Grant MacEwan College is offering an open house for the Correctional Services Program. It will be at 6:30 pm on the South Campus on March 16th. There are also upcoming open house events at the college. For more information see the website www.macewan.ca.

The University of Alberta is implementing a pilot project for the fall of 2010. It is called Early Final Admission. I am having difficulty understanding exactly what it means but it appears that students who have a 90% average in the required courses for their program are not only given an early admission but that it also an approved admission. Most post – secondary places have early admission but it is based on waiting for other submissions and your second semester marks. This is still probationary in that you have to maintain good standing in your second semester courses but for some students it lets them know they have a spot in the classroom.

This only applies to some of the programs: agriculture, science, nursing, art, Augustana, native studies, PE, and Faculty Saint-Jean. Here is a a copy of the document that came out in an email.

A scholarship for $2000 is available to students attending a post-secondary institution. The student must submit a 1000-1100 word essay on a pre-determined topic. Deadline is the end of February. The essays are judged and one award is given. For more information go to the website for the Alberta Press.

This is a “new” scholarship in that it is the first time I’ve heard about it. And it appears to be a great opportunity. The bursary offers $1500 for 115 students in Alberta. The application is simple and the award is given to those students in financial need. The deadline is March 1st.

St. Mary’s University College in Calgary is now offering a unique program. It is a Bachelor of Education (Elementary). It is unique in that it is specifically directed to the formation of teachers to serve in the Catholic school system. The program is open to qualified studetns who have completed a BA degree.

New mailout just came in from Student Finance Dept. It lists some allowable monthly costs that can be applied for on Student Loans. In summary:

• Living away costs are $429 for rent/mortgage/utilities and $512 for food/clothing/transportation/etc.
• Living at home costs are $432 for food/clothing/transportation/etc.

Special considerations may be given if the amounts you are applying for are more than this. You will have to give a copy of rent or mortgage agreement and copies of utility bills for the last three months.

If you work part-time during school the first $800 you make every month is exempt and will not affect your student loan.

Applications may be made in paper or online. Both are available in the late spring. Unfortunately you can apply online using a Macintosh computer. BOO! (Editorial comment: This just screams of laziness on the part of Alberta Education in not getting decent programmers for varioius web browsers other than Internet Explorer. If Google or Ebay or Amazon or . . . even Microsoft can get their sites to work on any computer than so can Alberta.)

To apply you will need your Alberta Student Number (ask at school). To find out how student loans work, complete the Counselling sesson on the EDULINX site. Or you can call 1-800-222-6485.

The LifeHack blog features tips for students on a regular basis. This is one I just have to pass onto the students of St. Jerome’s School (and any others reading this). The article outlines Five Tips for Beating a Standardized Test.

1. Understand the test format.
2. Take sample tests
3. Understand how it is marked
4. Don’t go overboard on studying
5. Consider taking the test at a later date

I love the advice in the first four items. I make sure the students get to know the test and I make sure they see how the written response sections are marked. I also know lots of teachers who provide many “sample” tests. As for number 4, most students go overboard on studying because they do not study the correct way.

I can’t say I’ve ever given #5 as advice to anyone but it is something to keep in mind. If you don’t feel ready for the test rushing the issue will not help. Read the article for more details.

Being a math teacher I have noticed that calculators are not always a good thing in a classroom. I have watched students blindly enter numbers, use some operation (why is it mostly multiplication?), and simply write down the answer. They are unaware of why the answer is incorrect or even how the answer seem to appear on the screen. Yet, I’ve watch other students (a depressingly few) carry out complex “what if” tasks before confidently jotting down the numbers on the tiny screen.

It is such a wonderful feeling to find research that supports what your gut has been saying: calculators can be helpful and also very damaging. Read the rest of this entry »

The Wall Street Journal has posted an excellent article on the necesssity of college degrees:

Imagine that America had no system of post-secondary education, and you were a member of a task force assigned to create one from scratch. One of your colleagues submits this proposal:

First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn’t meet the goal. We will call the goal a “BA.”

You would conclude that your colleague was cruel, not to say insane. But that’s the system we have in place.

Having been through the degree process myself (twice) I find myself agreeing with the sentiments of the article. My four years in physics were designed to make sure me and my classmates had sufficient general knowledge before going onto graduate studies. One classmate went onto law studies and I headed to education. So it was our decision that the four years was “wasted”. I thought my education degree would prepare me for teaching. It did – kinda.

It was in the practicuum that I really learned anything. The theory, the philosophy, and the history of education was interesting but I don’t feel it built my competence. Would a CA type of exam be more appropriate here? And I wonder what is in store as I comtemplate my next stage – a master’s degree. I’ve already heard from people how they jumped through the hopes of the program knowing it had little to do with the actual business of counselling. It was just a stage to go through to get to the next level of the game.

The Counselling Connection, the official blog of the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors has run a series of posts about how to deal with bullies. They are mostly for parents but there is great advice for teachers and students.

Part 1: How to listen to your child and how to prepare to talk about the issue.

Part 2: Consulting your child’s teacher.

Part 3: Helping your child develop strategies.

The same website also features really good articles about how to deal with your feelings as a parent, how bullying occurs. Make sure to check them out.