PEI Teachers' Federation

June 22, 2009 ISSUE #14

[MBA-ELECTIVES] UPEI'S MBA PROGRAM OFFERS NEGOTIATION & CONFLICT COURSE

UPEI's Executive-style MBA Program is pleased to offer limited seats in their Negotiation & Conflict Course (Business 785) which will take place August 3-7, 2009. The topics covered in this course include:

Conflict management techniques
Strategies for formal negotiations
Negotiation-style self assessments
Creative problem solving
Formal mediation and arbitration

Full details about this course are provided at the following URL:
http://www.upei.ca/business/files/business/Negotiation_conflict_1.pdf
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Grace McCourt, UPEI MBA Coordinator, at 566-6474 or by email: gmccourt@upei.ca.

M.A. & ED. - MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY

Teachers of French with at least two years of experience in the profession can enhance their knowledge of literary and cultural studies, teaching practices and continue using their French in an academic context, all for the betterment of their teaching of literature and culture of the francophone world. The program is equally shared by the Faculty of Education and the Department of French and Spanish. Half the courses that make up the program are Education courses (mostly taught in English) and the other half are French courses. Some of the courses are available on line. The program is designed to permit both part-time and full-time study. For more details, please visit the web sites of the Faculty of Education and of the Department of French and Spanish.

NOTICE RE: ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATION COURSE
UPEI ARTS METHODS #469

July 6 -10, 2009 (9:00 - 4:30 for 5 days) - Gulf Shore School, North Rustico, Facilitated By: Suzanne Hastings-James - Register through UPEI Registrar's Office - Equipment Fee: $25 on first day of course.
This compacted 400 level credit course will help teachers increase their confidence in meeting the curriculum expectations of the "Atlantic Canada Arts Education Curriculum" document.The course is 50% studio with a professional artist in your choice of watercolour, Raku pottery, pen and ink etc. and 50% developing curriculum units, having a first hand look at the curriculum activities of some exemplary art teachers, sharing ideas and developing a better understanding of the curriculum expectations and assessment as it relates to the arts.

FAMILY MATH GROUPS: AN EXPLORATION OF CONTENT AND STYLE

Family Math Groups: An Exploration of Content and Style has just been made available at NALD (The National Adult Literacy Database). This new report outlines the project and discusses the effects of the group: parents had fun, grew more interested and less frustrated with math, and learned specific strategies to help their kids with math, which often resulted in improved communication and smoother relationships with their kids. The report finishes with recommendations for facilitating family math groups. It can be downloaded free of charge at http://www.nald.ca/library/research/fammatgro/fammatgro.pdf. The manual, called Family Math Fun!, is full of family math activities, ready to use in early literacy programs, day care centres, primary grades and Adult Basic Education/Literacy programs. Patterns,
recipes, and hand-outs all included (109 pgs).

http://www.nald.ca/library/learning/familymath/familymath.pdf.

For more information contact: Kate.Nonesuch@viu.ca. This project was undertaken by Vancouver Island University, and funded by The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

SECOND ANNUAL WHERE CHALLENGE LAUNCHES IN SEPTEMBER

National Earth Sciences contest for students receives accolades from teachers and students
(Calgary, Alberta) – After receiving high praise from hundreds of participating teachers and students, organizers of the WHERE Challenge are pleased to announce that the contest will be back for a second year. The second annual WHERE Challenge will launch in September 2009 and run until January 31, 2010 and will offer thousands of dollars in regional and national prizes. Once again, the WHERE Challenge will ask Canadian students aged 10 – 14 years to discover the answers to these questions: What on Earth is in your stuff and WHERE on Earth does it come from? Students will be encouraged to use their imagination in their response to create an educational story about non-renewable Earth resources found in an everyday item. Last month, the first annual WHERE Challenge awarded more than $16-thousand in three national, 33 regional and five school prizes. Teachers and students who participated in the Challenge gave it enthusiastic reviews, with more than 87 percent of them saying they would definitely take part again. "It was really fun to work on the project and look at the other entries on YouTube," said Blake Nicol after learning he’d won more than $3,000 by snagging both the regional prize for B.C. as well as the first national grand prize. Dozens of school classrooms and more than a thousand students participated in the first annual WHERE Challenge. Contest organizers hope it raises awareness about the importance of non-renewable Earth resources and also encourages young people to consider a career in the Earth sciences. "The health of our sector depends upon young people entering the industry," said John Boyd, Canadian Chair of the International Year of Planet Earth (2007-2009). "If we can turn students on to Earth science at an early age, we hope to create the next generation of geologists and geophysicists." All WHERE Challenge national and regional winning entries can be seen on the contest website at www.earthsciencescanada.com/where. Further details on next fall’s WHERE Challenge will be released this summer. For more information, please contact: Godfrey Nowlan, Ph: 403-292-7079 Email: gnowlan@nrcan.gc.ca

2010 MUSEUMS AND SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIP AWARD

Call for submissions: to Canadian school/ school board or district involved in educational programming with a Canadian museum! Each year, the Canadian Museums Association (CMA) presents the Museums and Schools Partnership Award to celebrate and encourage partnership between Canadian museums and schools. Since last year, the award has been presented in collaboration with the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF). The purpose of the Museums and Schools Partnership Award is to recognize excellence in collaboration between Canadian museums and school/ school board or district in developing educational programming to enrich and expand students' understanding of and appreciation for Canada's cultural and natural heritage. To be eligible for this award the nominees must all have been involved in the processes of planning, development and implementation. The project/ program must have been completed during 2009. This award is open to any Canadian school or school board in collaboration with any Canadian public non-profit museum (including closely related institutions such as zoos and science centers) or museum group, with the exception of institutions employing members of the award jury. Nominations may be submitted by any person or group in the community where the school/ school district and museum/ museum group are located. All submissions will be reviewed by a volunteer jury of museum professionals and education field professionals. Projects are assessed on collaboration, heritage, partnership, relevance, synergy and vision. The successful recipients are honoured at the CMA's National Conference which in 2010 will be held in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, on May 10-15, 2010. The deadline for submission is November 15, 2009. Eligibility criteria, selection criteria as well as the application form including application instruction and process are available at CMA website, www.museums.ca, by clicking on ‘Awards’ on your left hand side.

2009 Museums and Schools Partnership Award Winner

The 2009 winner project was the Heritage School Tour Program developed by Morse Museum & Cultural Centre in partnership with Morse School. Morse Museum and Morse School partnership provides stimulating educational programs and other activities throughout the year for students in their community. The Heritage School Tour Program involves high school students acting as costumed volunteers. Its integration and long term vision make this project an excellent example of the kind of learning opportunity that museums and schools can create by working together.

REVUE À LIRE EN LIGNE : ÉDITION 2009

La Fédération canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français est heureuse de vous annoncer que l'édition 2009 de la Revue À Lire est maintenant disponible. Dans cette édition, nous abordons le sujet de l’apprentissage au travail. Nous posons notre regard plus précisément sur les partenariats et les possibilités de développement qu’ils suscitent. La Revue À lire fait peau neuve. Cette nouvelle version d’À lire est transformée autant dans son fond que dans sa forme, y compris son titre qui s’intitule désormais À lire en ligne… Cliquez, partez! La version papier restera disponible à ceux et celles qui le souhaitent mais l’idée d’À lire en ligne est clairement d’engager les lecteurs, membres, chercheurs, auteurs, personnes apprenantes et intervenants sociaux dans une démarche innovante. Cette version électronique permet également de rejoindre plus de lecteurs à des coûts moindres ce qui, en cette période de crise, est une initiative très louable. De plus, dans la version en ligne, nous invitons nos lecteurs à réagir en temps réel, après chaque lecture des différents articles. Chaque article ou dossier se conclue par une petite souris informatique indiquant un hyperlien sur lequel le lecteur peut cliquer pour partager son opinion. L’idée n’est pas d’offrir un discours consensuel mais véritablement d’engager un forum de discussions qui fasse réagir et réfléchir au-delà de l’article en lui-même. Afin d'accéder à la revue À lire en ligne, nous vous invitons à cliquer sur le lien suivant : http://www.fcaf.net/publications/alire/alire_2009.html