeed everywhere in the West – we need to be aware of the challenges emerging from new economic superpowers China and India. We need to respond with innovation. In Mr. Trudeau’s words, our future success is dependent on being “flexible, tolerant and imaginative.” I know our students are up to the challenge and will emerge as confident leaders who will steward Montreal into the future with care. –Chris Shannon, Headmaster