Saturday, June 2, 2012
A Good Teacher Story For A Change
EDMONTON - Lynden Dorval, 61, has been a teacher for 35 years. He’d be in the class room today at Ross Sheppard High School except he’s been suspended.
That drastic action was taken because Dorval refused to go along with a misguided scheme cooked up by educational theorists and school administrators.
Under this scheme, it’s no longer possible for high school teachers at Ross Sheppard and numerous other Edmonton schools to give a student a mark of zero on an assignment or test, even if the student fails to hand in the assignment or write the test. Instead, students are given a final mark based on the work they do complete.
Check out the complete story HERE.
I was the kind of teacher who never contacted parents until the first parent/teacher interviews of the year. It tended to make them curious about who I was and bring them into the school to talk to me. It was then that I could show them the printout of all the assignments we had done up to that point and which assignments the student had failed or failed to turn in.
Often this was a shock to parents but a shock that they could immediately take control of. I always gave the students the opportunity (like Mr Dorval) to make up any missed assignments or even to re-do ones they had done poorly on. Sure it meant more work for me but I was all about getting things done without excuses.
Kids will never remember the facts you teach them but they will remember the learning and study skills they need if you re-enforce and reward possitive behavior. Enough with just GIVING people self esteem. Self-esteem is EARNED and only appreciated when worked for.
That drastic action was taken because Dorval refused to go along with a misguided scheme cooked up by educational theorists and school administrators.
Under this scheme, it’s no longer possible for high school teachers at Ross Sheppard and numerous other Edmonton schools to give a student a mark of zero on an assignment or test, even if the student fails to hand in the assignment or write the test. Instead, students are given a final mark based on the work they do complete.
I met with Dorval on Thursday and immediately thanked him. It’s not often any of us see real heroes, people who put their reputations and jobs on the line to uphold a righteous principle. Dorval fits that category. By refusing to accept lower standards in our schools, he’s standing up for all parents and students.
Check out the complete story HERE.
I was the kind of teacher who never contacted parents until the first parent/teacher interviews of the year. It tended to make them curious about who I was and bring them into the school to talk to me. It was then that I could show them the printout of all the assignments we had done up to that point and which assignments the student had failed or failed to turn in.
Often this was a shock to parents but a shock that they could immediately take control of. I always gave the students the opportunity (like Mr Dorval) to make up any missed assignments or even to re-do ones they had done poorly on. Sure it meant more work for me but I was all about getting things done without excuses.
Kids will never remember the facts you teach them but they will remember the learning and study skills they need if you re-enforce and reward possitive behavior. Enough with just GIVING people self esteem. Self-esteem is EARNED and only appreciated when worked for.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Your Well Wishes Made Me Happier Than A Taliban With Some Soft Serve
Look at those eyes! We all know what kind of gateway drug our dairy can be. He want to sample EVERYTHING that Western civilization has to offer. I finally know the joy found in his madness.
It's Been That Kind Of Week
"The CDC told the Huffington Post the 'The CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead or one that would present zombie like symptoms."
Is anyone else freaked out that someone in the government felt they HAD to release such a statement. I know it's been a bad week for cannibalism but this is getting ridiculous. I blame June - it's the month for lovers of all kinds -even lovers of smoking bath salts which turn them into face eaters.
In Canada we are still searching for our ice pick killing porn star who likes to mail out his cut up body parts and I think there is a brain eater in the mix somewhere in the deep south.
I went shopping today and that deli section had deals on all kind of mixed smoked meats - and it all came ready sliced and packaged for your safety.
That sanitation angle is what is keep me from becoming a professional face eater - I can't think of anyone I have ever know who is even CLEAN enough for me to ever think of making a meatball sub out of. No offence. I hope you don't find me tasty either. Such a thing can often be a relationship deal breaker.
The CDC's Office of Public Health, Preparedness and Response even has a page devoted to the Zombie Apocalypse. Don't tell me you haven't started thinking about storing cans and bottled water in your zombie proof basement bunker after this week of stories.
And they called me crazy when I started the Cave of Cool. Who is crazy NOW bitches?
Irresponsible Use Of Time Travel - My Kind Of Kid's Book
The little girl whose science project nearly destroyed the world is back, and
this time she’s messing with the space-time continuum. You see, she missed a
question on her history test about the location of prehistoric cave paintings.
Obviously the “simple solution” is to build a time machine, go back in time …
and change history so her answer is right.
Of course, things don’t always go as planned. After a couple of failed
attempts at getting the Belgian cavemen to paint something, she takes matters
into her own hands and paints something herself, but doesn’t notice the cavemen
taking a joyride in her time machine. When she finally goes back to her own time
… well, let’s just say the present isn’t exactly the way she left it.
(Click the enlarge this time travel map.)
Three Minute Walk From My House
St. Mary's
Roman Catholic Church
6 McMillan Avenue
Red Deer
Alberta
Canada
Douglas Cardinal 1969
Described by Arran Timms (Sacred Spaces, in AlbertaViews magazine, Nov/Dec 2001) as a design that 'that far and away predates Frank Gehry's contemporary, titanium-clad sculptural musings at Bilbao', this brick-clad building stands in the bland suburbs of a small prairie city, and provides an astonishingly graceful contrast. The entire structure - the walls, the roofline, even the roof itself - is curved. The arcs of the long west wall, the vertical curves of the bell tower, the rounded towers of the confessionals, everything about the building seems organic and melded to the prairie landscape and its tall skies.
Inside, the church is built in the round and the exposed brick is largely unadorned. The floor slopes irresistibly toward the altar and the pulpit, and both are illuminated by a pair of deep skylights that seem to be natural extrusions of the ceiling, which itself echoes the slope of the floor. The ceiling is supported only by a row of narrow columns toward the back of the church. Almost every element inside the church reinforces the sinuous exterior of the building and no doubt contributes to its quiet ambience and remarkable acoustics.
The church is an early work by Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal, who rejected a controversial addition to the church made in 1995. A native Canadian Metis, Cardinal is probably best known for the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa.
Belle posted some great pictures of interesting church designs from around the world. I am lucky enough to live very close to one of the most interesting. Our nation that doesn't have much of this kind of architecture, especially away from the major population centers.
6 McMillan Avenue
Red Deer
Alberta
Canada
Douglas Cardinal 1969
Described by Arran Timms (Sacred Spaces, in AlbertaViews magazine, Nov/Dec 2001) as a design that 'that far and away predates Frank Gehry's contemporary, titanium-clad sculptural musings at Bilbao', this brick-clad building stands in the bland suburbs of a small prairie city, and provides an astonishingly graceful contrast. The entire structure - the walls, the roofline, even the roof itself - is curved. The arcs of the long west wall, the vertical curves of the bell tower, the rounded towers of the confessionals, everything about the building seems organic and melded to the prairie landscape and its tall skies.
Inside, the church is built in the round and the exposed brick is largely unadorned. The floor slopes irresistibly toward the altar and the pulpit, and both are illuminated by a pair of deep skylights that seem to be natural extrusions of the ceiling, which itself echoes the slope of the floor. The ceiling is supported only by a row of narrow columns toward the back of the church. Almost every element inside the church reinforces the sinuous exterior of the building and no doubt contributes to its quiet ambience and remarkable acoustics.
The church is an early work by Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal, who rejected a controversial addition to the church made in 1995. A native Canadian Metis, Cardinal is probably best known for the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa.
Belle posted some great pictures of interesting church designs from around the world. I am lucky enough to live very close to one of the most interesting. Our nation that doesn't have much of this kind of architecture, especially away from the major population centers.
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