The Westerner for October 26, 2009
Meeting: chair, Ben Doz; music, Jerome & Bert; grace, Doug MacDougall
Attendance/Guests: 39 including John Reilly, Rotary Club of Edmonton Sunrise; Tim Kemp and Kathryn, Rotary Club of Summerland (BC); Susan Cribbs, Sing For Life Society; Kirby Wright, guest speaker; Raplh Makokis, George Emery, Lewis Cardinal, Susan Mathias, guest of Jerome.
Christmas Party: November 23 @ U of A Faculty Club; refreshments @ 6:00; dinner @ 7:00; tickets $20 each; advise Bob Lamoureux if you are attending; no noon meeting that day
President Elect: President Ben announced that Mike Ryan had been selected to this position at a recent past presidents meeting; congratulations Mike
Casino: Bill Buckham circulated casino worker forms for completion so Rotarians could be cleared for working the Jan 23/24, 2010 casino; President Ben thanked Bill for all the work he has put into this endeavour
District Governor's Visit: November 16, 2009; evening meeting at 7:00 pm. Desserts and coffee only, no dinner. Cost $14.00 per person; no noon meeting that day
Sing For Life Society: President Ben gave a donation cheque to Susan Cribbs as a result of that society's presentation to our club last spring; Susan thanked our club for the donation and indicated the society has been able to expand their program to include lessons in addition to singing in a choir
Fellowship Dinners: Bob Lamoureux advised 12 couple have signed up; if you wish to participate, please call Bob soon
Guatemala: Chris advised that 3 children, who have acted as interpretors for our eye missions, are arriving November 12 and will stay till December 23; everyone is invited to a potluck dinner @ Chris and Kathleen's place on November 14 to meet with these helpful individuals
Non Gaming Fund Raiser: Chris requests members give him ideas on non gaming fund raiser ideas so our club can develop funds for our use that are not controlled by Alberta Gaming & Liquor Commision - gives the club more scope on helping good causes that do not have a registered charity involved
Opera Tickets: Danny Chau donated 4 tickets to Rigalleto - raised $45 per ticket - thanks Danny
50/50: Doug MacDougall and Lewis Cardinal did not match cards
Finemaster: John levied a donation from Lily & Ross from their 50/50 win - $2 each; $2 from Jim Johnston for convincing Sherry to give him her dinner as he couldn't wait for his to be served; 2 $2 from Mike as he had Mrs. Stelmach climb a very large step to the stage at CleanScene fund raiser to give a presentation then auction a hat for $250 that did not have any celebrity signatures on it; members that attended Al MacLean's memorial service were invited to donate $2, those that did not attend were fined $2
NEW MEMBER PROPOSALS
George Emery Classification: Union-Apprenticeship Training Proposer: Jerome
Ralph Makokis Classification: Business Development Training Proposer: Jerome
Guest Speaker: Kirby Wright was introduced by Jerome. Kirby has many university degrees. Kirby gave a talk on learning.
Education system is designed for the people who deliver the product but should be designed to meet the needs of the learners. Currently, education is based on grades which is an easier way of administering the system but not all children fit into the grade system. The system is also centered on memory and recall but, with today's technology access, education could avail itself of the new dimension by teaching how to quickly access technology and not depend on memory (which is subject to failure).
Lillian Osborne High School is one school that focuses on access to technology. The education system can learn from the students who are already skilled in technology access - teachers should access this knowledge - have students text each other, thus learning from each other.
ITUNES U - source of many great lectures - should be accessible to students. Institutions post specific apps - access to knowledge of U of A, athletics, YouTube, Jack Links, Sustainability among other postings. GoogleBooks - global source for free libarary - includes Life Magazines, classics, etc. Abilene Christian University - every student is given an Ipod - school is built around every student having a computer in their pocket. Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia is based on inquiry, research, collaboration.
Creativity is a core element of learning - but the current system has an over emphasis on some subjects and under emphasises others. With technology, teaching can be different - teachers can access the skills and interest of all students. Technology can support classes of 1-2 students where it is fiscally impossible to provide a separate teacher for this class size.
Kirby was thanked by Bert