The Parent Voice

On behalf of the Avon Maitland Parent Involvement Committee, I would like to invite you to attend the first Ignite Parents event ever held in Canada. Ignite Parents is an evening of quick and enlightening presentations in the field of education from educators, parents and students within our school board. Ignite Parents is our parent engagement initiative of the year and our goal is to engage, inspire and enlighten parents.

The idea to organize an Ignite Parents event came from the Ignite concept itself. Ignite is a community building speaking event hosted in cities all across the world where people gather to share their passions and ideas using 20 slides that auto advance every 15 seconds for a total of just 5 minutes. The motto of an Ignite event is: “Enlighten us, but make it quick!” We loved that idea and the unique format, so we decided to adapt the Ignite concept and narrow the focus and theme to education.

Ignite Parents promises to be a fun and exciting evening with inspiring presentations by passionate people. The event is free and open to all, there will be displays, plenty of great food, refreshments, door prizes, live music, a cash bar and of course, some fabulous presentations! For more information and to register for Ignite Parents you can visit our website at IgniteParents.ca  I hope you’ll join us at the Arden Park Hotel, Wednesday, May 2^nd from 7 to 9pm. And prepare to be engaged…prepare to be enlightened!

Over the past few years teachers have been embracing technology in the classroom to engage today’s tech savvy students. Two teachers, worlds apart, have taken it to the next level bringing students together for creative group collaboration via the internet.

The “Idea Hive”, created by teachers Heather Durnin of Turnberry Central Public School and Clarence Fisher of Joseph H. Kerr School in Snow Lake, Manitoba, brought two class rooms together from very different parts of the country.

United in cyberspace via skype and chat sessions, these grade 7/8 classes worked together creatively over the past year as part of an educational partnership that eventually resulted in the professional publication of their own book, “A Field Guide to Molching”. The book describes the Idea Hive, “As a classroom like no other where students from two provinces work together every day. This project is one of things that can happen when people re-imagine what school might be like.”

I say, no need to re-imagine…it’s here! Kudos to these innovative educators and students for taking their shared learning to a new, global level! View the full story on the makings of, “A Field Guide to Molching” here:

Online education is rapidly increasing. Over 40% of post-secondary students report having taking some or all of their courses online and that number is projected to double over the next five years. For secondary school students, e-learning is increasingly being utilized for a variety of reasons, including course selection, flexibility, scheduling and maintaining the pace of their own learning.

The Avon Maitland District e-learning Centre currently has 1042 students enrolled in online classes with over half of those students from within the Avon Maitland District School Board and the other half from other school boards, private institutions and even the Department of National Defense! AMDEC is a full distance, online secondary school course provider offering 76 secondary school courses to Ontario students on a modified continuous entry basis. And it’s not too late for students to take advantage of e-learning this year. To find out more and to register, click here: http://www.amdec.ca/

Registration for the 2011-12 school year ends 3:00 p.m. February 17, 2012.

Maurice Wilson returned to a hero’s welcome at Grey Central Public School earlier this month, along with the gold medal he won as Coach of the Wilfrid Laurier Women’s curling team.

The team won the Karuizawa International Curling Championship in Japan last week. Last year Maurice was named Coach of the Year for Women’s University Curling.

He has taught for Avon Maitland for 23 years at Listowel Eastdale, Listowel Central, Wallace and now Grey Central School. Maurice will be teaching curling to Grey Central students in grades 5-8 at the Listowel Curling Club in the next couple of weeks. Upon his return, Mr. Wilson’s class greeted him with cookies and a special cake. Congratulations Mr. Wilson!  And to all grade 5-8 students at Grey Central…hurry, hard!

You’ve survived the sleepless nights, the terrible twos, temper tantrums and the elementary school years. So what’s the big deal about the teen years? Plenty! The teen years are a time of intense physical and intellectual growth that’s bound to disrupt even the most peaceful of households and have both parents and teens at their wits’ end.

Thank goodness for the Middlesex-London Health Unit! They have comprised a video library for parents of teenagers covering a variety of topics including drugs and alcohol, teen brain development, building relationships with your teen, emotional and social development and much more!

Here’s a video with helpful strategies and tips on how you can enhance communication and the relationship you have with your teen. Many thanks to Jacqui Strachan from People for Education for passing along this wonderful resource for parents of teenagers.

In December 2011, Avon Public School in Stratford, Ontario presented the live theatrical production of Scrooge. There is much more to this story than just an elementary school play. Living in the Shakespeare Festival City definitely has its benefits, but the model developed by Music Teacher Mark McIntosh is one that all schools could take advantage of in the creation of a realistic theatrical experience for their students.

Avon Public School is a K – 6 school and over 80 students from their Junior program (grades 4-6) were involved in the production. This included the actors, lights, set creation, sound, stage management and all aspects of a live performance. During the process they were mentored by community volunteers and graduates of the school who also had an expertise in theatre.

The following video isn’t a focus on the play itself.. but the making of the play… and how to maximize student involvement in a school production. Congratulations to Avon Public School!