News for Week of July 4, 1999
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What Horse Sense has to Teach People
World-famous horse trainer Monty Roberts has teamed with renowned educator Flip Flippen to develop a program and a video called "Building Champions" to help teachers create a supportive environment for learning. Reflecting the "join up" process Roberts uses with horses, the teacher is encouraged to use the first five minutes of a class period to build trust and respect with the students, reduce their anxiety, and to discover the students' academic needs to be able to teach to those needs. More information about the program is available from M.B. Flippen & Associates (409) 693-7549.
Recently Innovation Network held workshops to take Monty Roberts' "join up" principles into the workplace to create collaborative productive relationships between people. See Innovation Network: Convergence 1999, Join Up Project.
Alberta is in the early stages of developing a plan to establish a new virtual university focused on high technology. It would operate out of existing campuses at the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge.
Education's Unsung Heroes Awards.
One hundred educators have been recognized by Northern Life's Education's Unsung Heroes Awards for 1999. These awards are given to K-12 educators pioneering in new methods and techniques that improve student learning.The top three winners for 1999 were Alice Tennison ($27,000) from LaCueva High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico for her student mentorship program; Catherine Kelly ($12,000) from Walnut Street School in Woodbury, New Jersey for her Hollywood Kid's project; and James McCarter ($7,000) from Central Middle School in Kokomo, Indiana for his Spce Lab and Mars Room project. More information about the awards and the winners at Education's Unsung Heroes Awards.
StatsCan Second Cycle Report on Children and Youth
StatsCan released a report on July 6, 1999, about self-reported data for 3400 12- and 13-year-olds collected in 1996-97 as part of the second cycle of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) begun in 1994. 93% reported they were currently happy with their lives. The data showed an increase in risk-taking and aggressive behaviour from the time the group was age 10 and 11. It also indicated that peers heavily influence the adolescent's risky actions such as smoking, stealing and fighting. Almost 7% reported seriously considering suicide in the preceding 12 months, with twice as many girls as boys reporting such thoughts. Youths reporting higher levels of anxiety, depression or low self-esteem were much more likely to have seriously considered suicide.
The survey monitors children's development and measures incidence of factors that influence this development. The NLSCY will continue to collect information on the same youth every two years as they move through adolescence to adulthood. An informational release is currently available at www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/990706/d990706a.htm .
Updated July 7, 1999