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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-05-04, Page 31The stereotype that many children are much more skilled than their parents .at navigating the internet is probably based largely in reality. But educators with the Avon Maitland District School Board haven't always found students to be as knowledgeable as they should be about the pitfalls of internet Use, and they're aiming to turn the board's teachers into the ultimate experts. Delivering a report entit "Academic Honesty" at a re meeting Tuesday, April curriculum co-ordinator J Cronsberry told trustees abo Comm ent By Stew Special to Slater he Citizen board's draft. capital plan, a ment which is now required to et specific parameters of ntario's Education ministry, has been placed on the Huron-Perth website Business superintendent Gerry Thuss provided a short deMonstration of how it might look to on-line visitors, during a regular led gular 25, ennifer ut a new The future enrolment and construction projections ,f the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board, as well , as an opportunity to comment On those projections, is now as close for the public as the click of a computer mouse The doc me 0 Recognition Retiring North Huron clerk-administrator John Stewart, right, was feted Thursday evening at the Wingham Golf and Curling Club. The man stepping into his shoes, Kriss Snell, presented Stewart with a certificate of recognition from the clerks and treasurers association. (Bonnie Gropp photo) THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2006. PAGE 31. d chips and mushy boardwalk were rows each huts. People use ge their clothes in, have and play on the beach. at two days in London rode the tube (underground We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Trafalgar Square, minster Abbey and for a real t our hosts bought us tickets to go the London Eye, a huge ferris wheel that overlooks London. We oohed and awed over the Queen's jewels, walked up step after step in the London Tower, and got to see the play Chicago at the Strand. We rode a double-decker bus to Cambridge, the city of universities and colleges with the most incredible buildings imaginable. While there we walked across the 'bridge of sighs' (I sighed deeply midway) and noted the mathematical (no one can figure out how it works) bridge. Bury St. Edmunds is a very beautiful little town and that is where we visited the Abbey with its ruins and incredible gardens. These little towns have contests in the summer to see who has the nicest gardens. Bury can no longer enter the contest because they have won it so many times. Bury St. Edmunds was built to be one of the sixth richest Benedictine monasteries in England. The stories go that the monks had everything inside the walls and still expected the serfs (who were starving) to bring them food and money. There is so much history and it was neat to walk through the ruins and imagine what it would have been like. While in this town we went into quite a few charity shops. These are like our second-hand shops only they are run by different charities. Peter and Dawn took us to so many places and fed us far too well (I love Yorkshire pudding and lamb). I learned a few 'of their expressions and never got nacked (tired) of their accents. If you ever get a chance to go to England - go. By Jo-Ann McDonald Call 887-6570 Holidays are over for me as the big yellow bus arrived in my yard on the weekend. No more sleeping in, it's back into the routine. The children were glad to see me and the first morning of driving required very few reminders of how to behave on the bus. Let's hope the next two months go as smoothly. Motocross racing also started on the weekend for me as I worked at Auburn Hills racetrack. It was a little cool at 6 a.m. with a breeze that just wouldn't quit on Sunday. The afternoon was nice but still breezy. There were Walton riders taking part, with over 800 strong entries for the day. I don't know any results but riding on Sunday were Jamie Emmrich, Devon Blake, Mitchell, Lucas, Bruce and Scott Godkin. Some of the Willis family gathered on Saturday evening to celebrate Kelly and Sharon Dalton's wedding anniversary. They dined at the Brussels Legion fish fry with family members, Mabel Willis, Donna McClure and Uncle Charlie and Aunt Pat Shaw. My resident gardener informs me that the peas and onions are nicely up and the weeds are growing twice as fast. That's how it goes - with the good comes the bad. Thinking of something bad reminds me of what I saw this week. It was after I'l p.m. and I was heading south out of Brussels, up Tory hill. I could see something in the middle of the road. Slowing down, because I would just hate myself if I ran over someone's house pet, I had a great view of this dark animal. What I By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen thought would be a cat, was a very large rat. I've been on the farm for almost 30 years and I have never seen a rat even in the barn. To see one sauntering across the main road in Brussels, in town, amazed me. I couldn't run over the thing as it was sitting right against the curb by this time, but I wouldn't have hated myself for causing its death. So Brussels residents beware in the south ward, there's at least one unpleasant resident running around and who knows how many friends it might have. Leona McDonald and some Brussels people travelled to Hamilton to see the skating show Stars on Ice. The bus trip incliided a stop for supper and the evening performance at the Copps Coliseum. The stars included Canadian, World and Olympic champions Elvis Stojko, pair Salle and Peltier and many others. The group from Walton and Brussels thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Spring has always been a prime time for weddings and there are plenty of couples celebrating anniversaries this week. Henry and MaryAnn Grobbink, Gerry and Carolyn Sullivan, Jeff and Sarah Grobbink, Hugh and Susan Nichol, Emerson and Phyllis Mitchell and Allan and Alice Searle. Returning from a fantastic trip to England was Patty Banks. She has written a great story on her adventure and it sounds like England is the place to go. I think everyone will enjoy reading about her trip, so read on. "When an opportunity of a lifetime comes you grab it, right? That's what I did when my friend Gwen from British Columbia invited me to go to England to her aunt and uncle's place. We met at Heathrow Airport, England. It was a two-hour bus ride north east from there to Stansted, a smaller airport as well as a bus stop. There we met Peter and Dawn Brown, our hosts for the next two Avon Maitlan d teachers' resource that's ex pe cted to be fully implemente d by September, 2006. It's the cu mination of work begun two yea rs ago by Cronsberry's predeces sor, who brought in a guest speake r to address the. issue of plagi arism from the internet. and crea ted a committee charged with de veloping an Avon Maitland sponse. "We know that we need to be able to build (students') skills in navigating all the information that's out there," Cronsberry told trustees. Plagiarism is one issue, and the curriculum co-ordinator said the ready availability of vast amounts of digital information has made today's students less aware of the value placed on intellectual property by its meeting Monday, April 24. Included on the site are multi-year enrolment projections for each school, as well as for the board as a whole. Floor plans of each facility are provided. In the draft plan, schools are grouped into different clusters, and possible future changes are listed for some of those clusters. There are also tentative financing details for some of the proposed changes. If people want, they can fill out an on-line questionnaire seeking input into the board's plans. " We're asking whether or not they support the plan for their review area," Thuss explained. "They also might comment in terms of the overall plan of the board itself." The draft capital plan is not brand new: it has been available to the weeks. On the way to their place our tour guides began our journey of, sightseeing by stopping at a little village called, Finching Field. There we visited our first church, just stepping inside one could smell its age and be blown away by its architecture and the beauty of the stained-glass windows. It was to be the first of many churches of our 13- day tour. We headed home into Suffolk County where, after many twists and turns (there are no straight roads there) we came to Fenstead End, a little hamlet of maybe 10 houses, to a lovely pink plaster house (Suffolk pink - in early years the mortar was made from mud, pig's blood and horse hair), named The New House (most of the homes have names as part of their address). That evening I accom anied Peter on his walk down to th e moors with his two dogs. There are walking trails all over •farmers' fields for the public enjoy. This particular trail happened to have a 10-foot cement wide path that followed the creek for three-quarters of a mile and then turned into a regular trail road. The scenery was breathtaking with rolling hills and fields separated by hedges. There were deer everywhere and pheasants. The roads are very narrow, 10 feet in width with no shoulders to speak of and very winding. On the sharp curves, drivers usually honk their horns and some have mirrors hung on the pole at the end of their driveways. We saw the old village of Lavenham, the medieval Suffolk wool town with its crooked houses (my favourite place), which were built in the late 1400s. We got to go to a car boot ... that is where people pack up their cars or trucks with their treasures (garage sale stuff) and head out to this designated field and lay their items out on a blanket or on tables. We visited Felixstowe, where I ate creators. - "I think there's a lot of myths out there - like, if you just change the words, it's okay," Cronsberry commented. "It's pervasive in our society. It's not just students. People download music all the time and think it's fine." But she told reporters the new teachers' resource - including something called a -continuum," which states what level of awareness 'students should have about the, internet from Grade 4 on upwards - is not solely meant to prevent copying someone else's work. "If we approach it just as a cheating issue, I think we scare students into thinking they can't use the internet," Cronsberry explained. A key goal, she said, is creating students who are public for a couple of months. But according to Thuss, placing it on-line will make it much easier for the public to find it, and much easier for the board to fulfill one of the other requirements of the aducation ministry: that the draft 'capital plan be subject to public consultation. One key route to consultation will be through school principals, Thuss said, adding they'll take the plan to the school -councils and ask for suggestions about how to get the school community involved. It will also be promoted through school newsletters. But Thuss is hoping for a strong response to the on-linelostionnaire as well, since it's oftened to get people to attend public consultation meetings. - wonderful fish an peas. Along the of colourful b them to chan a spot of tea We spe where we train). Palace West trea on able to surf the internet with a critical eye, successfully determining what type of information is useful or reliable and what is not. The Avon Maitland board has also made resources about the issue available on-line for both teachers and students. FROM WALTON Spring theme at Duff's Worshippers at Duff's United were greeted by Chad McCallum. Macrina Wiederkehr gave a reading. Rev. Joan Tuchlinsky's reflection was entitled, Spring Speaks, and the hymns were a praise of spring. A reading entitled 0 Antiphons of Spring was given by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr. The scripture reader was Ryan Baan. The UCW meeting is Wednesday, May 3 with Jacob McGavin giving his public speaking speech that he presented from School level, to Branch level to Zone level, to District level and at the semi- provincial level of the Legion competitions. Jacob placed second in the junior division in Toronto last week. Also attending the UCW meeting will be Carol Rcinink. She will be speaking on low-maintenance landscaping and flowerbeds. Food bank items will be gratefully collected at this meeting.. Walton congregation will have a guest speaker on Sunday, Peter Gummow, while Bluevale United is invited to attend Bluevale Presbyterian anniversary service. just a click away Teachers to b e the internet experts