The kids at many elementary and high schools in Ontario may not be participating in after-school sports or clubs for a while.
That’s because the teachers who run the programs have been asked by their union to consider not running them and to stop coaching.
Teachers in Ontario are part of a “labour union.” A union is a group of workers who band together for a common goal.
In this case, the union’s “common goal” is to protest actions by the Ontario government.
Often the union and government make decisions together. However, the union is upset because the government has decided to freeze teachers’ pay and ban strikes by teachers.
By asking teachers to consider no longer coaching or leading after-hours clubs, the union hopes the government will change its mind.
More than 136,000 teachers are stopping the extracurricular activities, according to The Toronto Star newspaper. Some teachers will also wear black armbands or clothing as a show of support for their union.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
This article was written by a journalist who is also a mom with a child in elementary school and a teacher who works for the school board. How do you think their two opinions affected the way the story was written? Consider their “biases.” What do you think their biases might be?
Reading Prompt: Responding to and Evaluating Texts
Today’s article is about an issue that affects many of our readers. How do you feel about the disagreement between the government and the teachers’ union? Use evidence from the text to support your opinions.
Primary
Express personal opinions about ideas presented in texts (OME, Reading: 1.8).
Junior
Make judgements and draw conclusions about the ideas and information in texts and cite stated or implied evidence from the text to support their views(OME, Reading: 1.8).
Intermediate
Evaluate the effectiveness of both simple and complex texts based on evidence from the texts (OME, Reading: 1.8).
Grammar Feature: News Stories
News stories are written in a special order. Today’s activity will try to show what that order is.
Put a number beside the paragraphs ranking from the most important to the least. When you are done, you will have a list from 1 -6.
What does this order tell you about news articles and the way they are organized?
