Author: christine

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CYH Questions About Teacher Education

Posted by CYH: I would like to post a few ideas and questions as we move forward with our thinking about redesign.  This involves the idea of length of time, offering credits to recruit and recognize Coaching Teachers for 15+, and post-baccalaureate program offered at UNBC Prince George or remotely.

http://teach.educ.ubc.ca/bachelor-of-education-program/

The UBC Teacher Education Program in Vancouver currently offers their BEd program in 11-months. Ours is offered in 16-months or 4-terms. SFU has moved to 16-months for PDP as well. http://www.sfu.ca/education/teaching/

I wonder about how long UNBC should take for students to be certified. I believe this will be discussed in our upcoming design committee meeting. I’ve heard of people choosing UBC over UNBC because of certifying earlier and this person is a Prince George resident. How do we make ourselves more marketable, competitive, and viable to those who wish to become teachers?

https://www.sfu.ca/education/teachersed/fa-sa/school-associates/tuition-fee-credits.html

http://teach.educ.ubc.ca/bachelor-of-education-program/practicum/school-advisor-resources/recognition/

I think about recruiting and retaining Coaching Teachers for our practicum placements. Practicum Mentors have contracts with UNBC but Coaching Teachers are recognized with gifts. UBC and SFU offer tuition credits for Coaching Teachers (aka. School Associates or Teacher Sponsors). I wonder if this is possible for UNBC. This was discussed briefly on Nov. 2/3. Another possibility that was discussed was practicing teachers (or Coaching Teachers) receiving credit for doing course work with Teacher Candidates.  Offering credits as a way to recognize the contribution to the UNBC School of Education but could also help our school with Graduate programs, Diploma programs, or 15+ opportunities with future enrolment.  Can we offer credits or credit hours to recruit and retain Coaching Teachers for Practicum?

https://www.unbc.ca/education/post-baccalaureate-diploma-courses

This leads to my final thought. UNBC offers Graduate Programs in MDL (multidisciplinary leadership) and Special Education… and Diploma Programs in Terrace in Montessori and Curriculum & Instruction. Master programs are 600-level courses and Diploma programs are 500-level programs. We are also offering a course this spring that is a 300-level course in Teacher inquiry. I wonder how this course fits into the above programs, if it does. How does this inquiry course fit into the idea of Practicing Teachers attaining a 15+ designation? Can this course be transferred to a Diploma program? (I’d suspect not due to the 300-level of the course, but I’m asking). If we are considering having “electives” during the summer for practicing teachers and Teacher Candidates to possibly take, how do these courses transfer to currently offered programs? How can we offer 15+ programming in conjunction to our current diploma and graduate programs? Finally, how can we offer (or grow) post-baccalaureate programs for practicing teachers in partnership with our BEd program and Coaching Teacher recognition?

Submitted by: Christine Younghusband

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Doing Homework – November 22

Posted by CYH: On Thursday afternoon, Bonnie, Bill, Deb, and Christine met again at the Prince George campus (with an BlueJeans invitation to Alex L. and Gretchen) to complete a task from our November 2/3 Design Committee meeting. We reviewed the courses currently being offered in our BEd Program and how this could be framed in a way that is scaffolded and block-oriented. Although we were playing around with ideas, rich conversation was derived from our rethinking as to how and what Teacher Education could look like at UNBC. There are other conversations to be had such as 15+, Graduate Studies, and external programs, but we hope to share some of our work on Monday.

Submitted by: Bonnie, Bill, Deb, and Christine

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MDL Conversation – FYI

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by CYH: I just wanted the Design Team to know about the work that SEGA (Supporting Education Graduate Advancement) is doing. This is led by Dr. Tina Fraser and Dr. Catherine Whalen… and I joined this team. On Friday, Nov.16th, we got together to discuss the MDL (Multidisciplinary Leadership) Comprehensive Exam questions. From this meeting, we discussed MDL programming and courses offered. We would likely take an UDL approach from this recent exam design to future programming. This is very preliminary and understand that the primary conversation of the Design Team is about the BEd program to be implemented in 2020. I appreciated this conversation with my SEGA colleagues who are also MDL instructors. We may take an approach that parallels the Design Team.  I look forward to the possibilities and future discussions. This is an FYI only. Thanks.

Submitted by Christine

Look forward to these discussions with Lantana Usman included

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Ad Hoc Design Cmt Mtg – Nov.17

Posted by CYH: We had an Ad Hoc Design Committee meeting for those at the PG Campus this SATURDAY from noon – 3pm. We wanted to complete the work (or at least continue the work) from our Nov.2/3 meeting. Bill, Bonnie, Deb, and Christine were in attendance.

What we did was look at the courses currently being offered (that are Senate approved) at UNBC School of Education. This was a task that we started at the end of our 2-day meeting a couple of weeks ago. What we did is, we printed a list of courses and cut them into strips to situate them within the framework of Questioning, Exploring, Focusing, and Refocussing. We added the fourth category of “refocussing” to our thinking. We reviewed each course and placed them accordingly with 300-level courses (Year 1) and 400-level courses (Year 2).

After we placed the courses onto a poster paper (photo not shown), we then looked at how we could offer courses in a 16-month framework. The “refocusing” of Year 1 (old language) is the “questioning” of Year 2 (old language). They overlapped. “Refocussing” for Year 2 (old language) would be the Capstone e-Portfolio, where e-Portfolios would be ongoing learning for the entire BEd Program along with Teacher Inquiry (EDUC 431) starting after the first 13-weeks of the program.

We started to talk about the ideas of “blocks” of time for courses and practicum and how these courses could be placed. We were essentially scaffolding coursework. It was an amazing process. We worked on a DRAFT construction for half the program. What would it look like? We hope to continue this conversation Thursday, Nov. 22nd to see how the second half could unfold. We are just playing and innovating. Great conversation. Worth noting, we would like to offer an ETHICS course at the beginning of the BEd program but there is currently no existing Senate approved course. Something to consider.

The blog entry in only an update of our homework.

Submitted by: Bill, Bonnie, Deb, and Christine

 

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Thinking from Nov 2/3 Meeting

Late post by CYH: Here is our DRAFT NOTES from the Nov. 2/3 2-day meeting. It’s the conclusion of our meeting where we were tasked as small groups to consider the overview of the UNBC BEd Teacher Education Program within the Framework of Questioning, Exploring, and Focussing/Refocussing by Identity, Community, Responsibility, and Bodies of Knowledge. We looked at the task from the 50,000 feet point of view looking at ideology, visioning, and learning intentions… as these would lend to specific learning experiences.

Loved some key words that were elicited from this conversation like Enculturation, Transformation, Lived Experiences, and Shared Values. Furthermore, we wanted to challenge students to connect with their identity, differentiate the differences between a “teacher” and “educator,” and look for VISIBLE differences in self, pedagogy/performance, and mindset in light of the BC Teacher Standards demonstrated them in a capstone e-Portfolio.

To finalize this thought process… students start their BEd Program on the LAND and end their BEd on the LAND… acknowledging PEOPLE and PLACE at the beginning and end of the BEd program.

We loved how this framework is cyclic and interconnected vertically and horizontally. There is harmony, growth, and continuity. It models the LIFE LONG LEARNING via experiential learning and reflection.

Submitted by: Alex L., Bonnie, and Christine (Nov.18, 2018)