Winner: Mirika Winmar
School: Quairading District High School (WA)
We are off to celebrate our first Deadly Vibe/ DETYA Barbeque. Mirika Winmar was waiting when we arrived at Quairading District High School with our very special guest May O’Brien.
Mr Rowlie Mellor, the school principal very kindly invited Deadly Vibe and DETYA to join in with the Year 10 End Of Year Speech Day in the Town Hall.
Among various prizes for achievement and successes throughout the year, Mr Peter Henry presented several ASSPA prizes. May O’Brien presented Mirika with her prize plaque signed by the Education Minister, Dr Kemp.
May talked spoke about the Ambassador project, explaining to the students what being an Ambassador entails and what the project aims to achieve. She also highlighted the importance of the Literacy and Numeracy program.
Christine Taylor, Indigenous Education Officer from Northum joined us for the day as did Raymond Muir from DETYA in Perth. Thank you for your support.
The Deadly Vibe/DETYA Barbeque was a great success and there were smiles and full stomachs all round.
We could not have managed without Peter Henry and his team of expert chefs who took control of the cooking. Thank you to all staff and students who helped us get the show on the road. Thank you also to Edna Winmar and Sandra Henry for your patience and help. We were honoured that the following could also join us for the occasion: Basil and Linda Winmar, Winnie McHenry and Kath Yarran.
Dear Mr. Mellor,
I am writing to you because I have a project for your special education classrooms. I am Janet Canning and my husband Glenn and I started a free website for all special needs and disabilities. Our website is http://www.apieceofthepuzzle.net. We began a program we call “Class Acts”. This is where we will match up a special education classroom in Australia to another special education classroom in Australia via computer on our website and the children will have the opportunity to learn and make new friends. Our website is free and we will never sell email addresses. We know the meaning of confidentiality. We ourselves are the proud parents of a son with special needs and would have welcomed a project like this while he was still in school.
The reason I am writing to you now is this is a time for new beginnings. It is a great time to incorporate Class Acts in your classroom. The advantages of Class Acts are numerous. The children can make new friends and chat with them in real-time. The children will learn while having fun, increase their communication skills, typing skills, geography, history and possibly make a forever friend. They will learn they are not alone in the world and this will help increase self-esteem and confidence and they will be accepted for who they are. This would also be a great motivational and learning tool for the educator to use. As you know, a lot of special needs children are introverts, there is no way to measure the impact Class Acts can have for them and their parents. I also want to point out that all conversations between the classrooms will be private and only the people invited to the group will see what is written.
Our website is also a good resource for parents and educators as we publish 2 monthly articles. One is geared towards parents and one towards educators. We also have a parents forum in which we ask the community members to assist others with their issues. We have a Creative Corner where children can submit pictures that they draw or short stories or poems and the children get a real kick out of seeing their pictures on the computer. The website has something for everyone.
We are thinking that the age groups would be from 6th to 10th grade and even in Secondary Colleges it would be appropriate. If anyone would like to follow up with me regarding Class Acts I would be happy to send them the documentation on how to become a part of it. If they have any questions, they may email me or contact me at (203) 439-2238 and I would be happy to discuss this with them. I also have a list of contacts, (educators) who are participating in Class Acts and they would not mind being contacted as a referral.
Best wishes,
Janet Canning
A Piece of the Puzzle
Together we ARE making a difference!
P.S. If you know of any Special Education teachers that could benefit from this, please forward it to them, thank you.