Stay up to date on news, events and special features.
Adopt-A-School: Simon Chang brings hope and inspiration to a local secondary school
Simon Chang’s life as an internationally renowned fashion designer is far removed from the reality of life for students at Vancouver’s Britannia Secondary School.
But Chang, who grew up the youngest of four children living with his family on Keefer Street in Chinatown, once walked the halls of the east-side school as a student and grad in the Class of ’67.
On Wednesday, Chang, whose schedule is so hectic it is mapped out a year in advance, found time to return to his alma mater to inspire students by sharing his story — a story that took him from the halls of Britannia to the Order of Canada.
Click here to read the entire story.
Story by Gillian Shaw, Vancouver Sun
Use of Puppets in the Classroom Leads to Award
A teacher of preschool children who uses puppets in the classroom is one of 13 B.C. recipients of the 2013 Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence.Nadia Vassev, who teaches at Urban Academy Junior Kindergarten, was selected as an example of teaching excellence in Early Childhood Education.
“I’m overwhelmed and excited,” she said. “I think it’s a great thing. It’s a great advertisement for the school.”
Vassev teaches three- and four-year-olds. Now in her eighth year at the private school, she started using puppets in her New Westminster classroom because of her background. Before emigrating to Canada, she spent 15 years as a professional puppeteer with Bulgaria’s national puppet theatre.
(Article by Kevin Griffin, Vancouver Sun)
Click here to read the entire Vancouver Sun article.
Students kept in closed “seclusion rooms” at B.C. schools, says child advocate
Misbehaving special needs students have been kept isolated in closed rooms, a practice that must end, say child advocates.
The incidents were revealed in a report issued on Thursday by Inclusion BC and the Family Support Institute, organizations concerned with children’s’ developmental disabilities and special needs.
Read full article in The Vancouver Province: http://www.theprovince.com/news/bc/Isolating+special+needs+students+causes+long+lasting+emotional/9195942/story.html
Private school enrollment at Independent Schools Association of B.C. up 4% over last year
Private schools in B.C. bucking trend of declining enrollment
Read full article at Metro http://ow.ly/qUSmp
Check out our Remembrance Day Topic Guide
The purpose of this guide is to link teacher candidates and teacher-librarians to young adult and children’s literature, teaching ideas, images, YouTube videos and web resources that will be useful in observing Remembrance Day in BC schools.
http://guides.library.ubc.ca/remembranceday
Photo credit: Lauren Cathy Turner via Flickr