CM March 8, 1996. Vol II, Number 21

Table of Contents

Friends of CM

CDN Moving Images Distribution
Visit our on-line catalogue featuring educational film and video resources by Canada's top producers.

CDN THA Media Distributors
A rich collection of quality educational videos from renowned producers around the world.

Book Reviews

CDNReady, Set, Grow!
with the Earth Buddies.
Debora Pearson.
Review by Peter Ross Croskery.
Grades 1 - 5 / Ages 6 to 9.

CDNPaul Bunyan on the West Coast.
Tom Henry.
Review by Peter Ross Croskery.
Grades 4 and Up / Ages 8 and Up.

CDNDanced in My Brain:
A Woman's Story of Addiction and Recovery.
Kimberley Mansfield.
Review by Grace Shaw.
Grades 10 - 13 / Ages 14 - 18.

CDNIroquois Fires:
The Six Nations Lyrics and Lore of Dawendine.
Bernice Loft Winslow. Illustrated by C.W. Jeffries.
Review by Grace Shaw.
All ages.

CDNAssessment and ESL:
On the Yellow Big Road to the Withered of OZ.
Barbara Law and Mary Eckes.
Review by Gail Lennon.
Professional.

Video Reviews

CDNA Cut Above:
My Grandfather Was a Logger.
Directed by Karen Bastgailis.
Review by T.S. Causabon.
Grades 9 and Up / Ages 13 and Up.

INTThe Story of Rosy Dock.
Written and Directed by Jeannie Baker.
Review by Diane Fitzgerald.
All ages.

Features

Notable Web Sites

Collaborative Book Review Project

The Great Canadian Trivia Contest

The Little Math Puzzle

News

Canadian Professional Development
Programs in K-12 Telecommunications

Book Review

Ready, Set, Grow!
with the Earth Buddies.

Debora Pearson.
Toronto: Somerville House Publishing, 1995. 48pp, paper, $12.95.
ISBN: 1-895897-56-4.

Grades 1 - 5 / Ages 6 to 9.
Review by Peter Ross Croskery.

***/4

Ready, Set, Grow with the Earth Buddies is sold as a package that includes an instruction book and two "Earth Buddies."

The Earth Buddies are round balls made from nylon stocking and filled with sawdust and grass seeds. Each has a happy face painted on for fun. By following the "watering instructions" contained within the book, the Earth Buddies will grow grass so they will seem to have green hair. Given the popularity of Chia Pets, the Earth Buddies aren't a completely novel concept, but the ideas within the instruction book make this package attractive.

Written by Debora Pearson, the former editor of Chickadee magazine and author of numerous other interactive environmental materials, this package has excellent educational value. Jane Kurisu's illustrations complement the text and subtly illustrate many of the book's experiments.

Besides instructions on how to grow hair on your Earth Buddy, the book outlines several other simple experiments or activities kids can do. The experiments will teach children a lot about plants -- the importance of water, the effect of acid rain, how seeds grow, how plants turn towards the sun, and so on. Perhaps the nicest feature of the instruction book is that it includes instructions on how to make your own Earth Buddies.

For each experiment, the instructions ("What to Do") and the materials needed and instructions are clearly presented. The final section of each experiment explains "What Happens" if children carefully follow the instructions. And if each activity is done in sequence, children will gain a clear understanding of the magical transformation of a seed to a plant.

Using materials commonly available in every home, the Earth Buddies package is a powerful learning tool. The experiments do not require an outdoor setting so kids can learn how plants grow during winter in preparation for establishing their own outdoors garden this summer.

I've given this package an age rating of six to nine, but younger children, with the help of an adult, could also find this package a fun activity.

Recommended.

Peter Ross Croskery is an Environmental Communications Specialist living in Grimsby, Ontario.

Book Review

Paul Bunyan on the West Coast.

Tom Henry. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1995. 56pp, paper, $12.95.
ISBN: 1-55017-109-7.

Grades 4 and Up / Ages 8 and Up.
Review by Peter Ross Croskery.

***/4

Paul Bunyan on the West Coast is a fun read that blends tall tales and West Coast mythology to embellish the larger-than-life story of Paul Bunyan. "Some people say that Paul Bunyan was a New England logger and never set foot west of the Rockies. This is not true," says author Tom Henry, who goes on to present evidence to support his claim:

Paul logged up and down the Pacific Coast for years and there is plenty of evidence to prove it. Like the Gulf and San Juan Islands. Paul made those islands.

Henry's book is arranged in ten chapters, each relating a Paul Bunyan exploit, like "How Paul Made the Gulf Islands," "Paul's Camp," "Working in the Woods," "Paul's Enemies," and "The Fate of Paul Bunyan." Scattered throughout the text are cartoon-like illustrations by Governor General's Award-winning artist Kim La Fave.

Henry's humorous tall tales are refreshing:

So tall were the firs and hemlocks that it took eight men a week of looking to see the tops. They were so big around that fallers would die of old age making a cut and the next generation would finish it off.

It turns out Paul's life explains a great deal of the topographic evolution of British Columbia. When Babe, Paul's beloved Blue Ox, dies, Paul buries her in what are now the Olympic Mountains. The Alberni Inlet was created by Paul so his camp would be at seaside. And Paul created the channel between Vancouver Island and the mainland.

Closing off the book is a Glossary that includes definitions of logging terms and an index of people in Paul Bunyan's life.

This book will amuse young children because of the magic of the Paul Bunyan legend. Older children will see, and appreciate, the subtle humour scattered throughout the book. Definitely worth reading, this book will appeal to children and those who are young at heart.

Recommended.

Peter Ross Croskery is an Environmental Communications Specialist living in Grimsby, Ontario.

Book Review

Danced in My Brain:
A Woman's Story of Addiction and Recovery.

Kimberley Mansfield.
Burnstown, ON: General Store Publishing, 1995. 157pp, paper, $16.95.
ISBN: 1-896182-25-9.

Grades 10 - 13 / Ages 14 - 18.
Review by Grace Shaw.

**1/2 /4

excerpt:

She couldn't get the vein and kept missing herself, leaving the blood to run down her arms. . . . covered with raw, red, and bluish marks.

Danced in My Brain tells a story of sexual abuse and a nightmarish descent into a living hell of addiction and despair. The most chilling reality is the power of the drug over the will -- that once mainlined, the drug is in control and there are few roads back to normalcy.

Kimberley Mansfield wrote her story to help other addicts, to give them understanding and hope, and to deter those teetering on the brink. Its title refers to the release from pain -- physical and psychic -- promised by the orange cap of the hypodermic syringe.

The book is gripping; the reader does not stop for coffee. But some aspects of the book are troublesome and difficult to accept. The abusers are shadowy; it is not always clear who the perpetrators are (sibling abuse is generally less damaging than inter-generational abuse). The step-father acts decisively to end the abuse, but the self- flagellation continues. The author beats herself up with the story.

There are some elements that are hard to accept without more information. Why, for example, would popular and beautiful girls need to beat Kimberley up? Can we believe that all four sibling in an apparently normal household have totally destructive addiction problems? As I read, I am troubled and challenged by some scepticism and lack of acceptance. Maybe non-addicts just cannot really understand the space of one who has lost control of her life.

But perhaps Kimberley's book will accomplish what she wishes: comfort the lost and warn the vulnerable.

Recommended for a teenage and young adult audience.

Grace Shaw is a teacher at Vancouver Community College.

Book Review

Iroquois Fires:
The Six Nations Lyrics and Lore of Dawendine.

Bernice Loft Winslow. Illustrated by C.W. Jeffries.
Ottawa: Penumbra Press, 1995. 160pp, paper, $19.95.
ISBN: 0-921254-75-X.

All ages.
Review by Grace Shaw.

***/4

excerpt:

[Father] still insisted on us knowing the things that belonged to the Indian, the history of our own people. . . . All during his life we kept that idea of being Indian before us.

Bernice Loft Winslow's Iroquois Fires is a wonderful, celebratory volume of her poetry and the Iroquoian stories and legends she has recorded. Winslow's tales and folklore are enhanced by the pen and ink drawings of C.W. Jeffries, grandfather of the editor, Robert Stacy, who originally attempted to have this poet and orator's work published fifty years ago.

Winslow's Mohawk name, Dawendine -- "The Dawn" -- is appropriate to her task. This preserver of the past and caretaker of "the coming faces" (of future generations) lectured and recited in the manner of her mentor, E. Pauline Johnson, but was more interested in and involved with keeping native culture, traditions, and languages alive. In 1995 she was ninety-two years old and has now succeeded in her life-long goal of sharing her special knowledge. The theme that runs through Iroquois Fires is respect for and oneness with every aspect of creation.

Unfortunately the book's structure is confusing, with its preface, introduction, endnotes, histories, explanations, photographs and afterwords. Perhaps the editor has tried to provide us with too much of Winslow's story where a simple chronology would have sufficed.

But let us view the book as a collage, a potpourri, and not as a single thematic entity and then we can savour each delightful part.

Iroquois Fires will be of special interest to North Americans with native ancestry but can be read and enjoyed by all readers of all ages.

Recommended for all libraries.

Grace Shaw is a teacher at Vancouver Community College.

Book Review

Assessment and ESL:
On the Yellow Big Road to the Withered of OZ.

Barbara Law and Mary Eckes.
Winnipeg: Peguis Publishers, 1995. 309pp, paper, $21.00.
ISBN: 1-895411-77-7.

Professional.
Review by Gail Lennon.

**/4

Assessment and ESL investigates the need for alternative assessment strategies for ESL students. The authors contend that alternative assessment is the only way to gain a clear picture of the ESL student's ability.

Barbara Law has a Ph.D and is an ESL specialist. She has taught ESL students at all levels and has provided direction for regular classroom teachers of ESL students throughout United States. Mary Eckes has been involved in ESL in California and is now the consultant for Pleasant Ridge School District near Sacramento.

Through clear, easy-to-read explanations and the use of student examples, the authors discuss such topics as: the need for ongoing, holistic assessment; assessment measures for teachers of ESL students; how to choose the most appropriate student placement for new ESL students; and effective methods of grading and reporting student success.

While this book presents many useful ideas for language acquisition, evaluation, and reporting, there is nothing new. The techniques suggested are examples of good teaching for every language learner. They are also ones that good teachers have been using for decades. Of some note are the chapters on placement and the case studies that illustrate the use of teacher observation, conferencing, evaluation, and reporting.

For Canadian ESL teachers, it would be reassuring to know that the authors had some knowledge and experience in the Canadian education systems. Their experiences and materials appear heavily slanted towards the American education systems.

Recommended with reservations.

Gail Lennon is a secondary resource teacher with the Bruce County Board of Education. In her thirty years of teaching in both rural and urban settings, she has taught every grade from JK to Adult Education in elementary, secondary and university academic locations. She has specialist qualifications in Library, ESL, Primary, Junior, Intermediate, Senior, and Special Education. Ms. Lennon is a keynote speaker, author, and workshop leader who has reviewed for CM for the past seven years.

Video Review

A Cut Above:
My Grandfather Was a Logger.

Directed by Karen Bastgailis.
All About Us Canada Foundation, 1995. 23 minutes, VHS, $250.00.
Distributed by Moving Images Distribution.
Phone: 1 (800) 684-3014 /
Fax: 1 (604) 684-7165.

Grades 9 and Up / Ages 13 and Up.
Review by T.S. Causabon.

***/4

excerpt:

"Switzerland outlawed clearcutting two hundred and eight years ago. When I was there in 'eighty-six, their cut was one-tenth of our cut in British Columbia. You had that one-tenth employing ten times the number of people and getting eleven dollars into their economy for every buck we got . . . We just don't make sense."

A Cut Above is a look at the logging industry on Vancouver Island and the West Coast through the eyes of Mike Tardiff, a third-generation worker in the forest-industry.

Tardiff, a stocky, personable mill-worker (who also writes and performs his own music), visits several alternative forestry operations that practice selective logging, as well as some local labor-intensive industries that use the products from British Columbia's forests: a home-construction firm, a boat-builder, and a guitar-works.

In the early part of the film, the various selective logging operations make a strong case for their economic efficiency -- they may not bring in the huge volumes that clear-cutters do, but they also don't need the infrastructure of roads and huge equipment. Tardiff is sympathetic to their ecological concerns, but as someone whose family has been working in the forest industry for generations, he worries about another bottom-line question: can selective logging bring in enough volume of timber to sustain the jobs of mill-workers like him?

The local industries he visits seem to provide an answer: their products are in demand, use lumber with tremendous efficiency, and employ many more people per log than the big mills do. But all of them have the same complaint: though they are based in one of the great timber reserves of the world, they struggle to find wood to keep their workers employed. The large forestry concerns have rights to almost all of the logging, and they're not interested in selling small amounts of timber to small operations.

A Cut Above will make anyone consider whether Canada's entire forestry strategy needs re-thinking. As one of the people Tardiff speaks to points out, our forests are no more inexhaustible than our fish; it might be both environmentally and economically smarter to harvest fewer trees, but use more of them in high-value secondary industries.

If there's a flaw in A Cut Above, it's only that there is no representation from the forces of the status quo. Otherwise, the workers and industries chosen manage to give a small film with a fairly narrow mandate plenty of variety, and Tardiff is an accessible and down-to-earth host. It's sobering to read in the closing credits that "three months after filming was completed, Mike Tardiff's entire mill shift of 35 men was laid off until further notice."

Highly recommended for senior classes in environmental studies or current affairs.

T.S. Causabon is a freelance writer living in Winnipeg.

Video Review

The Story of Rosy Dock.

Written and Directed by Jeannie Baker.
Film Australia, 1995. 10 minutes, VHS, $99.00.
Distributed by T.H.A. Media Distributors Ltd.
Phone: 1 (800) 661-4919 /
Fax: 1 (604) 688-8349.

All ages.
Review by Diane Fitzgerald.

***1/2 /4

excerpt:

People say it's the oldest river in the world. . . . Surrounded by desert and the worn-down bones of pre-historic mountains. For thousands of years, almost nothing here changed.
Then, over a hundred years ago, newcomers from Europe settled by the river. . . .

This short and gently paced film tells the story of the plant Rosy Dock; how it came to Australia, and how it came to cover vast spaces. Written and designed by internationally acclaimed children's book author Jeannie Baker, The Story of Rosy Dock is told with very little dialogue, and only spare narration; mostly, it is the collage-based animation that tells the tale.

From the first shot, of a window opening to reveal the river, the images draw the viewer into a strikingly visualized world. One of the newcomers to Australia is a woman who brings seeds for the red Rosy Dock plant -- "Oh, I do hope these seeds grow," she says, "it'll make such a difference to this place." Real foreshadowing; though for a while we stay with the woman and the flood that comes upon her home (the film, though short and simple finds times for little touches like having her cat stuck on the roof amidst the vast stretch of water).

But in time the animation and narration unfold more about the dry land and its cycle of floods. Then we see how the water spreads the Rosy Dock seeds throughout the desert, until they begin to blossom and cover the landscape in a profusion of red (with a rabbit, another ill-considered import to Australia, hopping through it).

The story is simple enough, and the visual changes so striking, that even students in early grades will be able to understand how Rosy Dock made a startling alteration to Australia's ecology. And although the film doesn't preach -- in fact, the transformation itself seems almost miraculous from one perspective -- it's a simple step to realize the moral: that even little changes in the environment can lead to profound disturbances, and require great caution. The animation is also sophisticated enough that the visuals alone will hold the interest of older viewers.

Available with Teachers' Discussion Notes.

Highly recommended.

Diane Fitzgerald is an elementary-school teacher in Saskatoon.

Notable Web Sites

Every week, CM presents a brief collection of noteworthy, useful, or just interesting sites we've turned up and actually checked.

Please send us URLs and evaluations of any web-sites you think deserve the exposure.

Canoe
http://www.canoe.ca

Canoe is not about Canoes; it's a brand-new on-line news venture from some of Canada's biggest media organizations -- like the Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa Suns, the Financial Post, and Maclean's. They promise to update their stories twenty-four hours a day (as we finish production on this issue of CM, top stories are about the band "Rusty's" recent success at the Junos, on Andre Agassi's engagement, and, oh, yeah, the afermath of the new Federal budget.)

PageGen: Interactive HTML Authoring Tool
http://www.channel1.com/users/justinl/pagegen/pagegen.html

Personal Web pages. The Label Makers of the 90s. Do we need them? No. Do they make us feel like individuals? Yes. Frankly, writing HTML code isn't brain surgery, but this page will whip one up according to your (or your students') specifications without having to know anything. No blinking text, but nothing's perfect.

YES Mag-Canada's Science Magazine for Kids
http://www.islandnet.com/~yesmag

Listen, I'd be willing to put this in just because the address has a tilde in it. Perhaps you have to be in the business to realise how few people know where those are on the keyboard . . . Anyway, this is a very slick site with science news, projects, and quizes. Sample question:

Do dolphins sleep? If so, how do they do it without drowning?

Now, that's a good question.

Well Known Canadians
http://physics.bu.edu/~terning/Canadians.html

There are a lot of obvious jokes I could make here, but really, this is kind of cool, organized by:

Actors Actresses Artists Astronauts Athletes Authors Business Comedians Directors/Producers Entertainers Journalists Miscellaneous Musicians Scientists etc.

Surprise: Conrad Bain. Continuing Embarassment: Jim Carrey.

The Chronicles of Narnia Web Page
http://members.aol.com/makithapn2/Narnia/narnia.html

This site is still very much under construction, but if your students don't like Narnia, consider getting a transfer.

News

Canadian Professional Development Programs in K-12 Telecommunications

New Discussion for ONLINEED list

Across Canada, K-12 teachers are being supported in using telecommunications through a wide variety of professional development programs. I believe that educators across the country stand to benefit from better knowledge of what is being done. To this end, during the month of March I invite you to use this list to share information on p.d. programs in telecommunications. Guidelines and a brief description of the SchoolNet Support Teachers Pilot Project follow.

In parallel with this discussion, I am conducting a study for Industry Canada's SchoolNet, to determine the nature of training in the educational use of telecommunications. All data for this study will be gathered this month. This note contains an invitation to contribute to that study beyond what is posted to this list.

A summary of the contributions will be posted at the end of March and details will be published on the Web.

Invitation to join ONLINEED

This note has been cross-posted to several lists other than ONLINEED. Please forward the note to anyone you think might wish to contribute. If you are not an ONLINEED subscriber and wish to participate in the discussion on this topic, please send a message to

listserv@qucdn.queensu.ca

with the message

subscribe onlineed

for example

subscribe onlineed egnatoff@educ.queensu.ca Bill Egnatoff

Discussion Guide--Professional Development Programs in K-12 Telecommunications

This list was created to discuss the establishment of a national certificate for teachers in the educational use of information technology. I would now like to invite subscribers to share information about existing programs of professional development. The emphasis this month is on Canadian programs, but contributions from other countries are most welcome. I would also invite comments on how we might benefit from compiling this information. Here is a suggested outline for contributions to the list:

  1. Name (or capsule description) of program
  2. Organizers, partners, sponsors (boards, individual schools, ministry, faculties, other agencies, business)
  3. Purpose (aim, outcomes)
  4. Organization (who's doing what, where for whom, how, how long)
  5. Scope (contents, activities)
  6. Impact, Sustainability (how its working)
  7. Assessment and Evaluation (mechanisms for finding out what teachers are learning and how well the program is working)
  8. Funding (special sources, main budget, volunteer contributions)

An example: The SchoolNet Support Teachers Pilot Program

The SchoolNet Support Teachers Pilot Project employs new teachers to provide in-school support in the use of telecommunications in education. The project is sponsored jointly by six school boards, four anglophone and two francophone, and Industry Canada's SchoolNet. PARTNERS, a partnership organization, is responsible for management and coordination. Queen's University contributed to the design of the project and is conducting an evaluation study for SchoolNet. One newly qualified teacher is under contract to work in each of the six boards.

The SchoolNet Support Teachers Pilot Project began in September, 1995 and is now entering a phase of evaluation, extension, and interconnection with related work across Canada. Originally slated for four months, it was extended by mutual agreement of Industry Canada and the boards, once the benefits and the need to continue were clear. The project runs until the end of June 1996. Reports on the first phase (Sept.-Dec.) are in preparation and will be submitted this March.

The project was planned in close consultation with board directors and superintendents. The detailed work of the SchoolNet Support Teachers was planned by the board computer coordinators and the Support Teachers. The Support Teachers meet every two or three weeks with coordinators and researchers to report on progress, to share resources, and to organize collaborative activities. The Support Teachers submit monthly reports on their work to the coordinators, researchers, and each other, which contributes to the evaluation study and gives them a clear picture of their accomplishments.

The SchoolNet Support Teachers are effective, welcomed, and entrepreneurial. They have identified needs and garnered resources, developed teaching and learning materials, offered workshops and tutorials, worked directly in classrooms, and provided detailed reports to the research team. They have built awareness in and beyond schools, developed commitment, and initiated long-term planning to sustain what they have begun.

Depending on the needs of their boards, the Support Teachers have: created an inventory of board resources, teacher experience, and need; developed acceptable use policies; conducted hands-on workshops orienting teachers to Internet and SchoolNet resources and services; developed Internet guides for teachers; created or supported the creation of Web pages; collected resources on the Internet for school use; assisted with the installation of hardware and software (to help meet board deadlines); helped technical support staff understand the needs of teachers; worked with teacher-librarians to prepare them to help their colleagues; worked alongside teachers in their classrooms to integrate telecommunications into the curriculum; supported the establishment of telecommunications-based curriculum projects; spoken about their work to groups of parents, principals, superintendents, directors, trustees and the SchoolNet National Advisory Board; and conducted television and newspaper interviews on their work. In all this work, the focus has been on what the SchoolNet Support Teachers can contribute as qualified teachers towards the ongoing work of teachers in the schools and towards the sustainable development of the use of telecommunications in education.

In the second phase of project (Jan.-June 1996), the support teachers are not only continuing the work begun, with greater emphasis being placed on curricular projects, but are also providing a wide range of consultative services to SchoolNet. These services include representing SchoolNet at conferences and other meetings, contributing to the development and evaluation of SchoolNet resources and services, and confering with people involved in related projects such as one now underway in Alberta.

The evaluation of the second phase includes a study of related programs across the country (to guide the establishment of linkages), a more detailed assessment of the direct benefit to teachers of the work of the Support Teachers, a compendium of the work of the SSTs including teaching resources, policies, and procedures, and an examination of the sustainability of the work begun.

The project team submitted two proposals (panel & talk) to the Education stream of the INET'96 conference (June, Montreal).

Invitation to participate in the parallel study

If you would be willing to contribute to the study that I am conducting this month, please contact me directly (see signature below).

Do you have documents that you could submit?

Would you be willing to participate in a telephone interview?

Could you provide details of a program (beyond what you might submit to this list) by email or other electronic means?

I look forward to your contributions.

Dr. William J. Egnatoff, Assistant Professor, Computers In Education
Faculty of Education Queen's University at Kingston
Kingston, Ontario Canada K7L 3N6
Tel.: (613) 545-6000-1-7290 Fax (613) 545-6584
egnatoff@educ.queensu.ca

CM
Editor
Duncan Thornton
e-mail: cmeditor@mts.net

CM
Executive Assistant
Peter Tittenberger
e-mail: cm@umanitoba.ca

Copyright © 1996 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

WELCOME | BOOK REVIEWS BY AUTHOR | BOOK REVIEWS BY TITLE
AUDIO/VIDEO/CD-ROM REVIEWS | VOLUME II INDEX