The great tablet debate

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The latest advance in education technology was spawned in the boardroom. It’s called “bring your own device” (BYOD), and it encourages students of all ages to bring their gizmos and gadgets into the classroom where the newest technologies are combined with cutting-edge learning programs and strategies.

Depending on the school, BYOD can refer to laptops (old news for most students), smartphones (great for updating Twitter but not an educator’s first choice) and the newest member of the personal computing family: the tablet. It has only been three years since iPads first surfaced on the market, but their ubiquity — and a market crowded with competitors — makes it feel like much longer. With touch-screen technology and convenient portability, tablets have begun displacing laptops at every level of education, from the primary school classroom to the university lecture hall.

At Toronto private schools, such as Bayview Glen, Saint Andrew’s College and Holy Trinity School (HTS), educators are diving headfirst into this brave new world.
After a pilot run in 2011, HTS launched its recognized iPad program this past school year. From junior kindergarten all the way to Grade 12 classes at HTS, iPads enable peer collaboration, facilitate test taking and research and provide a multimedia platform for student projects.

The school’s iPad program incorporates popular Google services such as Google Docs, along with the latest apps in education, such as Explain Everything and Notability (both of which are so new that you’re forgiven for never having heard of them).

When HTS head of school, Barry Hughes, describes how these apps actually function in class, it is clear a seismic shift is underway in the learning environment.

“Applications like Explain Everything allow students to make their thinking visible through the creation of screen casts. Students can create a video of themselves solving a mathematical problem or annotating a piece of text, or they can even make a time-lapse video of the creation of an original piece of art.”

The connected HTS classroom that Hughes is describing is truly the classroom of the future. The 2013 New Media Consortium (NMC) report on emerging technologies indicates that more and more schools are implementing BYOD strategies and making use of the ever-multiplying number of mobile apps and programs specially designed for education.

“How students use technology at school should align with how they use technology in the rest of their lives,” Hughes says. “Through access to individualized resources and engagement with interactive and multimedia software, students can have a far more personalized learning experience.”

Yet when HTS students arrive at university, tablet in hand, they might be in for a surprise: where post-secondary education is concerned, the laptop is still king.
As head of information technology at Ryerson University Library & Archives, Fangmin Wang explains that tablets don’t yet possess all the capabilities needed by the average university undergrad.

“So far, laptops are still the most important device for students,” he says. “It is not practical for students to type an assignment on an on-screen keyboard, and a lot of the software used in higher education is only available for desktop or laptop computers.”

Beyond his hesitation about the suitability of tablets for university students, Wang also has qualms about the potential monopoly that a handful of companies could have on the tablet market. Businesses have a stake in promoting the digital classroom since schools implementing BYOD require students to purchase their products. There is also the issue of who is creating the content for education apps.

“Companies like Apple and Amazon have become content providers, which has a huge impact on our behaviours and thinking,” says Wang. “Critical thinking is extremely important for education. My hope is that the content and media that are delivered to K to 12 students won’t be controlled and delivered by just one or two big technology companies.”

Ultimately, this critique is part of a broader discussion about a technology still in its infancy. Many reservations with regard to the wifi classroom remain, including questions about student distractibility, traditional literacy skills and universal accessibility. What is certain is that the learning opportunities presented by mobile technologies far outweigh the possible drawbacks.

As the NMC report reminds us: “Tablets, smartphones, and mobile apps have become too capable, too ubiquitous and too useful to ignore.”

Turn first-day concerns into confidence

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They are three of the most powerful words in the English language. Words that, when spoken on a warm summer’s evening, still have the power to make your heart race and stomach flutter even years after you first heard them.

Back. To. School.

For nervous parents about to send their children to a new school, late August can be a time of particular anxiety. Especially if they are about to enter the private school system for the first time, which brings some additional concerns to fret over. Is your daughter’s new uniform skirt compliant with knee-length regulations? Is your son’s brand new laptop going to survive past lunchtime? Will they become completely obsessed with the house system like those strange kids in Harry Potter?

These concerns are all to be expected, but they’re nothing to become anxious over. Most private schools in Toronto have well-developed programs designed to help new students and parents settle in.

The main intake points for independent schools are the first grade they cater to and Grades 7 and 9, but students join in smaller numbers at every stage. Induction programs vary by age but can begin as early as the spring before entry and usually take the form of school tours, social events and facilitating contacts among kids who will be classmates.

Jennifer Gray, director of admissions at St. Clement’s School for girls, near Yonge and Eglinton, says new student induction starts there in May with a parents’ evening. On that night, parents can talk with school officials about the school program and make appointments for uniform fittings, then there are invitations to end-of-term class events and a buddy system to encourage new and existing students to begin socializing over the summer. Orientation sessions are then held a few days before the start of term, which are so thorough they even cover how to sign out library books and log on to the computer network.

Despite all that preparation, that fateful morning in early September can still be a nervous one.

Sandra Boyes, head of the lower school at the 100-year-old all-boys Crescent School on Bayview Avenue, says everyone feels increasingly nervous as the first day approaches, but she advises parents to focus on the exciting side of starting a new school, such as making new friends or the vast array of extracurricular activities on offer at most private schools.

“I feel it’s important for parents to maintain a positive and upbeat attitude,” she says. “Children are incredibly good at picking up feelings from their parents, so even if the parent is feeling anxious, it’s important that they do not allow that anxiety to translate.”

One of the biggest causes of anxiety for parents of new students is figuring out how involved they should be in their child’s schooling. Few kids would thank their mom or dad for becoming known as the school’s pushy parent, but benign neglect is not exactly something to aim for either.

Jonathan Harris, head of school at Fieldstone, a coed day school near Lawrence and Dufferin, says parents should try to be active in the life of the school. One of the advantages of the independent system is its small class sizes, and Harris suggests that makes it easier for parents to become part of a tight community. At Fieldstone, each class has a parent co-ordinator to answer questions from other parents and encourage them to get involved with the school.

“It is important that parents aren’t just passive recipients of the three or four report cards through the year,” Harris says. “Getting to know the teachers, when the opportunity presents itself, is the best thing parents can do. That familiarity can help in dealing with problems.”

Gray at St. Clement’s also suggests that extracurriculars are a great way for both parents and students to feel part of the school.

“Definitely, we find students who transition in easily are the ones who are keen to get involved,” she says, pointing out that the school has some 90 athletic and special interest clubs for girls to choose from. Some private schools also assign students a “house” (often named after a historical figure or someone of importance to the school), which provides them with an opportunity to mix with students from other grades.

There is no rule on how long it should take a child to find his or her feet as all new students face their own set of challenges — for some it’s making friends, for others it’s the academic intensity of independent schools — but Crescent School’s Boyes advises parents to raise concerns sooner rather than later.

“We would rather hear about a problem before it’s a problem. If, for instance, you notice your son is not having many play dates, then ask the teacher which boys he is closest with, and see if you can set something up.

“If you think there’s something worth mentioning, then it’s worth mentioning.”

Can a new school help teens break old habits?

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I sent my daughter to a prominent local private school so she would hang out with smart kids and not do drugs, drink or have sex. I tried the same thing with my son so he would be influenced towards better work habits and the pursuit of excellence.

My daughter managed the trifecta (and then some) and my son came straight home from school every day and hung out with his old friends from the neighbourhood. For my (then) 20-something thousand dollars a year, he wrote some papers for his neighbourhood friends because, as he said, he was getting a much better education than they were.

I desperately wanted to edit both my kids’ friends lists, and sending them to snazzy private schools was a big part of the plan for that. The idea was that they would bond with the people they spent their days with, which seemed a realistic enough expectation.

How wrong I was to expect that, and now I see why.

The primary reason has to do with power and control. These are the two things that every adolescent wants most. When they whine: “I’m not a baby anymore, but you keep treating me like one,” we need to decode that complaint rather than react, to look under the whine and find the meat of the matter — which is that adolescents’ prime directive, their great biologically programmed drive, is to individuate and separate from their parents, to seize their independence and become autonomous from us.

We know that they do this clumsily, in fits and starts. It’s hard to parent someone who oscillates wildly between babyish and mature. They’re unpredictable about everything — except their friendships. This they do with one goal in mind: power and control. Friends are everything to adolescents, because they are in the process of becoming themselves, of figuring out who they are, and a friend is for reflecting back at you who you are.

These private school kids choose to maintain their old neighbourhood friendships firstly for acutely practical reasons: they have no wheels. If they hang out with their school friends, who do not necessarily live nearby, they need help from Mom and Dad (in the form of rides to and fro). Neighbourhood friends can be accessed independently on foot or bike, which takes parents out of the equation. This gives them more power and control, and we know they want that.

It also allows them to set the social agenda and do some age-appropriate rebelling. Our kids aren’t stupid. They know we want them to connect with these “good” kids at the good school. What a neat trick, what an effective way to seize control, by staying loyal to the neighbourhood friends. Which also allows them to engage in behaviours that we prohibit. Flying under the parental radar is significantly easier when you get around on your own.

The other reason why our private school adolescents stay with their neighbourhood friends has to do with that developmental imperative of figuring out who they are. That process, their anxiety about becoming somebody and the inevitable fears about being invisible or uncool or ugly — all combine to make adolescents pretty fearful creatures. Look at sheep in a field hurrying to herd, and you see adolescent behaviour. If that were you (and it was) would you make a whole bunch of new friends or stick with the ones you knew?

And given that friends are a mirror in whose reflection kids see and define themselves, do they want an unfamiliar mirror?

At a time of life when everything else is changing and their hormones are raging, is it any wonder that a neighbourhood gang is a beacon of safety and security?

To IB, or not to IB?

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In June, the Toronto District School Board proposed charging an extra fee of $1,500 to students wishing to enroll in an International Baccalaureate (IB) program in public schools. The program allows students to engage in a rigorous pre-university curriculum developed in Geneva, Switzerland, and earn the increasingly renowned IB Diploma. Though it was eventually struck down, the lively debate surrounding the proposal brought IB supporters to the forefront and begged the question: just what is this programming worth?

International Baccalaureate programming was created in 1968, with the mandate of giving students the tools needed to succeed in an increasingly international environment. IB curriculum is notoriously challenging and aims to foster a breadth of knowledge and cultural awareness in over 140 countries worldwide. Tuition begins at age three for the IB Primary Years program, which focuses on developing inquisitive minds.

At eleven, students enter the IB Middle Years program, which encourages them to make connections between subject matter and the outside world. And in the final two years of secondary school, students can complete the challenging IB Diploma program, which aims to prepare students for university success and eventual participation in a global marketplace. All three levels of study draw on international educational materials and focus on second language acquisition, interdisciplinary study and extracurricular and community involvement. And in terms of evaluation, the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) requires that all major assignments are marked or moderated externally and that final examinations are globally standardized.

The organization asserts that universal curriculum and assessment ensure students have the option to continue study anywhere they like, armed with real transferrable skills and credentials recognized around the world.

These programs have been cropping up in public schools more and more in recent years as students seek accelerated learning programs to prepare for university and beyond. But this embrace of the IB is somewhat old news to Toronto’s private institutions where programs are plentiful.

Top north Toronto schools, including Branksome Hall, Upper Canada College, the Sunnybrook School and the Toronto French School, have adopted IB programming for many years. And there is an overwhelming consensus among them that the curriculum is of the highest quality, offering successful students the best opportunity to study at the post-secondary institution of their choice (Canadian or international).

Handsome tuition fees, then, promise to not only give a student access to a wealth of extracurricular activities, highly trained teachers and top-notch facilities, but to an academic program that has been lauded as the gold standard for universities worldwide. This is one more way private schools are choosing to distinguish themselves and, in turn, their best students.

Scott Cowie, head of the senior division at Upper Canada College, explains what IB programming has been offered to UCC students since 1995: “Students comment on the ‘richness’ of their IB experience. Not only do they learn content and academic skills like any other academic program, but the IB program goes further in helping students better understand the learning process: how to approach challenging material in various forms and how to solve complex problems through its emphasis on deep analytical thinking and critical literacy.”

Though Cowie acknowledges that the diploma program is in many ways more rigorous than other academic programs, he says, “It is also a program of wide breadth and depth.” Cowie explains IB requires a truly comprehensive study of a range of subjects: language and literature, language acquisition, individuals and society, experimental sciences, mathematics and computer science and the arts.

And indeed, top universities do tend to meet IB candidates with great enthusiasm. Ken Withers, the director of the office of student recruitment at the University of Toronto, says that the university is “very keen” on admitting successful IB students.

“We will provide an early conditional offer based on predicted IB scores that meet or exceed our entry requirements,” he explains.

He also notes that the University will award up to three transfer credits — equivalent to three full-year undergraduate courses — to high-scoring IB Diploma graduates. This is not an uncommon reception. The majority of Canadian universities acknowledge the IB Diploma and offer incentives to students applying for undergraduate study.

In addition, and in keeping with the intent of the curriculum, a wealth of international universities recognize IB graduates. Branksome Hall tallies over 2,200 top institutions that value their students’ IB Diplomas, asserting that “the best higher education institutions seek out and reward IB graduates.”

And admission is just the beginning. IB graduates also frequently find themselves better prepared for university-level study. Cowie explains that IB programming requires students to complete regular analytical writing and oral assignments, which are more common in post-secondary schooling. A 4,000-word final research essay must be submitted in order to earn the IB Diploma, readying students for undergraduate papers and theses.

The TDSB debates dissolved when parents, students and teachers who recognized the benefits of the IB argued its value for all students. This is a concept that many Toronto private schools have embraced over the past decade. Because even though an IB education is not essential for Canadian university admission and success, it may be the best way to ensure a student has all the opportunity in the world.

Tutoring can help but it isn’t everything

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It’s not easy to watch a child struggle with school work. Some parents, particularly the ones who are mathematically challenged, might feel powerless to help. So, is it time to consider a private tutor?

There are well-documented benefits to private tutoring. One-on-one attention and personalized lesson plans are effective learning methods, and studies have shown that most students improve when they are privately taught.

But increasingly, more parents are using tutors as a means to challenge children who are already performing well to up their grades and to ensure acceptance into a good post-secondary institution.

“Parents of teenagers often feel that they may not be getting what they need from their high schools,” explains Jessica Sherman, director of education at Write City Inc.

“To secure a coveted spot in university, students must perform at the top of their class. There are myriad of reasons to work with a tutor, but the number one reason is to assist children with the increasing demands of our competitive world.”

Sherman recommends that parents start their children with tutoring in grades 3, 4 or 5. In her experience, this is the age when students start to fall behind and no one notices.

“The answer ultimately depends on the student; however, in general, the earlier the better. I cannot overstress the importance of practising reading and writing at a young age,” she says.

“It enables a student to learn more in school throughout elementary and high school and prepares them for a lifetime of successful learning in general.”

However, some educational experts think learning at the school of life is equally beneficial and are hesitant to encourage parents to pre-emptively hire a tutor if their child is doing well. Educators from this school of thought say that other activities are just as important as academics.

“I mean there are so many other marvellous things that children can be doing in childhood [besides spending time with a tutor]. Playing outside, enjoying reading, doing activities with family and loafing about … there are other priorities in childhood,” says Dr. Rachel Langford, director for the School of Early Childhood Studies at Ryerson University.

But most experts agree that tutoring is beneficial for students who are, indeed, struggling. In this situation and if resources permit, hiring a private teacher for a child is recommended.

Michelle Fullerton, education director at Full Education, says that parents should consider getting extra help when their child starts bringing home poor test scores and stops doing his or her homework.

“One of the biggest mistakes parents make is waiting until a failed test or the student is in jeopardy in the course. At that point, the tutor has a lot of work to do to get the student back to where they need to be.”

However, private tutors can be costly. Prices differ depending on the age, subject and length of the session, but on average, tutoring costs parents between $40 and $100 a session.

For more budget-friendly options, parents can consider e-tutors, where students communicate with an online tutor through chat rooms, Skype and virtual whiteboards. There are many virtual tutoring websites that specialize in a variety of subjects or grades. The provincial government offers free online math tutoring for any Ontario high school student through the Independent Learning Centre (www.ilc.org).

University and college students also offer parents a cheaper option. Rates will vary depending on age and experience, but are typically less expensive than professionals.

It’s important to note that not all tutors and learning companies are equal, and parents should inquire about the qualifications and experiences of each tutor to ensure their child receives the best education.

The tutor-student relationship is important, and parents should shop around for the right one. A tutor can be a mentor, as well as a teacher to a child, and it’s important to select one that is not only well qualified for a child’s specific needs, but also someone that the child is comfortable with.

“This is the opportunity to pick who teaches your child. Go with someone your child and you relate to so that you feel like everyone can communicate on the same page,” advises Fullerton.

So whether parents want their children to get their grades up or just better understand some math concepts, tutoring has the potential to get them there. All students can make the grade with a little help along the way.

The GTA’s rocket men

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The winter before last, the Internet erupted with coverage of two teenagers from the GTA who sent a Canadian flag−holding Lego man into the stratosphere. Matthew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17 at the time, were in their final year in high school when the video they made of their just-for-fun project went viral.

News agencies around the world — from Nigeria to India — picked up the story of the duo that spent their weekends building “Lego Man in Space” with a budget of $400 and parts sourced from craigslist. The teens (now 19) stirred up such a hubbub that a Transport Canada spokesperson urged people not to engage in copycat projects, fearing the resulting onslaught of space-directed balloons might disrupt air traffic.

Last September, Ho took off for the University of British Columbia to study commerce, while Muhammad has continued to pursue aeronautics and has finished the first year of a two-year aircraft-maintenance program at Centennial College. “Every time you touch an airplane you get rewarded right away, when it takes off, because you just fixed it and it took off,” says Muhammad.

Muhammad has had an unbridled enthusiasm for aeronautics since he was knee-high. He can’t pinpoint where his interest sprouted from (neither of his parents are in the industry), but Muhammad thinks growing up next to an airbase in Karachi, Pakistan, may have had some influence on him.

Since graduating from high school the twosome has been separated by 4,000 kilometres, but that distance hasn’t stymied their plans to conquer near space. After sending up their original balloon, Ho and Muhammad have sent up another four (two of which failed to reach the stratosphere).

Their first launch was constructed with second-hand cameras and a cellphone used as a GPS tracker, all of which was housed in a Styrofoam box. The camera — which had to be a Canon because they can be programmed to take photos continuously — was pointed at the pint-sized Lego man, which stood proudly at the end of a Lego gangplank, holding a Canadian flag. They documented the 97-minute journey with photos that were taken every 15 seconds and then cut the footage together (there were 1,500 photos in total) and posted it on YouTube — today the video of the 24-kilometre high flight has had more than three million views.

The amazing feat even inspired Canadian writer and illustrator Mara Shaughnessy to pen a kids’ book, Lego Man in Space, about the adventure.
After the media mania that resulted from the pair’s extracurricular astro-project, both Canon and Lego reached out to them. Lego gave them a 3,000-piece set, called the Star Destroyer, and Canon gave them a Vixia HF M300 camera.

Last January, Ho and Muhammad embarked on sending the Star Destroyer, which they had superglued together, up to the edge of the stratosphere. They repurposed the hand-stitched parachute from their first launch and bought two weather balloons (to their knowledge, no one else has ever tried to send something up with two balloons). It took 650 cubic feet of helium to send the sizable contraption up. And yes, they mounted their brand new Canon camera onto the apparatus to film the earth’s curvature for what they hoped would be the second time.

“I was freaking out a little about our second launch because it was so big,” says Muhammad, who contacted Transport Canada and told them about their plans.
Unfortunately, the jet stream ripped the parachute and camera housing off, which meant that once the balloons popped in near space there was no way for the Star Destroyer to survive the fall back to earth.

A week after the Star Destroyer debacle, the twosome tried to launch a consolation Darth Vader Lego figure, but the winds dramatically changed at the last second and blew the Sith Lord into Georgian Bay.

A few weeks ago they launched their final two balloons, both succeeded. One was a Lego Superman suspended with fishing wire, which gives the impression that the figure’s actually flying into the stratosphere.

Their final launch was a cut-out photo of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, in celebration of the stars’ fifth anniversary. Ho and Muhammad have declared their joint retirement from balloon launching, but this final launch really shows off the marriage of Ho’s marketing strength with Muhammad’s aeronautics prowess.
We won’t be surprised to see their final triumph aired on The Ellen DeGeneres Show later this month.

Something tells us that their YouTube hits are about to skyrocket.

Inspiring study spaces

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Back to school means back to the books. But for many students, the idea of bringing them home is daunting — especially if they have trouble concentrating. Whether it’s a spelling exercise or mid-term essay, every student needs a quiet place to tackle homework. And with some thoughtful design and smart supplies, an everyday study area can become the perfect place to regain focus and get inspired.

Home room
The ideal study space could be located in any room. For Nigel Fong, a tutor based in North Toronto, the most important thing is that students “can feel like it’s their space for as long as they need.” So, the kitchen, where they might be limited due to meal preparation, or a bedroom they share with a sibling may not be ideal. The location should also limit distraction. He advises against choosing a room with a television.

Emily Dyer-Tobar, a design expert and owner of Rosedale’s popular children’s store Advice from a Caterpillar, suggests a space with minimal contrasting colours and access to fresh air.

The ideal space should also have room to display the child’s work, she adds, noting that “a clothesline where special pieces or projects can be displayed is motivating and a way to respect the child’s learning and efforts.”

Dyer-Tobar emphasizes the importance of a calming environment. If the study space is in a child’s bedroom, she suggests using a screen to close it off when not in use.

Fong agrees that a peaceful environment, entirely free from tension or arguing, is essential for successful study — a worthy goal for any space that a child can call his or her own.

On the table
Though most work surfaces can function in a study area, the ideal option provides storage and room to spread out. “A large work table is wonderful,” says Dyer-Tobar. “For ages two to eight, we love the P’kolino’s newest art table, Little Modern Table. It has a reversible tabletop that is painted with chalk paint and can open to reveal under-table storage for papers and workbooks.”

And as children grow, look beyond the dull, particleboard desk. Dyer-Tobar notes that “a harvest table, cut down slightly, can be wonderful for larger projects and study groups.” Add a smart storage component, so supplies are readily available, like a nearby bookcase outfitted with boxes and bins. Dyer-Tobar loves using small buckets to hold craft supplies: “When designing a work or study space, it is important to consider access,” she says, noting that storage should always be suited to a student’s height, to encourage staying organized.

Guiding light
“Good lighting can be energizing,” says Fong. He cautions though against intense artificial light, which has the opposite effect on his students. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to locate study spaces near a large window. For times when the sun isn’t shining, an adjustable work lamp is a helpful addition. Fong recommends mid-level task lighting that can be angled to shine directly onto the paper. For added concentration: “Dim the light level of the surroundings slightly, so the task light is the main light,” he suggests. “A work light is fantastic when it can be focused.”

Take your seat
Students spend a lot of time sitting down to study, so a great chair is essential. If the study space is in the child’s bedroom, he or she may enjoy picking out a fun, modern design that matches the child’s decor and suits his or her stature.

Dyer-Tobar explains that, when a work space is “easy for the child to reach independently,” it can encourage the child to use the space more often, and “take responsibility for their learning process.”

Consider choosing a chair with some seat cushioning and lumbar support, as well, as Fong emphasizes the value of creating a comfortable space for successful study at home. For adolescent students, a chair with adjustable seat height is another practical choice, as it will adapt to every growth spurt.

Supplies party
“Go to an office supply store and get the kids a few of their favourite pencils and erasers,” Fong advises. “It’s important, because they will spend all their time working with these instruments,” so they should be tools that they enjoy. He fondly remembers a mechanical pencil he owned as a young student: “I loved it. I think this helped me with getting my math homework done.”

“An assortment of age-specific pens, crayons and pencils are wonderful,” agrees Dyer-Tobar. “Small hands learn well with thick crayons, and pencil crayons play a beautiful role for pre-kindergarten to age eight. Paints are also important for working with colour and developing fine motor skills.”

Out of the classroom and into the spotlight

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Chemistry and math and all the rest of that stuff are important, but few high school students ever sit in the back of the class and daydream about becoming chemical engineers. No, when it comes to making a living, they fantasize about something cool. Like being in a band.

Turning that fantasy into a reality is, however, kinda tricky. And unless you get ridiculously lucky and pen a hit song on your first attempt, it requires dedication. Plus the ability to cram a ton of equipment into a tiny van.

The latter is a skill that up-and-coming Toronto rockers METZ have down pat. The trio, which dropped its first, self-titled album last fall and has signed with the legendary Sub Pop Records, has toured all over Ontario and further afield and works on the principle that, if you can’t fit it in a van, you don’t need it at the gig.

“We like to keep things simple,” says Alex Edkins, the band’s singer and guitar player. “There’s three of us, and we like to stick with the less-is-more mode of making music. I think that forces us to become better musicians as opposed to just layering on things.”

After the band cut its first album, Edkins and his colleagues Hayden Menzies and Chris Slorach quit their nine-to-five jobs to focus on music.

“We’ve toured incessantly since September. It’s been unreal, an incredible year, but it’s been non-stop. I think we’ve done three European tours and two American tours,” he says on the phone from his home in Toronto’s west end where he’s taking a few days off between touring in Europe and getting married.

Working on the band full-time has been a dream of Edkins’ since he first started METZ back in his native Ottawa where he first met Menzies. Seven years ago, they moved to Toronto and added Slorach to the roster, and they have been working on their sound since.

Playing to crowds at festivals in Germany and the Netherlands, Edkins has literally come a long way since he first picked up his mother’s acoustic guitar at the age of 12.

Though his school just outside Ottawa offered guitar classes, Edkins wasn’t a fan of the structured approach to learning music (he says it was more fun than math, “but only slightly”). Instead, he preferred to get some friends together and see where it ended up.

“I think I wanted to see where I could go myself, and then I met people my age who were doing the same thing, and I think you learn the most from your peers and your friends,” he says. “So I had some friends, and we’d go down into the basement and make a racket for hours and hours and hours. That’s when you learn the most, when you start making music with other people and collaborating and just jamming. I have fond memories of that from a young age.”

Edkins says that the decision last year to work on his band was a life changer. Operating the band as a business, Edkins found himself thrust into the role of entrepreneur, juggling the kind of responsibilities familiar to any owner of a small start-up firm.

“You are a business owner and you need to run it as a business.” he says. “You need to take care of all the ins and outs of the business and it’s pretty wild. And that’s on top of being creative, performing and writing music. It’s an absolute around-the-clock type of profession. We learned that quickly.”

But, economic realities aside, Edkins says the most important thing for any aspiring band is to have a love of the what they are doing.

“I think if you start making music for other people or to become popular it’s not going to last or you’re going to end up hating it. I think the most important thing is to truly believe in and love what you are doing. And as long as you are doing that, you can’t ever really fail.”

He adds, “You may not find mass appeal, but I don’t really think that’s what it’s all about. That’s never been our goal. Success is one of those things you can never predict. It’s out of your control in many ways, so just do it for the sheer love of it.”

Drink This: The Beaver’s El Diablo

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The Beaver has been a Queen West staple since before the street’s westernmost reaches were deemed cool. The low-key space, fit with a long bar, wooden tables and a large picture window — perfect for people-gazing — is full of freelancers and café dwellers during the day. Come sundown, things get a tad rowdier, with some nights witnessing karaoke and others resulting in a raging party on the tiny dance floor.

A short ‘n’ sweet cocktail menu is perhaps best experienced on a quieter night. The El Diablo ($8.50), a Mexican number, combines gold tequila with crème de cassis and ginger beer over ice, making for a blackcurrant-tinged drink with a subtle kick.

Sip on the back patio as summer draws nigh.

The Beaver, 1192 Queen St. W., 416-537-2768

Karolyne Ellacott is a features editor at Post City Magazines. She pedals around town in heels, eating sandwiches and drinking cocktails. She writes about that, and about about other stuff too. She is also on Twitter.

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Concert Review: Mumford & Sons play a sold-out show at the Molson Amphitheatre

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12:01 pm

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Monday night’s Mumford & Sons show at the Molson Amphitheatre may as well have been a crowning ceremony. If it wasn’t clear going into the sold-out show, it became blatantly obvious during the mesmerizing two-hour set that the English folk-rock foursome are the hottest touring act in the world right now.

Coming off a two-day Gentlemen of the Road stopover in Simcoe, Marcus Mumford and co. put forth a master class in sound, pacing, mood-setting and audience interaction in front of 16,000 fans.

The 19-song set started slowly, with deliberate time gaps spacing out songs like “Lover’s Eyes” and “Little Lion Man” before gaining momentum and gradually building towards a frenzied peak. By the time Mumford got around to cult faves like “I Will Wait,” “Awake My Soul” and “Dust Bowl Dance,” his energetic guitar strumming had infused distinct a electricity into the air.

The encore, meanwhile, was refreshingly fun and quirky. After returning to the stage with a Bruce Springsteen cover (“I’m On Fire”), the band surprised its fans with a tongue-in-cheek take on AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long,” a clear departure from their folksy comfort zone, but one that was embraced by the crowd nevertheless. One lucky audience member was selected to lend his pipes to the rock ballad.

That fan wasn’t the only crowd member to feel the love from Mumford & Sons. Those sitting on the tightly packed lawn received multiple shout-outs from Mumford, who went so far as to designate them the “A” section.

This audience connectivity is common for the band, both in a positive sense and, once in a while, a negative one — Mumford was quick to deride a loud, intrusive fan who interrupted the band’s otherwise delicate Springsteen cover.

All of that reinforces the fact that the band possesses complete control onstage. They deftly manage the pace of the show and the crowd, all the while serving up exceptional musicianship and exuding a genuine enthusiasm for their crowd.

With only a few shows remaining on the 2013 concert slate at the Amphitheatre, this one is going to be pretty hard to top.

Wanted: this one-of-a-kind pendant from a Canadian jewellery brand

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6:39 pm

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Fast fashion retailers like Zara, Joe Fresh and H&M have taken over the retail landscape in a big way. Featuring designs entirely “inspired” by current trends shown at fashion weeks, this business model values speed over craftsmanship, recognized trends over original design and low prices over sustainable business practices.

Seduced by low prices and shiny Céline knockoffs, consumers are, for the most part, happy to turn over their hard-earned money to these fashion giants. But when you show up to a party and three girls are wearing the same necklace as you, things become problematic.

The story behind Pyrrha’s talisman collection is bound to appeal to the individual in all of us. Designed and handcrafted in Vancouver, Pyrrha’s signature line of necklaces features one-of-a-kind pendants cast from 18th and 19th century wax seals. Jewellery designers Wade Papin and Danielle Wilmore were inspired to design the collection after discovering a box of these seals, hoping to preserve their fragile beauty through the process of casting.

These thoughtful pieces are a refreshing contrast to the cheaply made, mass-produced accessories so ubiquitous in this industry. The fact that they won’t break after two or three wears — or even 300 — is also a big plus. As Papin and Wilmore explain on their website, “Everything seems to be cranked out at a staggering pace and then left for dead. Because we live in such a throwaway society, it’s necessary to create some things that can be kept.”

These unique trinkets can be purchased in both sterling silver and bronze, and come with a wide assortment of inscriptions and symbols. My personal favourite: this talisman necklace in sterling silver, depicting a pair of scissors and inscribed with the words “We part to meet again.”

$158. Available in-store and online at Elevator, 1273 Queen St. W.

Tony Aspler’s Weekly Wine Pick: an impressive white from France’s Loire Valley

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9:55 am

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Silex is a flint-and-sand-based soil type found primarily in the Loire Valley. It’s formed from a mixture of clay, limestone and silica, and it gives the Chenin Blanc grape a special flavour in Vouvray. Pale straw in colour, this wine has a nose of quince and honey. It’s medium-bodied with a minerally, pear flavour.

Food match: pork chop; blackened scallops

Domaine des Aubuisières Cuvée de Silex Vouvray, 2011, Loire, $17.95. Vintages #57042

Post City Magazines’ wine columnist, Tony Aspler, has written 14 books on wine and food. Tony also created the Ontario Wine Awards and has been inducted into the New York Media Wine Writers’ Hall of Fame. He can be heard on 680News.