Unique education on offer

Page 7

A unique school on the Tsleil-Waututh Nation's main reserve takes in the toughest cases and comes up with remarkable results.

"These kids have been suspended from every alternative education program going," said Tom Wall, the school's principle and one of its teachers. "We tell them they have power over their own life."

In its second year, the Tsleil-Waututh school has 18 students, from kindergarten to Grade 12, and it teaches according to the standard provincial curriculum, but students get to set their own pace. And they get to choose what grade they're in.

It's all part of teaching the students, whose pasts have been torn by their home lives and school experiences, how to own their futures.

"It's about putting a person at cause for the decisions they make in life," Wall said. "So, are they getting the results they want? It's up to [them.] It's about making them responsible for every decision they make."

The school's curriculum is peppered with historical teachings from members of the community.

School student Elizabeth LaRochelle, 18, said there was too much pressure in her old school. "I felt that I didn't learn everything."

And it's nice being empowered to set your own schedule, LaRochelle said. "You do it all yourself. If you get stuck, the teachers help you."

LaRochelle is finishing Grade 11. While she gets to set her own schedule, she said she's in class "around the same time as my other school."

While some may think this would be heaven for slacker students, Wall said he sees students challenging themselves in their new and supportive learning environment.

Wall said he has three students, ages 13 to 17, who could not read or write when they arrived at the school. They had been repeating the same modified programs.

"They're actually starting to read," Wall said, after they had spent years in regular schools.

There are too many Aboriginal kids in severe behavior programs, and it shouldn't reflect on their own intelligence or aptitude, Wall said. "There's four-times as many Aboriginals in severe behavior programs as any other youth (in British Columbia) based on population."

While most of the students in the school are Aboriginal, Wall said they've had two non-Aboriginal students. Both have left the school and returned to regular classes.

"It was good to see them exposed to different experiences."

These troubled kids have unique problems. Unique problems call for unique solutions.

"They've been conditioned by the public school system and home-life conditions that they are powerless," Wall said. "They have the capacity to control their lives."

Students still act up at the school, but some of the school's success is found in how teachers deal with them.

"We let them come to a crossroads," Wall said. "When they realize it's their behavior they're being evaluated against, and not their personality, then they start selecting behaviors that are more appropriate."

The staff, Wall and two other teachers, as well as two part-time teachers, are trained in several areas:

Neurolinguistics is the study of how the language we use effects our lives in a positive way, or a not-so-positive way, Wall said.

"Language is used to represent our experiences. If we change our language, we change our beliefs."

An example Wall gave was students who too often use the word "can't." Eliminating such words and the desire to use them, leads to a more positive life-strategy.

Timeline therapy teaches one how to deal with the perceived limitations from the past to best make a desired present and future, Wall said.

Courses in crisis management and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome help the teacher as well.

This background gives teachers the tools to facilitate teaching, Tom Wall said.

Teachers strive to understand how each student learns. They seek to understand each student's "structure of intellect."

Do students learn best by seeing? Hearing? Touching? Understanding ow they learn teaches the teachers how best to educate the student.

"That really reduced frustration for a lot of these students," Wall said.

The idea is to get the students back into mainstream schools, so they can feel part of a larger society. Wall said the program is a bridging program.

So far, seven students have been put back into regular schools. And none have returned. "Which is what we want," Wall said. "Any child going back is a success. It will keep growing as we become more efficient."

Elizabeth LaRochelle has plans for the future. She wants to finish her Grade 12 and then she is planning on doing an apprenticeship in cooking.

The school is funded by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, and supported by the Vancouver School Board and the North Vancouver School Board.

Both boards are supporting plans to increase the school's capacity, Wall said. "There's a demand for what we do."