Each month at Sistema Toronto our we focus on different social and musical themes with our students through class discussions and activities. In our Curriculum Blog we explore how these monthly themes inform our teaching, how we work on them with our students, and how our experiences in the classroom continue to shape our curriculum development process.
Here are our 2020-21 blog entries. Click the images to read each blog post.
For our 2019-20 blog entries, please click here.
March and April: Teamwork and Listening
This month will mark our final entry on the creation of our Theory and Musicianship curriculum, with a special focus on the role of teamwork and listening.
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February: Communication and Dynamics
This month we will continue our exploration of curriculum development at Sistema Toronto, with a special focus on the role of communication.
November: Rhythm and Organization
This month we will continue exploring the design and implementation of Sistema Toronto’s new Theory and Musicianship Curriculum, through the lens of our Social Curriculum topic, Organization.
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October: Identity
This month’s Social Curriculum theme is Identity, a fitting topic for such a challenging time. The beginning of fall is often a time for students to explore different aspects of their identity through new clothing choices, new friends and relationships, or new activities.
June: Community
The final theme of our 2020-2021 Social Curriculum is Community. A community is a group of people who live, work, or learn together, sharing common goals or resources. Communities can be large or small, local or distributed, physical or virtual.
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May: Teamwork
May’s Social Curriculum theme, Teamwork, is an incredibly powerful force in human society. Working as part of a team calls for patience, understanding, and flexibility, and it can be very challenging to the ego. Acting as a team also requires good communication skills, to coordinate tasks and develop shared goals.
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April: Problem Solving
Problem Solving, April’s Social Curriculum theme, is arguably the most important topic included in the curriculum. Life is filled with problems, from everyday challenges like tying shoelaces to generation-defining emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic, and we want to equip our students with tools they need to overcome them.
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March: Leadership
If we want our students to be the leaders of tomorrow, we need to help them understand leadership and the power structures that shape it, provide them with role models that enable them to see themselves as leaders, and teach them the skills and habits they need to become leaders in their own right.
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February: Respect
This February we celebrated Black History Month by exploring our Social Curriculum theme, Respect. In the year that has passed since last February, we have seen the twin pandemics of racism and COVID-19 wreck disproportionate devastation in Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities, and seen the incredible lengths that people will go to do maintain our unjust and unequitable society. Now, respect is needed more than ever before.
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January: Organization
We kicked off 2021 with Organization Month. Keeping our schedules, homes, workplaces, and possessions organized can feel like an endless chore, but the more organized our environment the easier it is to organize our thoughts.
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December: Communication
December was all about Communication, an important skill that has been challenging for many of us this year as we adapt to new models of communication in our personal and professional lives.
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November: Responsibility
November focused on Responsibility, and this year we wanted to focus on our responsibilities to others, through the lens of one of our sub-themes, Allyship.
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October: Listening
Few skills are more important than this October's theme of Listening.
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September: Identity
This year we began with a new topic in our Social Curriculum: Identity. This seemingly simple concept can be a slippery one.
