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DirectionsBy Abby Karos & André Morson

Compass is nearing completion of its first year and a half in operation. Having more than quadrupled our membership, we are investigating other options for space. On our busier days, it can be difficult to find a spot in the common area! As others keep reminding us, this is a pretty good problem to have.

Spring highlights

Highlights from this spring include Compass member Willow Johnson’s speech at North Star’s annual fundraising brunch; Abby’s radio interview on CBC’s “The 180”; and Compass members Emma McLaurin and Ashton Hully presenting at HUB Ottawa. All of these are or will shortly be available on our website.

In this newsletter

In this edition of Directions we feature Compass member Leah Cosman’s educational journey and see some of her beautiful digital drawings. We also hear from two Compass volunteers, although we are profiling one of them, Marc Prud’homme, for his role as an education activist in Quebec. One of our longest-running volunteers, Dahlia Tanasoiu, writes about her initial reservations about volunteering at Compass and what she has learned from the experience. We may include some of Dahlia’s insights in our training of future Compass volunteers! All of these articles share a common thread: that of the importance of trusting one’s self and listening to our own and our children’s instincts and feelings. Each of the journeys you

The trust edition

Pursuing what I loveBy Leah Cosman

High school was not a good fit for me. I found the work hard, the environment stressful and overwhelming, and I had a lot of trouble making friends. The people at Compass are amazing and I have made so many wonderful friends. Compass is a much better place for me.

One of the things I love about Compass is how we get to choose what classes we go to instead of suffering through classes on subjects we won’t even need. We also have time throughout the day to work on our personal interests. I love visual arts and hope to have a career in animation. I think it’s great that Compass will help me to reach my goals. I hope to get into

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Leah is one of the most pleasant people I have ever met in my life. She is friendly and warm to everyone and is a reassuring presence to have around – especially for those new to Compass. It is astonishing to imagine Leah having difficulty making friends, as she describes. Leah knows exactly what she loves to do and goes about in her calm and cheerful manner doing it. I enjoy strolling over to the table where teens are often found doing art to see Leah’s latest animation design or drawing. It is inspiring to listen to Leah talk about her love for animals – birds in particular - and her reasons behind deciding to become a vegetarian. We feel privileged to be part of Leah’s educational journey. – Abby

I am really happy that I made the move to Compass. I no longer dislike learning; instead I am excited about it.

Algonquin College for animation, so I spend most of my free time drawing. In subjects in which I need extra help, like English, I work with a tutor; it really helps me because I work best one-on-one. I feel very comfortable working with my tutor, Caitlin, just like with so many of the volunteers here at Compass. There are some classes I go to just because I like the teacher’s enthusiasm. And I find the classes here so much more interesting than most high school classes. So far, I have especially enjoyed the Art and Film Studies classes.

I really like the flexible schedule at Compass. It allows me to spend time working on my art and pursuing my other interests. It is so nice to have large blocks of time to really immerse myself in my art projects. I also work at an education and adoption aviary for parrots called “Parrot Partner”. I love having Fridays off so I can work at the aviary. Having a more flexible schedule also means I don’t feel as tired or in need of lots of down time, so I am able to work at the aviary on Saturdays and Sundays. I lead birthday parties with the parrots and tours of the aviary. I also help to train the birds so they will be able to be rehomed more easily. Most of the birds that come to the aviary have developed bad habits. But with lots of human interaction and handling, many of the birds become more social and happy.

I am really happy that I made the move to Compass. I no longer dislike learning; instead I am excited about it. I am looking forward to continuing at Compass, where I will be able to work on developing my art portfolio and taking more wonderful classes.

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May 2014

read about in this newsletter would have turned out quite differently if their authors had not done so. As evolutionary psychologist Peter Gray writes in his online blog for Psychology Today: “Aside from the very serious problems of poverty and inequality, our nation’s biggest offense against teenagers, and against younger children too, is lack of trust.” We think of this phrase often in our work as it strikes at the heart of what we do.

Join us at our June 7 fundraiser

Finally, we are looking forward to our first fundraising event on Saturday, June 7th – a silent auction at a roller derby bout. The details are included in this newsletter. Please come out and support us if you can at this family-friendly event. We remain committed to not turning away any family because of financial reasons.

Illustration on this page and previous pages by Leah Cosman.

THE TRUST EDITION - Continued from page 1

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A creative mind finds a homewould struggle at times to keep her interest levels engaged as her own sense of what was meaningful for her grew even stronger. At times Leah’s very creative mind had difficulty making sense of content that was too linear, but all in all, she graduated from grade 8 with much success.

As Leah’s 9th grade year and transition to high school was approaching, we took a close look at secondary options and decided to give our local high school a try. We went in with open minds - knowing this would be a huge transition for Leah after the close-knit environ-ment of the Waldorf School.

After the traumatic earlier experience of Leah’s stint in public education, we decided we would be very proactive and provide the school’s team with all the necessary information and paperwork from the outset. But, just as with our earlier experience, Leah’s guidance counsellor did not really believe or try to understand us when we told her about Leah’s anxiety levels in a large group setting. Every change, accommodation, or attempt to communicate became another struggle and our many attempts to get some-one from the resource department to work with her went unnoticed.

It took Leah having an emotional breakdown to finally make the school realize she was in need of more sup-port. But by then, we realized it was too late - and it was still only September. We knew the big public school would never be the right fit for Leah, and to leave her in that schooling environment would cause more damage than good. Although Leah did meet a

By Nancy and Lloyd Cosman

We are thrilled with how our daughter, Leah, has adjusted to life at Compass. In fact, she is more than simply adjusting; she is thriv-ing in terms of her social connections, artistic expression and intellectual engagement. Her transition to Compass has been her smoothest transition so far in her 10 years of schooling.

Having been a teacher in the public system with the Catholic School Board, I (Nancy) automatically assumed that my children would attend the elementary school in our neighbourhood. However, with the standard-ized curriculum and EQAO having taken a firm foothold in the day-to-day teaching, we no-ticed there was less and less room and time for student learning differences, as well as for the artistic and physical components of the curriculum, and more emphasis on filling students up with information. Many, including Leah, were hurried along with their learning whether they could keep up or not.

Once Leah entered grade 2, we realized how much stress she was under with trying to cope with a system that wasn’t meeting her learning style or emotional needs. We were also be-coming very tired of being seen as “the ene-my” by school staff. Advocating for our daugh-ter for changes or accommodations became a constant battle. The school’s view of Leah was that of a lazy and pampered child. What they failed to see was a severely dyslexic child with a very strong sense of what she was interested in learning. She was a highly motivated and happy child at home.

We decided to enroll Leah in a nearby Waldorf School. Although she flourished overall, Leah

We knew the big public school would never be the right fit for Leah, and to leave her in that schooling environment would cause more damage than good.

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May 2014

few nice peers and she thought the teachers were nice, she felt completely broken in that school set-ting. We wanted Leah to get the most out of her teen years, not waste away focusing on work that she couldn’t do and which held no meaning for her. We knew how much potential Leah had that wasn’t being expressed in the public system. Leah needed some-thing more multi-dimensional and organic, a system that worked with her self-directed and creative learn-ing style. That’s where Compass came into our lives.

Our first impression of Compass at the October Open House was that of a very welcoming and inclusive setting. I especially enjoyed hearing the teens speak about their personal experiences and how Compass was working so well for them. Leaving the school system was a bit daunting, as we didn’t want to close any doors for Leah without having a high school di-ploma. Those worries are now long gone and instead we see how Compass is opening doors for Leah. Leah has always been active in the visual arts and over the last year had developed a keen interest in computer animation. We went to the Ottawa International Ani-

mation Festival in late September and discovered that the colleges don’t even require a high school diploma. The recruiters are focusing on what really matters: a well-rounded portfolio and a creative and motivated individual. They realize that the more creative stu-dents may not always have the most conventional track records. And now that Leah is at Compass, she will be able to pursue her animation goals by auditing courses at Algonquin and taking classes in film editing and animation.

Another event that helped cement our direc-tion towards Compass was watching a TVO special on the Equinox Summit for Learning 2030*. The episode we watched focused on the disengaged and excluded learners and why the system isn’t working for them. Most discouragingly, according to the Canadian Edu-cation Association, by the time students reach grade 11, only 40% of them feel intellectually engaged in their learning. One of the solu-tions recommended by the expert panel was a model in which the teacher/learner relation-ship is more collaborative where learners have a voice in their educations and the space to follow their passions. And that is exactly what Compass is doing in spades!

For us, Compass is a place where Leah can engage in in-depth learning that is meaningful and constructive. I tell people it reminds me of a masters’ program where you have a mentor and an opportunity to really specialize in your area of choice, with options for small group or individual learning. Instead of dreading school, Leah looks forward to going to Com-pass. We started out with her going Mondays and Thursdays, and in January, Leah was keen to go on Wednesdays as well. She just recently mentioned how the Tuesday’s schedule looks very interesting! At Compass she is increas-ing her workload instead of looking for ways to avoid classes or work. That is a sure sign of an engaged and motivated young person. The social component is also very conducive to Leah’s personality - it is a much more natural, true-to-life setting than the institutional set-ting of high school. Her peers and new friends are very inclusive and enjoy working on projects of mutual interest. We are impressed with how enthusiastic and accommodating Abby and Andre are with the teens. Working with them on Leah’s education is truly a col-laborative effort.

One of the solutions recommended by the expert panel was a model in which the teacher/learner relationship is more collaborative where learners have a voice in their educations and the space to follow their passions. And that is exactly what Compass is doing in spades!

* http://tvo.org/special/tvo-road-learning-2030

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By Dahlia Tanasoiu

I can’t tell you when it started or what sparked it but, by Grade 10, I was poring over university-level textbooks on psychology in my spare time. After high school, I attended Carleton University where I studied neuroscience. I was finally really exploring the subject that I was truly interested in. While still in undergrad, I discovered my love of teaching while working as a science educator for the Canadian Museum of Nature. It was a dynamic place to work that let us use all kinds of ways to teach science. Art, dance, sculpture, games, plays and songs were all used to bring people in contact with science in fun and innovative ways. I left the museum to have two bright and active boys, and then went back to school to do my Bachelor’s of Education while my kids were still very young.

One day, an invitation came in my email inbox from Abby about volunteering at Compass. In her note she wrote: “If you feel that it would enhance your life in some way to have interaction with teenagers and share your passion for something with them, then get in touch with me.” And I did get in touch with her but I didn’t know how much I would get back.

I must admit I was very apprehensive about teaching a science class without a curriculum. No guidelines, no benchmarks, no measurements. How will I know if I am doing well and giving them what they need? But I had it all wrong and needn’t have worried. I realized these teens are learning to be leaders in the classroom and in their own lives. They simply let me know when I am not meeting their needs - and when I am. If you are interested in being an instructor at Compass, I recommend it. It has been so rewarding for me and here are the things that I have learned:

Take a chance and go in a direction driven by your interests and see how the teens respond. They are open to different experiences so take a chance. I suggested a course on neuroscience without knowing if they would be interested, but they came. We explored the senses and did experiments that they enjoyed, but they had other questions about neuroscience so we changed the course. We looked

Volunteer Profile

I must admit I was very apprehensive about teaching a science class without a curriculum. No guidelines, no benchmarks, no measurements. How will I know if I am doing well and giving them what they need?

Rediscovering self-directed learning

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at some hot topics in neuroscience, at development, and eventually we looked much more closely at the anatomy of nervous systems in the animal kingdom.

Don’t be afraid to share the details because an in-depth exploration is precisely what they crave. The challenge for an instructor is to meet the needs of all the teens because their interests and science knowledge is so varied. And that is the exciting part too. We have both younger teens and older teens contributing to this class. I was holding out on some of the more complex information on how neurons function. I’ll be ever grateful to Willow, a teen at Compass, for voicing clearly that she wanted more

from the class. So we looked at how sodium and potassium channels activate action potentials down nerve axons and then we did so much more. When I brought in the detail, I realized that it doesn’t matter how complex it is, because there is a way to explain it.

They set the direction and you get them there. They drive the learning but as the instructor you have the map to get to the knowledge they want. I ask them often what they would like to know more about. Since most of the kids aren’t content specialists, they will say: “I don’t know what I want to learn but I want to know more.” But they sure know what they don’t like and that is even more important for me to know!

With so many teens with different interests, it is sometimes hard to always go in a direction that appeals to the whole group. Right now we are exploring the anatomy of brains across the animal kingdom. I brought in a preserved sheep brain, which we dissected in class. I introduced them to the structures of the brain but we also took the time for the teens to explore the brain on their own and make their own observations.

The hardest part of teaching teens at Compass was not being able to see something written that reflects what they are learning and how they have understood the ideas. But success is measured in a thousand different ways, and not necessarily through an assignment or a presentation. The many interactions I have with the teens demonstrate how they are grasping the concepts I’m talking about. These conversations also allow teens to share their experiences, observations of the world, and prior knowledge - which all serves to enrich our class. We engage in all kinds of discussions from fun to silly to scientific to philosophical to tough ethical discussions. The more we interact, the more we all learn from each other.

As a teenager, I was self-directed like the Compass teens. I loved the free time summer vacation offered so I could pursue my real interests. No one made me learn and that was the whole point of it. It is the whole point of Compass too. In a way, I’ve returned to that part of me that was self-directed and learned it’s really never too late to return to that.

But success is measured in a thousand different ways, and not necessarily through an assignment or a presentation. The many interactions I have with the teens demonstrate how they are grasping the concepts I’m talking about.

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in action, because nothing else seems to make much sense to me.

In 2008, I completed a bachelor’s degree in education in Quebec. While doing one of my practicums in a conventional public school, I coached the school’s basketball team. In both settings, the classroom and the basketball court, my role was to teach. However, I was only comfortable in one of those settings. I was not myself in front of my class; I felt nervous and inexplicably sad. I did not like what I was doing to my students, although I could not yet put words to what it was that I was doing that I did not like. In

contrast, I was much more at ease on the basketball court with my players, even though, at the time, I still had an authoritarian style as a coach. What was the difference between both settings? In one of them, the teens were coming to the gym of their own volition, in the other they were forced to attend. Under different circumstances, some of the teens who were compelled to be in my course might still have chosen to come, but that definitely would not have been the case for all of my students.

I grew concerned that the lack of choice and freedom granted to youth throughout their years of schooling was leading many of them to become increasingly frustrated, sad, and disengaged. I met too many children and teens who learned to hate different subject matters, teachers and school in general, to mistrust adults, to become turned off to learning and, most importantly, to hate themselves. I am not using

By Marc-Alexandre Prud’homme

I am a teacher and education activist. I live in Montreal and every week I spend four hours in my car to drive to Ottawa and back for the sole purpose of volunteering at Compass. I could easily teach in a school nearby and, moreover, be paid for it. But I choose to teach – and learn – at Compass. Why do I do it? Of course, the main reason is that I enjoy working with the teens. But one of the other key reasons is the opportunity to witness self-directed learning

In each edition of our newsletter, we like to feature someone who is working to further self-directed learning in some aspect. Marc has been volunteering at Compass since our inception and has taught Conversational French, History, and Current Events through Comedy with us. We are strong supporters of his work to enact more educational alternatives in Quebec.

I met too many children and teens who learned to hate different subject matters, teachers and school in general, to mistrust adults, to become turned off to learning and, most importantly, to hate themselves.

In the field

Social Studies at Compass; Activism in Quebec

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the word hate lightly: I am not talking about being disinterested in school; I am talking about hating learning. For this reason, the term “school dropout” does not only apply to teens, but also to teachers who become increasingly uncomfortable experiencing the daily tension of forcing students to do things against their will. High rates of teacher burnout and turnover confirm this.

After this experience, I completed a Master’s degree on a topic related to self-directed learning and democratic schools. I had the chance to see how teens could be happy in this type of educational setting and how they could grow up to be whoever or whatever they wanted by following their passions – interests too often trivialized by adults. I realized that the learning that lasts the longest is that initiated by the students themselves.

At this point, you might be wondering why I am not teaching in an educational setting based on self-directed learning in Montreal. Unfortunately, Compass is the closest place to where I live that adheres to a self-directed learning philosophy. In fact, anything that remotely appears to be similar to self-directed learning is deemed illegal by the province of Quebec, the only province where this is the case. This includes unschooling at home, democratic schools, and centres like Compass. For this reason, a year and half ago, I started an organization called Le Réseau des écoles démocratiques au Québec (www.redaq.ca) with the purpose of starting a democratic school pilot project in Quebec. At this point, we still need to petition the government to legalize self-directed learning and to further inform people of this educational possibility.

Of course, in the process, teaching and observing others teach at Compass and speaking with teens

there has allowed me to learn a great deal about self-directed learning and to increase the credibility of my own project. For instance, I have learned what to do and what not to do when starting a class with teens who can elect to leave at any time. I also learned about the range of classes that can be offered in an educational setting that does not have to abide by a pre-determined curriculum, courses such as Forensic Psychology, Science in the Kitchen, and Computer Programming, to name a few. At Compass I have had the chance to witness possibilities first-hand that I had only read about in books on self-directed learning and democratic schools, such as teens regaining their self-esteem, their happiness to be alive, and their desire to learn. I have also seen teens fully pursue a passion such as drawing or gaming until the point when they were ready to turn their attention to something else that society deems more meaningful, such as attending classes.

So why do I make the four-hour round trip to Compass almost weekly? Now, when I receive calls by parents who are telling me that they have seen the joy of living disappear from their children’s eyes or when I am talking to teachers who are saying that they want to change careers because they do not believe in education anymore, I can tell them without a doubt that educational settings where children are happy do exist. Recently, when having such conversations, I have started quoting Willow Johnson, a teen at Compass, when she said: “Every decision you make yourself you learn from, regardless of what it is. But if you have people making decisions for you, directly or indirectly, you are simply losing the ability to trust your own intuition”. Fortunately, I followed my own intuition. If you are interested in getting involved in our work at REDAQ, please contact me at redaq.ca@gmail.com.

Anything that remotely appears to be similar to self-directed learning is deemed illegal by the province of Quebec.

Support Compass and attend our first fundraising event on JUNE 7

Can’t attend our event, but still want to make a donation to Compass? Simply mail it to us by using the form below!

We are committed to making membership in Compass available to any teenager, regardless of their family’s ability to pay the full fee. Compass receives no government funding, so we count on individual support to be able to open our doors to any interested family.

* YES, I want to contribute: £$50 £$100 £$250 £$500 £Other:

Name:

Address:

City: Province: Postal Code:

Telephone:

E-mail:

Please mail your donation to:Compass Centre for Self-Directed Learning Bronson Centre 211 Bronson Ave #210 Ottawa, ON K1R 6H5

* Compass is a registred charity (# 845591049RR0001). We will issue a tax receipt for your donation. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!