Assignment+2


 * Step 1: School and Community Data**

Penticton Secondary School is a high school servicing students from grade 9-12. The total school population this year is 1, 328 students. Of that population, each grade is fairly equal in its numbers, our grad class this year being 309 strong.

The demographics of our school are strongly unicultural. There is a small Indo-Canadian population, but for the most part our students are English speaking, middle-class kids. We have a very small (20 students) ESL program, including students who are actually very strong with their English language skills, coming from Switzerland, Germany, and other European countries as part of a Rotary exchange program.

As for Penticton, I garnered this information from our census website:

Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population 2006
 * ~ **Age Grouping (years)**||~ **Male** ||~ **Female** ||~ **Total** ||
 * = 0 – 14 ||= 5,315 ||= 5,390 ||= 10,695 ||
 * = 15 – 24 ||= 4,185 ||= 3,965 ||= 8,155 ||
 * = 25 – 44 ||= 7,060 ||= 7,940 ||= 15,000 ||
 * = 45 – 54 ||= 5,985 ||= 6,620 ||= 12,600 ||
 * = 55 – 64 ||= 5,790 ||= 6,355 ||= 12,145 ||
 * = 65 + ||= 9,830 ||= 11,040 ||= 20,870 ||
 * = **Total** ||= **38,165** ||= **41,310** ||= **79,475** ||

It becomes apparent through the above numbers that Penticton is very much a retirement community. Wholly 25% of our population are found in the 65+ age category! No wonder kids want to "get out of Dodge" after they graduate... but my oh my, don't they flock back in their 30's to raise their families in this idyllic little slice of paradise :)



The above graphic shows not just Penticton, but also the surrounding area. Take a look at those retiring baby boomers! And look what a small segment of the population makes up our school-age population.

Our little community is quite a paradox throughout the year. The graphs above show what Penticton looks like from September to May. But once university students return at the end of April, and the May long weekend hits and all of Alberta comes for 3 months, the city absolutely booms with teenagers, families in campers and tents, and we are a hotbed of activity.


 * Step 2: Identifying potential partners**

Given the aging population, it can be easy to overlook the needs of students in this town. Our library is a welcoming place for our students and we are fortunate to be physically situated right next door to the Penticton Public library as well. The two facilities are in constant communication with each other as students generally use both facilities, the public library busier when the school library hours end (past 4pm). Both our school and public library have shared in the research done when both libraries incorporated e-readers (in our case, Kindles) into the media collection. Having a partner in this project definitely made the inclusion of this new technology easier, not necessarily seamless, but many mistakes were avoided as the brainstorming sessions about what to buy, the ins and outs, the pitfalls, etc. had a double set of brains working things through.


 * Step 3: Civilizations 12**

This course is taught to both grade 11 and 12 students as part of our Humanities offerings. It is a broad based, widely-ranging course that engages students into thinking about what civilization encompasses and has them evaluate and analyze the congruous and diverging aspects of civilizations through time and geography. The units I have covered include a study of World Religions, Ancient Civilizations (Greece, Egypt, China), Art through the Ages (Pre-history all the way up to the 20th Century), Photography, Music... and the list goes on. At this time, I am the only teacher who teaches this course. However, given the wide range of topics that can be covered, I believe the media collection that accompanies my own lesson planning could be used by other teachers in other areas of humanities.

Students, for the most part, are exposed to the collection surrounding Civilizations 12, through me, my presentations of DVD information, etc. in class. However, there are also several student-centered projects that require students to access on-line, digital and book material for research purposes.


 * Step 4:**

For my own personal growth in this area, I need to head over to the public library and suss out what their collection holds that would be useful for curriculum development and student research. We used to have an Instructional Media Centre (IMC) that housed district owned media that was attainable by all teachers throughout the district. Due to budget constraints it closed 2 years ago, and the resources it held went to various schools throughout the district. I would be well served to investigate where some of those resources went, as I know that Ancient Civilizations is covered in the Middle School curriculum.