TORONTO — Carly Bardikoff has an honours BA in history from McGill University and an MA in child study and education from the University of Toronto’s Institute for Child Study, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).
Carly Bardikoff [Frances Kraft photo]
Carly Bardikoff has an honours BA in history from McGill University and an MA in child study and education from the University of Toronto’s Institute for Child Study, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).
But working with children in Africa for four of the past five summers has enriched her formal studies immeasurably.
“I learned so much, and I’ve been able to bring it into the classroom,” said the 25-year-old teacher of Grade 3 math, science and social studies, and Grade 4 language arts, at Leo Baeck Day School’s Thornhill campus.
Last year, she taught an animals unit to a Grade 2 class. “That was perfect,” she said in a recent interview. “In Grade 3, we’re learning about communities.”
In Africa, she said, “Everyone is so nice and appreciative of what you’re doing, and willing to bring you into their communities.
“I loved the land. I think it’s absolutely beautiful,” said Bardikoff, sporting earrings from Ghana and a colourful necklace of recycled paper from Uganda.
This summer, she was a volunteer educator in Uganda, at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
Prior to that, in 2007 and 2008, Bardikoff worked as a teacher in Botswana, home schooling two young boys. Her first summer in Africa was in 2006, when she volunteered at an orphanage in Ghana, working with children who had special needs.
Why Africa, after years of working at the Reform movement’s Camp George? “I’m very into history, and at McGill I took a lot of African history courses,” she said.
Bardikoff also loved working with kids, and thought she could combine her interests by working with children in Africa.
A 2005 stint as a teaching assistant at Dr. Abraham Shore She’arim Hebrew Day School – which served students with learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and mild forms of autism – played an important role in setting Bardikoff on her career path. “I just loved it,” she said.
As well, she noted, her mother, Ricki Wortzman is an educator who once taught at Leo Baeck. Her father, Alan, is a psychologist.
A Toronto native who attended French immersion school, Bardikoff joined Leo Baeck’s staff last year, shortly after graduating from OISE. In her first year, she taught Grade 1 and senior kindergarten French, and Grade 2 math, science and social studies.
As a teacher, she said, she has “so much fun” with her students. “I enjoy watching how excited they get… when something clicks.”
Although she wasn’t looking to work in a Jewish school specifically, Bardikoff has taught Sunday school at Holy Blossom Temple, worked at the Toronto Heschel School in 2006, and was involved in Jewish programs as a student. As well, she ran a private Jewish unaffiliated religious school for elementary school children.
Bardikoff believes in “having children be active participants in their own learning” through hands-on experience. To build critical thinking, in part, she uses games from all over the world, she said.
Not surprisingly, some of them are from Africa.
A lesson from the teacher: “I really do believe in letting students follow their interests and build on what interests them, and feel proud about the work they do.”
