Global Perspectives
Innisdale is home to one of the most innovative courses in Ontario. In Global Perspectives, Grade 11 students broaden their understanding of the world around them while learning in a unique classroom environment. This course is a fully integrated five credit package which includes English, Comparative Spirituality, World History, World Issues and Visual Art. The course is taught by four teachers in two classrooms. The daily life of a global student is similar in nature to an elementary school student, whereas 28 students spend each day together in a single classroom environment. The classroom used is almost always portable 11, and is often decorated and filled by the student's art and classwork. Notable projects that they create annually are the Issues sculpures, the colony to nationhood presentation, and the world issues end of term essay. Students frequently crack jokes at Morrison's infamous "death test" which often results in lower than expected academic marks despite excessive preparation. During the semester, students get to travel to a developing country for two weeks (often Cuba), and to Germany for the final month. Its creator Dave Morrison has been at odds with the Simcoe County District Schoolboard to continue operating the program for several years, however when the principle of Innisdale was changed in 2009, the struggle to justify the program has since diminished. The overwhelming support of past students and their parents since its conception have been a testimony to the legitimacy of the program. Students often develop lasting friendships with much of their classmates and the teachers themselves. Many Global Graduates Frequently hold reunions, often at later Global presentations, such as the "Global Presents" presentation before their departure to Germany.
Read more about this topic: Innisdale Secondary School, Special Courses
Famous quotes containing the word global:
“The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)