Finding Jobs Abroad Teachers looking for work overseas have a new resource in an interactive web site from Search Associates, a commercial agency that connects North American teachers to public, private and international schools with job openings. Teachers need a minimum of two years experience for paying jobs; those who are fully certified but with less than two years experience are eligible for the internship program. The agency will hold a recruitment fair at Toronto’s Park Hyatt Hotel February 23 to 25. For more information about the fees and services offered by Search Associates, visit their web site at www.search-associates.com. Measuring Our Ecological Footprint A newly updated resource for environmental studies for Grades 6 to 8 is available free of charge from the Toronto-based Company for Education Communications Inc. EcoVoyageurs: Reducing Your Ecological Footprint is an award-winning curriculum designed for in-class use. The kit illustrates the concept of measuring the environmental impact of human activity on the earth. It is based on a tool for planning toward sustainability, called Ecological Footprint, that has been used in schools across the country and has been added to the Grade 9 geography curriculum in Ontario. Activities fit into arts, science, math, social studies and language arts curriculum. The web site contains chronicles, activities and both a student and teachers’ section. For information on how to get a copy of this kit, telephone CoEd Communications at 416-955-9526 or toll-free at 1-800-668-1023, or contact them by e-mail at coedcomm@globalserve.ca. You can also visit their web site at www.coedcomm.com. New Zealand Teachers to Get Regulatory Body New Zealand will establish a new Education Council to act as a regulatory body for the teaching profession. The Council is expected to be operating by mid-2001. The Education Council will take over the existing functions of the Teacher Registration Board and is likely to have some wider and more flexible powers. Among its duties, the Council will register teachers, set standards for the teaching profession – including pre-service education and professional development – and administer government policy to ensure that all those working in schools and early education centres undergo police and character checks. You can find a copy of the discussion document that was part of a general consultation on the new Council at www.trb.govt.nz. Ontario Students Win International Science Competition Two science students from Don Mills Collegiate in Toronto have won first place from among 1,000 senior Canadian and American high school students in the annual Toshiba competition, ExploraVision. Grade 11 student Jamy Li and Grade 12 student Andrew Lam each won a savings bond equal to $10,000 U.S. and a four-day all expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. for the awards ceremony. Chemistry teacher Monica Segall acted as mentor and coach to the students, overseeing and approving the development of the winning project and six other projects that were submitted by Don Mills students. "Actually, I rejected Andrew and Jamy’s first idea because I didn’t think it was feasible. But a week later they came with this idea and I was really excited, because I have a research background in energy storage devices. So I said, go for it." The students’ winning science project described how energy demands of a growing world population will be met in the future with chlorophyll-photovoltaic cells that will use artificial chlorophyll to simulate the solar power processing ability of plants. Their submission included a prototype and a web site with a detailed description of the project. Segall, who has a masters degree in physics and chemistry, has taught science and chemistry at Don Mills Collegiate since 1998. She helped the students develop their projects in line with Toshiba guidelines, filled in application forms, saw that the submissions were entered on time, and supported the students through regional competitions. "It was pretty much all in addition to my regular work, but I would do it again. In fact, I’ve just received the forms for next year’s competition," says Segall. The Washington trip included an invitation to the acclaimed Canadian embassy, a tour and a meeting with the ambassador, a round of media interviews, and a gala dinner sponsored by Toshiba. Segall was included in the Washington trip and received a Toshiba digital camera for her work. For more information about the competition, the winners and the winning projects, visit the Toshiba web site at www.toshiba.com/tai/exploravision. Four Historians Honoured Four Ontario teachers were among 12 finalists for the 2000 Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Robin Barker-James of Tillsonburg, Paul Follett of Lakefield, Gary O’Dwyer of Cobourg and Marc Kierstead of Newmarket were selected from among those nominated, along with eight other Canadians, for their dynamic and innovative approach to teaching Canadian history. The award program was established in 1996 by Canada’s National History Society. All the finalists attend the 2000 Governor General’s Award ceremony at Rideau Hall in the fall, under the auspices of the Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. At that time, the recipient is announced and the award presented. Ontario history teacher Alan Skeoch won the award in 1999. For more information about the finalists and the recipient, visit www.e-mediakits.com/GGHistoryAward. Janice Thomson Award Winner A team of teachers from the Robarts School for the Deaf in London are the first recipients of the Janice Thomson Award, which is dedicated to supporting secondary school teachers in the development of creative learning resources. Julia Robinson, David Bobier and Janice Drake won the award for their proposal to develop a deaf culture resource guide for arts history teachers of Grades 9 and 10. The winners will use the $2,000 award to create the resource guide. It will be used to help teach deaf, hard of hearing and hearing students about deaf artists and their unique artistic culture. The guide will also be useful for the Grade 9 visual arts course and for the Grades 9 and 10 Canadian history course. The resource guide is expected to be completed by June 2001. It will conform to the new Ontario curriculum and will contain a teacher’s guide, student work sheets and ideas for hands-on projects, a resource video with interviews with deaf artists and posters of art work. The Janice Thomson Award supports projects that are related to the arts, history or special education programs or are directed at students at risk. Projects must enhance classroom instruction, adhere to the evaluation standards of the Ontario Curriculum Centre and, when completed, be shared with others. The award is named for former College staff member Janice Thomson, who died of cancer in 1999. A noted history teacher and author and a strong advocate for special needs students and programs, Thomson was both an eclectic learner and a passionate teacher. Terry Lynch, director of The Curriculum Foundation, which manages the award, said that there was a wide variety of proposals received for this award. The winning proposal, he said, "is directly in keeping with all that Janice held dear. It will provide a very rich resource in an area where none currently exists." For more information about The Curriculum Foundation, contact Brian Greenway at www.curriculum.org/tcf. More information about the winning project is available from Julia Robinson, 519-453-4400, ext. 320. TVOntario Honours Teachers’ Remarkable Skills College members Garry Schubert and Darren Lentz are the first winners of the TVOntario Award of Excellence for private and independent school teachers. A Grade 6 teacher at Lindsay’s Heritage Christian School, Schubert was honoured in the elementary school category for his leadership, dedication and compassion in the school’s Art and Music programs. Pelican Falls teacher Darren Lentz was honoured in the secondary school category for his integration of traditional First Nations values into the classroom and the Outdoor Education and Technology programs he teaches. Lentz’s teaching brings together traditional skills, academic concepts and new technology. Both teachers received their award as well as a $1,000 personal cash award and a $1,000 cash award for the school for educational materials. The TVOntario Awards of Excellence for Private and Independent School Teachers recognize innovative teaching methods, encourage the creative use of technology in the classroom, reflect the multiethnic heritage of Ontario society and encourage the sharing of resources in the schools in our province. Chief Justices Launch Legal Education Initiative The Chief Justices for the three courts of Ontario have launched a new initiative to improve and broaden legal education in Ontario. A committee of judges, lawyers and educators will look at ways to make education about how our legal system and how the courts function more accessible to teachers, students and the general public. There are plans to focus this year on improving teacher and student access to judges, lawyers and court staff during student visits to local courthouses and classroom visits by judges and lawyers. The committee’s long-term goal is to improve the co-ordination and delivery of existing programs and to develop new programs throughout the province. Teachers of civics, law and history are invited to help create local legal education committees in their areas. For more information: Dan Bowyer at 905-457-5030 or at dtbowyer@idirect.com, or Allan Hux, president of the Ontario History Consultants’ Association, at 416-397-3863 or at allanhux@aol.com. |
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