The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship - Canada

I just received the Study Guide from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration here in Canada - Study Guide. The study guide prepares Canadian students for the Canadian Citizenship Challenge - a contest modeled on exam questions that new immigrants to Canada have to pass in order to become Canadian citizens.  This is without a doubt one of the great Canadian contests for students and provides a framework for learning about our great country.  Once the student is ready to write the multiple choice and short answer test the teacher administers it and submits the results to the Canadian Citizenship Challenge - 100's of prizes are up for grabs - a great way to engage our students and impress upon them that our country is truly rich in history and culture.  Well done, Canada!

Lest We Forget

(Steve Nease - Oakville Beaver November 2004)

Natural Disasters and Emergency Shelter

Indonesia, Haiti, Peru, Iran, Canada - the list goes on of the increasing number of natural disasters that puncture our world almost daily. Thanks to professional building designer Peter Anthony there is a innovative and relatively inexpensive product ready for mass consumption on the horizon.  The Anthony Emergency Housing System  is a folding shelter system that is light and easily transportable even through the harshest conditions.  The collapsible unit can be assembled in about 30 minutes and is completely self contained with windows and a front door.  The need is limitless and the potential is great.  Perhaps the UN might want to test a few of the systems - natural disasters prey on all of us and happen without warning.  Check out the system - I can think of a few countries that could use them today.

What's New in the 21st Century?: Sit, Git and Spit - So 20th Century!

What's New in the 21st Century?: Sit, Git and Spit - So 20th Century!: "I think we have all spent our lives in classrooms (or presentations) where teachers drone on about subject material while we are all daydrea..."

Sit, Git and Spit - So 20th Century!

I think we have all spent our lives in classrooms (or presentations) where teachers drone on about subject material while we are all daydreaming.  By the 20th minute of the class the fidgets begin.  By the 30th minute most of us have tuned out and are diligently doodling or multitasking and by minute 40 we have almost lost the will to live.  Enough with the lecture style teaching approach!  The learner of the 21st century (young and old) wants to be engaged.  Active learning is the new "mantra" which is aligned to living and learning in the 21st century.  It is time to engage our students with activities, readings, assessments that stimulate their love for learning and inculcate an attitude of intrinsic motivation to learn outside of the classroom.  Come to think of it, students really go to 4 to 7 meetings a day at school.  If we cannot engage them we fail them.  Imagine if every adult had 4-7 hourly meetings a day - global business activity would plummet.  Now is the time to re-think the educational model of "sit, git and spit" and develop a more active and enduring one.  Canada has the opportunity to lead the way - but more action than talk is required.