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Testing May Facilitate Learning Better Than Active Methods
According to a recent article published in Science, taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques.
Read the full article here.
TD National Reading Summit II–Montreal
The TD National Reading Summit II live webcast (sponsored by UBC’s School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and Education Library) connected BC participants to the conference in Montreal. The first day’s events were both informative and thought provoking. The second day of the conference will take place on
Friday January 21 in the Dodson Room, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
9:30-11:30 Spotlight on Boys and Reading
The Boys and Reading panel kicks off with keynote speaker, author, Jon Scieszka, renowned for his humour and re-invention of classic fairytales, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs and Stinky Cheese Man. A tireless advocate for Boys and Reading, Scieszka grew up in Michigan with five brothers and no sisters and runs Guys Read, a non-profit literacy organization for boys.
After Scieszka’s presentation, Marie Désilets, Executive Advisor, Libraries, regional programs and services division, Montreal Public Library, introduces the video coup de Poing, followed by Jean-François Bouchard, Group Publisher of Bayard Press who will moderate an insightful and lively discussion on Boys and Reading.
The panel features: trained sociologist, Félix Maltais, Editor and founder of Éditions les Débrouillards, a youth science education movement; Shane Peacock, Novelist, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and author of The Boy Sherlock Holmes series and; Jean-Yves Levesque who holds a PhD in psychopedagogy and is a research chair in the Department of Education at the Université du Québec à Rimouski. Levesque is currently heading a group research project on learning and socialization (APPSO).
Wrapping up the panel, Martine Boucher and Pierre Richard Simon will provide a presentation on Point de Match, a ground-breaking organization which pairs youth sports teams and libraries.
The afternoon sessions 12:00-2:30 will focus on technologies and reading. Note: The next Reading Summit will take place in 2012 in Vancouver.
To view the complete Summit program, packed with exceptional speakers and panelists from Quebec, Canada and abroad, and go to www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca.
The National Reading Campaign is a campaign to incorporate and promote reading as a central feature of 21st century Canadian citizenship.
New Canadian Children’s Book Award Announced
Toronto, January 26, 2011 — The Canadian Children’s Book Centre is very pleased to announce a major new Canadian children’s literature award. The John Spray Mystery Award will honour excellence in the children’s mystery book format and comes with a $5,000 cash prize which will be awarded annually beginning in November 2011. To be eligible the book must be an original work in English, aimed at readers ages eight to sixteen, and written by a Canadian author. A mystery book can be a thriller, a crime novel, or a ‘whodunit’.
John Spray, President of the Mantis Investigation Agency, is delighted to give the prize, saying that reading mysteries made him a passionate reader at an early age and helped him find his chosen career. “For many years, through the publishing career of my wife, Gail Winskill, I became acquainted with both contemporary children’s literature as well as the unwavering support of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre for children’s writers and illustrators. While attending the 2010 TD Book Awards, I was struck by the absence of an award for mystery writing. My childhood was spent rapidly turning the pages of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, which morphed into the Spillanes and le Carres on my adult bookshelf. Offering a prize for children’s mystery books seemed to me to be a modest payback for a lifetime of joy spent reading great mysteries.”
The John Spray Mystery Award is organized and administered by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, a national, not-for-profit organization founded in 1976 to encourage the reading, writing and illustrating of Canadian books for young readers. “We are thrilled that John Spray has entrusted us with the co-ordination of this important and generous new award that will recognize all the elements that make a great mystery book. The winning book will be recognized for its high literary qualities as well as for a great story with lots of suspense and thrills. Although there already exist a few Canadian literary awards for the mystery genre, this is the first one that comes with a cash prize and such a generous one at that. This new award is yet another way of bringing national recognition to the great Canadian creators writing for young people.” said Charlotte Teeple, Executive Director of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.
The three inaugural judges for this important new award are Ken Setterington, librarian, author, reviewer and former Child and Youth Advocate for the Toronto Public Library; Marian Misters, co-owner of the Sleuth of Baker Street Mystery Bookstore, former judge for Crime Writers of Canada and the International Association of Crime Writers, and Eric Wright, retired Professor of English at Ryerson University, writer, and winner of numerous awards including four Arthur Ellis Awards for Best Crime Novel, and the Derrick Murdoch Award for lifetime contribution to Canadian crime writing.
Complete details of the John Spray Mystery Award can be found at www.bookcentre.ca.
For further information contact: Charlotte Teeple Canadian Children’s Book Centre 416 975-0010, x 226 charlotte@bookcentre.ca
Infusing Some Queer into Teacher Education
Publically-funded schools in North America are often scary and dangerous places for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning (GBLTQ) youth, and many teens suggest that the adults charged with ensuring their safety and learning often do little to promote their acceptance and safety among their peers. Educators need preparation to become more sensitized to GBLTQ teen issues and equipped with the empathy, knowledge, and skills to support and protect these marginalized students in their care. The Faculty of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island has introduced a number of initiatives into its pre-service teacher education programs to help new teachers unpack their own beliefs, attitudes, and personal experiences with gender identity and sexual orientation and prepare them to become advocates for their GBLTQ students.
Click here to read the article in the current edition of Canada Education.
Growing up digital, wired for distraction
Students have always faced distractions and time-wasters. But computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing and learning.
Click here to read the full article.