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Interact with Canadian history
The Canadian Encyclopedia—Historica Canada’s flagship project—has launched a new interactive website. Since it was first published in 1985, the encyclopedia has more than tripled in size. Today, it offers more than 35,000 articles in English and French by 4,400 authors. The redesign includes interactive features, such as curated content exhibits, timelines and Canada Tweets, where the feeds of history-making Canadians are aggregated in a Twitter hub, as well as a user-generated content map that invites Canadians to share their stories. Visit Historica Canada online at www.historicacanada.ca.
Building peaceful communities
The University of Alberta Faculty of Education and the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation for World Peace are sponsoring the Mahatma Gandhi 2014 Summer Institute: Building Peaceful Communities. This summer institute will focus on building peaceful communities and contribute to teachers’ understanding of community building in schools and classrooms; offer an opportunity to engage with other practitioners from across Canada and the US about important considerations in community building in an increasingly diverse society; and be relevant to classroom curriculum across subject areas and grade levels.
Each student will enrol in one of four graduate-level courses: Narrative Inquiries as Relational Research Methodology; Toward a Curriculum of Community; Toward a Gandhian Pedagogy; and Narrative Pedagogy as Social Justice. In addition to the courses, there will be three afternoon lectures open to the public, which all students will attend.
For more information and to register, contact Eliza Pinnegar, at elizapinnegar@gmail.com, or the Centre for Research for Teacher Education and Development (CRTED), at 780-492-7770; or visit www.elementaryed.ualberta.ca/en/centres/CRTED.aspx and follow the link to the Mahatma Gandhi 2014 Summer Institute page.
Learn to see, feel and create
Do you want to find your inner artist? Do you want to have fun learning how to paint in a group setting with individual attention? Norene Procter, a professional artist with 29 years’ experience, offers art workshops tailored to classrooms and PD days. Discover more about Procter’s art and workshops at www.sixfootsilks.com. Contact Procter by telephone at 403-242-6102 or by e-mail at silks@shaw.ca.
Free eye exams curtail future vision problems
Each year, less than 14 per cent of Canadian children under the age of six have a comprehensive eye exam before entering school. In Alberta, a free program offered by optometrists, called Eye See...Eye Learn, provides kindergarten-aged children with a comprehensive eye examination and a complimentary pair of glasses if they need them. The program is designed to detect, diagnose and treat children with vision problems before they begin school, so they have every opportunity to learn to the best of their ability. For more information about this program, visit www.optometrists.ab.ca/eye-see-eye-learn.
Travel to Rwanda
Twenty spots are available for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Rwanda to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. For 100 days, beginning on the night of April 6, 1994, the tiny African country of Rwanda was engulfed in genocidal turmoil that saw some 1,000,000 people killed. In July 2014, a group of Canadian teachers will travel to Rwanda to learn more about what happened there in 1994, why it happened and how the country is rebuilding from this troubled piece of its history. The price for the trip is yet to be determined but is currently estimated at $3,000 (plus food and shared accommodation). For more information, contact Heather McCaig at heavendawn999@hotmail.com.
Stories and photos wanted
The ATA News is always on the lookout for interesting articles, photos and cartoons. Articles should not exceed 500 words and should be accompanied by a short byline, stating where you work and what you teach. Photos of teachers or students participating in interesting activities are welcome, as are cartoons. Don’t forget to include photo captions.
Please note: Receipt of material does not guarantee its publication. Send your submissions to Managing Editor, the ATA News, 11010–142 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5N 2R1 or submit electronically to raymond.gariepy@ata.ab.ca.
