* Maple Leaf Flag Inaugurated in Parliament Hill Ceremony in 1965. (In December 1964, Parliament voted to adopt a new design. Canada’s national flag was to be red and white, the official colours of Canada as decided by King George V of Britain in 1921, with a stylised 11-point red maple leaf in its centre. Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed February 15, 1965, as the day on which the new flag would be raised over Parliament Hill and adopted by all Canadians.)
* Conn Smythe acquires the Toronto St. Patricks team and renames them the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1927; (the original Leafs jerseys featured a green maple leaf; for the next 4 years the team plays out of the old Mutual Street Arena, also known as the Arena Gardens, until Smythe’s “ice palace” on Carlton Street, Maple Leaf Gardens, opens on November 12, 1931. Toronto, Ontario) (I’m a Leaf fan!) Continue reading “John’sBelieve It Or Not… February 14th ❤️”
* Calgary, Alberta hosts 15th Winter Olympics, with 1,800 athletes from 57 countries in 1988. (For the first time, the Winter Games were extended to 16 days, including three weekends.) Continue reading “John’s Believe It Or Not… February 13th”
* Hockey – Canadian team beats Denmark 47-0 in Europe in 1949. It is the most lopsided international hockey game in history. (It was a slow day in Canadian history!) 😉 Continue reading “John’s Believe It Or Not… February 12th”
* Patrick James Whelan hanged in a snowstorm before a crowd of 5,000 people in 1869 for the murder of Thomas D’Arcy McGee – Federal Member of Parliament on April 7, 1868. (Whelan denies he did it; second last public execution in Canada. Ottawa, Ontario) Continue reading “John’s Believe It Or Not… February 11th”
* Canada is ceded by France to Great Britain in 1763. The Treaty of Paris that ended The Seven Years War (aka The French-Indian War) turned all French colonies in North America except Louisiana into British possessions.
* The HMS Dreadnaught is launched by the British Royal Navy in 1906. It rendered all other capital warships of its day obsolete as the first steel-hulled battleship.
* IBM computer Deep Blue becomes the first computer to win a game of chess against a reigning (human) chess champion, Gary Kasparov in 1996.
* Laura Ingalls Wilder, the chronicler of American frontier life, dies in 1957.
* Boris Pasternak in 1880. (Influential Soviet Russian novelist, poet, and literary translator. He died in 1960)
* Greg Norman in 1955. (He is the top professional golfer to hail from Australia. He’s 62 today.)
* Elizabeth Banks in 1974. (American actress of Seabiscuit, The Hunger Games, and Catching Fire fame.)
* Metis establish a provisional government at Red River; Louis Riel elected President. Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1870. The Red River Colony centred on present-day Winnipeg Manitoba was mainly populated by the Metis – which means “mixed blood” They saw themselves as a new nation (French/Native, English/Native) and demanded provincial status within the new Confederation of Canada. It was the Red River Rebellion and Louis Riel became the spokesperson. It was successful as Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald caved to Metis demands making the rebel leader, Riel, a Father of Confederation! Continue reading “John’s Believe It Or Not… February 9th”
“Are Your Students Better Off?”
While browsing a LinkedIn group for educators, the National Education Association, I came upon a provocative discussion that began with the question I just quoted above.
Herm Allen posted the discussion question to challenge teachers to reflect on the benefits students may have gained in their classrooms this year.
As I read through the short article, Mr. Allen was putting emphasis on the experiential component of a teacher’s classroom.
He linked the reader to another of his coaching articles, Experience Counts, where he spoke of his days as a student.
The thing that resonated with him the most was how a teacher made him feel as a student. That struck a chord with me, because there were a few teachers I had who made me feel worthwhile and inspired great admiration within me.
These were the folks who, quite unknowingly, helped me decide to dedicate thirty-five years of my life to educating students. Continue reading “Detours Often Unplanned”
Fiora Books by John Fioravanti 