Friday, January 23, 2009

Two edcentre.ca students travel to Ottawa!

Evan Stryde and Mitchell Woodhouse-Mckenzie will be in Ottawa next week to participate in Encounters With Canada, an exciting program with other youth from across Canada. Evan and Mitchell are completing the online grade 10 English course while attending regular grade nine classes at Churhill Community High School. We hope to see some pictures and hear about their experience when they return. We wish them both a safe and interesting journey.

Encounters with Canada, at a glance:

• Encounters with Canada is an educational program, complete with housing, situated at the Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre in Canada’s capital;
• The program hosts 3,000 high school students, ages 14 to 17 from across the country every year;
• Encounters with Canada is a one-week program about citizenship awareness and leadership skills;

Monday, January 19, 2009

Montreal River

The Montreal River is right outside the building that houses my office. The river is always changing. Here is a video that shows the difference that three days can make.



I created this video by using Picasa. It is free photo software (thanks GOOGLE) that is easy to use. Click here to give it a try. I love it!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Challenging Departmental Exams

For your information:
If you are trying to upgrade your grade 12 marks you can CHALLENGE the departmental exam. This means that you write the exam at a writing centre such as a Northlands College or a High School on the date given. What you get for a mark on the test will be your final mark.
In Northern Saskatchewan there is three official writing centres:

Buffalo Narrows Northlands College,
La Ronge Northlands College and
Creighton Northlands College.

You can register by calling 306-787-8319.

If you happen to be in the city you can write at Prince Albert (Wesmor Community High School) or Saskatoon (Aden Bowman Collegiate).

January 2009 writing exam dates are below:

Thursday, January 22
9:00 - 11:30 English Language Arts A
1:00 – 3:30 Mathematics A

Friday, January 23
9:00 – 11:30 Mathematics B
1:00 – 3:30 Biology

Monday, January 26
9:00 – 11:30 Physics
1:00 – 3:30 Mathematics C

Tuesday, January 27
9:00 – 11:30 Chemistry
1:00 – 3:30 English Language Arts B

English Language Arts examinations are marker-scored. All other examinations are machine-scored.
* ALL STUDENTS shall have the option of taking up to 30 minutes of additional time (after the scheduled conclusion time) to complete the examination(s). The examination centre must remain open an additional 30 minutes to accommodate students requiring this extra time.
Dictionaries:
Print dictionaries may be used for the following examinations:
English Language Arts A 30 (8017) Mathematics A 30 (8404)
English Language Arts B 30 (8018) Mathematics B 30 (8405)
Chemistry 30 (8212) Mathematics C 30 (8406)

No electronic dictionaries, translation dictionaries, or any notes or reference materials are allowed.
Calculators:
Calculators may be used in the following examinations:
Chemistry 30 (8212) Mathematics A 30 (8404) Mathematics B 30 (8405)
Physics 30 (8213) Mathematics C 30 (8406)
• Before an examination begins, all calculators must be inspected by a mathematics or science teacher to ensure all information stored in memory is cleared.
• Calculators that have built-in notes (definitions or explanations in alpha notation) that cannot be cleared are not permitted.

For examinations in mathematics and science, candidates should supply themselves with protractors, compasses, and graduated rulers (marked in centimetres). The required mathematical and scientific tables are supplied by the Ministry of Education.
Text Books/Manuals:
The Chemistry examination is an open-book examination. Any number of authorized textbooks may be used. Students’ notebooks are allowed into the examination room. The laboratory manual may be included as part of the notebook. However, examinations/quizzes/prototype exams are NOT considered to be part of a student’s notebook and, therefore, are NOT allowed into the examination room.

Monday, January 5, 2009

What do we do?

What do we do when the online school server is not working?
This should never happen, but we have learned to never say never. Sometimes the issue is related to a larger disconnect throughout the province, sometimes equipment fails, or sometimes when a technician changes settings, something gets missed. The reality is that sometimes we can't get access to the school site.
Here at the online school, we have email messages and faxes to respond to, we have new lessons to make and older lessons to update, live tutorial sessions, and yes......we can post to the blog site.
What to do at home when the school server is down? If you have previous material printed, or you have already started an activity like a novel study, this is fairly easy. If you are caught up with everything and need to get into the class area to start a new activity, you will need to re-schedule your time and come back to the Internet when the site is up. Calling your teacher to check in would be an excellent idea.
At the school, the moment we find out that someone is unable to access the school server, we contact the technicians who manage the connections and servers. This often requires multiple phone calls and some problem solving to get things working. When it is a simple problem, it might take ten minutes. If it is a more difficult problem, it could take as long as four or five hours. Fortunately, we have excellent support and we are not usually down for long.
Today we have been down since lunch time. The best minds are working at solving the riddle and we expect that everything will be back to normal before the end of the afternoon.
If you are reading this and can't connect to your class, call your teacher to wish them a Happy New Year.

Hello 2009!

Happy New Year to all the friends of edcentre.ca. We are looking forward to a busy 2009. Here is the video from the December 17th assembly if you missed it.