UNews - Legacy 2015

Inspired and inspiring: Teaching in the Faculty of Education

darcy.tamayose — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 23:01:46 +0000

Dr. Jane O’Dea believes strongly in meeting students on their own ground. This principle solidified the day she paired classic literature and art with contemporary equivalents and watched student understanding blossom. It germinated earlier, however, on literal ground, when she arrived in 1990 at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and encountered Dr. John Woods, eminent scholar and president emeritus, sitting on the floor in animated conversation with first-year students.

Dr. Jane O'Dea is a past recipient of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Distinguished Teacher Award.

“I knew then that this university was a very different place,” she says.

The way Woods engaged with students on a personal level had a seminal influence on O’Dea. Other influences have been Blackfoot Elders who model respect for all viewpoints, and world-class scholars who consider it an obligation to share their knowledge. O’Dea’s own experience transitioning from Ireland to Canada and between Fine Arts and Philosophy honed her empathy with students, whom she recognizes as also having to negotiate diverse worlds.

“Our responsibility in helping them do that is important,” she says. “In this digital age, students are constantly bombarded with information. They desperately need help making sense of it. We have the unique opportunity to make that happen.”

Throughout her teaching O’Dea uses current music, movies and literature as entry points into traditional academic readings. She also encourages learning through self-expression, guiding students into formal writing by first having them express their ideas through informal means, such as rants and blogs. By establishing rules of civility and respect she creates and mediates safe classroom environments in which no topic is taboo.

“Teaching isn’t about instilling information – it is setting in motion the process of learning. Enhancing the life of the mind is a sacred responsibility, one of which I’m proud to be a part.”

Canadian curriculum, literacy and life writing as metissage

darcy.tamayose — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 22:56:26 +0000

In our multicultural, multi-lingual society, a growing number of educators are using life writing to build bridges of understanding between increasingly diverse populations.

“Life writing is articulating your own and others’ lived experiences, ideas, values, and feelings,” explains Dr. Erika Hasebe-Ludt, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Education. Students who practice it gain a deeper sense of identity. Sharing their stories imparts historical and cultural knowledge, and it has the potential to raise empathy in others.

Dr. Erika Hasebe-Ludt at work with literacy cohort graduate students Joanne Polec and Daniel Buchanan.

The stories of individuals often connect with and add a visceral component to larger historical, political, and economic narratives. According to Hasebe-Ludt, this creates a living, organic curriculum that is not abstract or detached. “Life writing can be applied in all subjects,” she says, “and is adaptable to all ages.”

Hasebe-Ludt, who for more than a decade has researched this literacy genre and curriculum area with Drs. Cynthia Chambers (U of L), Carl Leggo (UBC), along with colleagues from a life-writing collective across Canada, points out that life writing is more than printed text. It is an arts-based inquiry that incorporates performance, oral storytelling, artifacts, filmmaking, and more. The resulting métissage, or mixed composition of stories, respects a culture’s traditional literacies including vernacular modes. It also opens up new and multiple literacies to writers and readers within that culture or community.

Hasebe-Ludt was recently appointed interim editor of the Canadian Journal of Education. She is also co-president of the Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies (CACS). Her publications include A Heart of Wisdom: Life Writing as Empathetic Inquiry, Life Writing and Literary Métissage as an Ethos of Our Times, and Contemplating Curriculum: Genealogies/Times/Places, co-edited and authored with fellow researchers. These collections give teachers and other educators ideas for implementing life writing in their classrooms.

“My hope is for this form of inquiry to be an integral part of the curriculum, enabling all students to construct their identities and develop their skills, refine their voices as readers and writers, and contribute to a knowledge-based, literate and just society,” says Hasebe-Ludt.

In 2014 Dr. Erika Hasebe-Ludt received the Ted T. Aoki Award for Distinguished Service in Canadian Curriculum Studies. The eminent curriculum scholar, after whom the award was named, had been a longtime mentor until his passing in 2012.

Dr. Janice Rahn on the value of collaboration in art research and education

darcy.tamayose — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 22:44:56 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Education professor Dr. Janice Rahn researches as an artist and writer. She works between the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Fine Arts to question how art practice informs curriculum theory in project-based inquiry. Rahn often collaborates with partner, Michael Campbell (Faculty of Fine Arts).

Legacy sat down with her to speak about her research.

Legacy: When did your collaboration begin?

Dr. Janice Rahn sees her art practice as a continual exploration of new materials and ideas.

JR: We met in 1992 while doing our MFA programs at Concordia ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Montreal. We created a museum-like exhibition that changed daily as we worked on-site transforming materials we gathered from the Laurentians, Quebec.

Legacy: How many collaborative works have you produced?
JR: We collaborate every day in our conversations about teaching, in discussing ideas for art projects, and in actually building large audio/video sculptural installations.

Legacy: Do you have your individual practice as well?
JR: Yes, we both feel a need to produce and show our own work, especially after working intensely together on a collaborative project.

Legacy: You said that you collaborate in your teaching as well as your art practice?
JR: We talk about teaching all the time and we are always building project assignments together. Video Sketchbook (Michael’s class) was my favorite course to build and to be part of. I wrote a chapter about it in my recent book Viewfindings. I also enjoy co-teaching his printmaking classes, especially the critiques, though it is not part of my teaching load. We define project-based learning as being clearly designed by the instructor with parameters in the sequential introduction of new materials and problems, while inviting students to develop their own ideas. We show a wide range of carefully selected examples to inspire students to explore possibilities in working with materials in relation to concepts.

Legacy: You work as an artist and you have published extensively. Is there any link between these two forms of research?
JR: When I was doing my PhD I saw a need for curriculum theory based on art practice. As a teacher in the Arctic, I had elders making art in my classroom. In Montreal, I did my PhD researching street art. I started making videos as a way to document and analyze my artist in the school projects. My art practice is a continual exploration of new materials and ideas. This gives me the resources to help individual students achieve success in different contexts. It also informs my belief in problem solving through project-based learning and the critique process as formative assessment.

Legacy: What are you working on at the moment?
JR: In 2012 we built a 65 foot-long sculpture out of bamboo, with other related pieces including a video, during a month-long residency at the International Triennial in Kathmandu. We just exhibited a video at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. In Dec. 2014, we are building a site-specific sculpture in an 18th century public exotic garden estate in the South of France. We have been re-invited to exhibit in Kathmandu in 2015. We choose to constantly explore new materials, to travel and to make art together.

Legacy: What has been your main research focus in art education?
JR: Identity development in young people, peer influence, learning communities, performing/communicating in public space, the rigor of creating and the effects of the critique on thinking. Art in education is often viewed as a frill. Art Education values each person’s diverse development, invites empathy, and the provocation to change entrenched assumptions. For example my work with new media and visual literacy compares intent in art that questions, with the closed agenda of propaganda.

Dr. Janice Rahn was named Board of Governors ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar in 2012, a program that recognizes the excellence of faculty members in the areas of research, scholarship and creative performance.
As an artist, Rahn has been working on a series of female arbor forms, in porcelain, bamboo and willow. She has created charcoal/ink drawings, and monoprints showing them at her gallery The Vidourle Prix in Sauve, France. She also makes documentary videos and audio video installations, most recently shown at the Kulteren der Welt in Berlin. For more on her work, visit her website.

Doctoral Program in Education: enhancing research capacity and culture

darcy.tamayose — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 22:30:52 +0000

This degree is rich in research, but rich as well in professional practice, because we’re carrying on the integration between theory and practice we have always emphasized throughout both our undergraduate and master’s programs.

“I was born in Saskatchewan at the age of 24,” Dr. Richard Butt likes to say.

Dr. Richard Butt says that the U of L's Faculty of Education has the unique expertise to satisfy the demand for PhDs in Education.

That’s when he left England to teach in a small prairie town. He drove truck during harvest for several families so their high school students could return to school on time in the Fall.

“It gave me an understanding of rural life, Canada, and how important community is,” he says.

In reality, Butt’s childhood experiences in the British school system, with learning centres, field trips, and expressive arts, had already shaped his belief in hands-on, equal opportunity education and the learning community.

As a young man he worked as a junior researcher alongside others of diverse educational backgrounds.

“We all contributed, regardless of our qualification levels. Everyone was considered equal,” he says. “It was a democratic culture that I valued very much. It’s what shapes me in my teaching, graduate studies work, and the PhD program we are working on implementing. At its core the PhD program is a community of faculty members and doctoral candidates learning and researching collaboratively.”

Butt became an educator to give back to the profession that had given him so much.

“In 1983 I was hired by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Education to assist with implementing the master’s program,” he says.

The first year, 1984, there were only 12-15 students. Since then the program has grown to approximately 200 students. As Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in Education (2008–2011), followed by Dr. Kerry Bernes (2011–2014), Butt introduced a number of unique study foci to supplement the existing MEd offerings. With highly focused content, all of these initiatives grew from the expertise and research passions of faculty members working together to build graduate options around the needs of children, teachers and schools.

The proven success of graduate studies led naturally to plans for a doctoral program.

“There’s a demand for PhDs in education,” says Butt, “particularly the type we hope to offer. Our faculty has the knowledge. We have innovative, unique researchers ready to take on graduate students. Almost 50 per cent of the faculty have already been on PhD committees or been external PhD examiners for other universities.”

“Our PhD program has been approved by the Campus Alberta Quality Council and Alberta’s Minister of Advanced Education and Technology,” says Butt.

It offers three concentrations: Formal and Distributive Leadership; Learning, Teaching and Curriculum; and Counselling Psychology.

“There’s a big movement for research evidence-based change in education,” he says, noting that teachers, administrators, and school district personnel completing the doctorate will enhance research capacity and culture in education.

“Our Faculty has been doing a wonderful job of graduate education for 30 years,” says Butt. “There’s a ripe readiness for this PhD. It’s harvest time, so to speak.”

Like grandmother, like grandson

darcy.tamayose — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 20:43:17 +0000

In Philippine culture, adults focus on children, rarely on themselves. Only after his grandmother passed away did current Faculty of Education student, Michael Quiambao, learn she had been a nationally recognized teacher in Bangued, Philippines. She lived to see him enter university, knowing he wanted to become an educator.

“My lola (grandmother) was my biggest supporter and motivator,” says Michael Quiambao. “She was proud of me going to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.”

Michael Quiambao's goal is to be a role model for his students.

Quiambao’s grandmother started him on his teaching journey. Along the way he met more mentors.

“I was a visible minority in a Caucasian area,” he says. “I didn’t see the importance of my own culture. In junior high I had low self-esteem, but a teacher saw something in me and took the time to know and encourage me. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am.”

Quiambao names other educators who inspired their students, fuelling in him a desire to do the same. In 2014, the kinesiology major completed his Professional Semester II (PSII) in Brooks, Alta., with teacher mentor Jared Hofer.

“I learned a lot from him,” says Quiambao.

Hofer put students first, and was there for them beyond school hours.

In Brooks, Quiambao helped with the badminton team, the ‘Iron Chef Cookoff,’ and preparing free lunches for students. He has worked with the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club (on a farm to experience rural life) and at SAIT to learn about the trades.

“I’m trying to sponge everything I can by putting myself in new environments,” says the lifelong learner, who even tried bull riding.

Today, he realizes the importance of all cultures and strives to carry on the community involvement his grandmother instilled in him.

“One of my biggest goals is learning Tagalog, my language.”

Quiambao hopes to be an approachable teacher who affects students the way his grandmother and others affected him.

“I want to be a role model.”

A community approach: supporting early language and literacy

darcy.tamayose — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 18:33:46 +0000

One of Dr. Noella Piquette’s current research foci is prevention of reading difficulties. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Education professor says,“There’s trustworthy evidence setting out what it takes to teach children to read,” she says. “By following it, can we have most children reading and writing comfortably?”

Dr. Noella Piquette says that parents can help their children by conversing with them regularly and reading to them every day.

After researching together for over 10 years, Piquette and Drs. Robert Savage (McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ) and Eileen Wood (Wilfred Laurier ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ) launched a five-year, cross-provincial study, following National Reading Panel and Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network recommendations.

“Instead of trying to solve issues for students already experiencing reading disabilities, we decided to start much earlier.”

Their project involves working with children from the time they’re in kindergarten until Grade 4. The study involves four Alberta schools, in which Piquette conducts regular workshops with parents and teachers together.

“We have fun, engaging activities to work with at home,” she says.

She stresses to parents that the two essential things they can do for their children’s academic success is to engage them in conversation and read to them every day.

“Our research has shown significant gains in children’s listening comprehension and enjoyment of reading,” she asserts.

In another study, Child Strength, Piquette collaborates with Dr. Robin Gibb from the U of L Department of Neuroscience, on a study involving emergent literacy and executive function.

“We’re creating activities for Coalhurst, Alberta’s Parent Link Centre to introduce to very young children,” she says.

The play-based activities include skills like thinking, sorting, and expressing emotion. Parents receive materials to continue with at home.

“After the first week parents were over the moon,” states Piquette. “They couldn’t believe the difference the activities made in children as young as two."

"We have the joy of knowing there’s already research to prove this,” adds Piquette, whose goal is to make evidence-based information available to parents in a manner they can use.

Now in its second year, Child Strength is expanding with additional activities in more communities. Piquette and Gibb plan to make their activity sets available free to daycare and early childhood centres.

As keen as Piquette’s interest is in supporting learners, she is equally committed to those who teach them. Of primary importance to her is helping educators gain knowledge, improve practice, and feel supported, encouraged and validated. She works with Foothills School Division, creating resources for new kindergarten, grades 1-3 teachers.

“A second study grew from this when kindergarten teachers wanted support learning more about inquiry and play-based learning,” she says.

“These studies all fold into each other,” Piquette states, “and the results profoundly confirm what is so necessary for children, parents, and teachers.”

For more information, visit Piquette's web page, Alberta Education or Abacadabra.

Building on curriculum and assessment

darcy.tamayose — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 20:17:50 +0000

In 2013, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Education launched the master’s in education program focusing on curriculum and assessment.

Dr. David Slomp works with Curriculum and Assessment MEd students during Graduate Studies Summer School 2014.

“By 2016 Alberta expects to have brand new curriculum in every subject area,” says Dr. David Slomp. This program is designed to promote teacher leadership in curriculum and assessment redesign that is taking place across Canada.

“Rather than being subject-specific,” says Dr. Amy von Heyking, who co-developed the MEd program with Dr. Slomp, “the radically changed curriculum is framed around competencies, such as critical thinking, innovation, creativity, collaboration, and problem solving.”

“Outcomes for these core competencies are hard to assess using standard practices,” says Slomp. “Changes in curriculum have to be paralleled by changes in assessment. The two need to be integrated, not just practically, but theoretically and intellectually. When you build a curriculum that works at this level you need locally developed, high-quality assessments to capture the competencies.”

“Traditionally, questions of curriculum and assessment have been separated,” says von Heyking. “This program brings them together, forcing a dialogue that asks students to develop new theoretical models for both.” Students examine the way curriculum is changing and the way assessment questions need to change in response – then they build assessment tools that reflect those changes.

“We get each of them to identify an assessment need in their classroom, school or district,” says Slomp. He cites the example of one educator who is teaching Biology, Chemistry and Math together as part of the redesign. “We will work with her on how to measure those core competencies in that kind of a packaged science course.”

“We ask them to think differently,” says von Heyking. “They come to understand the history of the system and what we can learn from past innovations. We challenge them to be able to defend what they believe education is for. Fundamentally, these are philosophical issues.”

The three-year program consists of campus-based courses each July, one online course each fall, and another each spring.

“The first year is setting a foundation for understanding curriculum and assessment,” says von Heyking; “the second is research-focused, looking at innovative initiatives and having the opportunity to work specifically on their own practice; the final year puts it together, synthesizing what they’ve learned and how it reshapes our understanding of curriculum and assessment.”

The current cohort, with participants from Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon, shares information and exchanges ideas in a collaborative environment, taking back to districts, schools and classrooms groundbreaking theories and practices.

“Students taking this course are emerging in their schools and districts as leaders,” says Slomp. “They’re able to design more local curricula and work in much more creative ways with school structure,” adds von Heyking.

Engaging science

darcy.tamayose — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 19:01:05 +0000

In high school, Jared Heidinger (BSc/BEd ’00) was banished to the hallway for clowning in class. He continued to listen through the door, however, and when the instructor asked a question Heidinger shouted the answer through the grate. Grinning, his teacher opened the door and invited him back in. That day Heidinger learned a lesson in classroom management. Today he carries that lesson – striking a balance between clowning and control – into his own teaching practice.

Jared Heidinger shepherds students through the complexities of science by engaging them on their terms.

At Winston Churchill High School in Lethbridge, Jared Heidinger shepherds students through the complexities of science by engaging them on their terms. He often uses popular movies and YouTube to explain concepts. His students learn about photosynthesis and anaerobic respiration by baking bread, and they learn cell structure by building pizzas with toppings representing various cell components. A remote control “news helicopter” delivers quizzes.

“I fly the chopper around the class, land it, then put on a video as if it’s reporting from a live scene,” says Heidinger.

Personalities such as professional hockey player and former pupil Kris Versteeg deliver the assignment.

“The kids aren’t as bitter about a quiz when they see the chopper,” says Heidinger.

For Heidinger, YouTube and Twitter are educational aids. For example, students who participate in a weekly Twitter chat at #scistuchat earn extra credit.

“Some students now see Twitter as a resource,” he notes. “Parents are also realizing its educational value.”

Connecting with students as individuals is important to Heidinger.

“I’m passionate about kids knowing someone cares,” he says.

He shares his life through stories, hoping to reach students who might undergo similar circumstances.

“When you can relate your life to kids they know you’re a person,” he says.

His stories range from comical to poignant, and often illustrate points in his teaching.

“I love teaching. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I like seeing kids learn new things and view the world differently than they did before.”

Practicum Semester III (PSIII): The pinnacle field experience

darcy.tamayose — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 23:17:05 +0000

In their final practicum, Professional Semester III (PSIII) ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Education students spend a university semester teaching in a school setting guided by a teacher mentor and supervised by the local school administrator.

Chris Tuck currently teaches at Dr. Gerald B. Probe Elementary School in Lethbridge.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything more in a PSIII experience,” says Chris Tuck (BA/Ed ’14). “You really get to be part of the school. You can see the kids learn, and I built some amazing relationships.”

“PSIII is the pinnacle experience in the Faculty of Education program. It is one of the components that makes the U of L program so powerful,” says Dr. John Poulsen, PSIII Coordinator. “The student teachers are called interns to signify the difference from previous practica. What is so special is that the interns perform much like a half time teacher for four months. They take on most of the duties of certified teachers, such as planning, teaching, and assessment. After PSIII the interns are confident and ready to teach.”

Tuck, who interned at St. Patrick Fine Arts Elementary School in Lethbridge, enjoyed collaborating with other teachers while he was there.

“One of the biggest things I learned was there’s more than one way to teach. If something doesn’t work the first time, it’s okay to reteach it. There’s time to try new things. I feel I can differentiate now, and do things that will work for each student. When I see kids grasp something, there’s nothing better.”

Faculty professors helped Tuck immensely.

“Professors model the instructional strategies they teach,” he says.

This allows students to discover what works for them as students, and then implement those strategies as teachers.

PSIII interns are required to engage in a professional inquiry project. Tuck focused on cross-discipline teaching, often using games to teach skills and competencies simultaneously in several subject areas. The shadow puppet plays his students produced for science also incorporated drama and language arts. Math and physical education merged in ‘Math Facts Bowling.’

Tuck created a website to share learning games mathgamesinquiry.weebly.com. He also values Twitter to resource with colleagues.

“In teaching we never stop learning,” says Tuck’s teacher mentor, Don Flaig. “Mr. Tuck brought a lot of fun and creativity to the classroom, and, as is often the case with student teachers, he has raised the bar for me.”

Flaig’s mentorship reinforced Tuck’s enthusiasm for teaching, originally inspired by a childhood soccer coach and several other exceptional teachers.

“I wanted to be them,” he says. “I had good experiences and I wanted to pay it forward. Coming out of this program, I feel I’m ready.”

The study of sports academies: Impact upon students

darcy.tamayose — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 22:13:26 +0000

Dr. Danny Balderson, a small town basketball star who led the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns to the national championships in 2000, is the only player in Pronghorn history to have his jersey retired.

Dr. Danny Balderson has been instrumental in helping to establish sports academies at schools throughout the region.

Today he instills in pre-service teachers his love of sports, and his philosophy that all children, regardless of circumstances, have the right to physical activity.

Balderson’s community spirit and commitment to inclusivity led naturally to his study of sports academies – schools offering sport-specific instruction as part of regular programming. Some academies begin as a way to keep students in school; others to keep schools from closing.

“They’re all different,” says Balderson. To gain context he visited ten academies throughout Western Canada. His findings so far reveal that academy students not only tend to remain in school, but they demonstrate greater dedication to all studies.

“School enrollments have increased,” says Balderson, “which means more teachers and possibly added programs and facilities all students can use.”

Educators also benefit. “When teachers who are passionate about a sport are invited to start a program, they’re engaged and invigorated,” he says.

Although initial outcomes are promising, Balderson plans to fully investigate the challenges academies face as well. Due to the nature of his research he has become recognized as an authority.

“I get a call every couple of weeks from someone starting an academy and wondering how,” he says.

He puts them in touch with comparable schools already operating and encourages academies to work together.

As an educator of future Physical Education teachers, it is imperative to Balderson that he remains involved with children. Sixteen years ago he created a summer basketball camp for youth. Today, the annual camps have mushroomed from 35 participants to more than 300. Balderson hopes to apply his organizational acumen to establishing a Western Canadian Academy Conference.

“Every academy is unique, but there are common elements,” he observes. “They have the same struggles.”

In the spirit of teamwork, Balderson wants to see academies unite, offering each other guidance and support.

For more information, visit:

Hanna Hockey Academy
Vauxhall Academy of Baseball
Westwind Equine Academy
Dr. Danny Balderson research website

UNews - Legacy 2015

Inspired and inspiring: Teaching in the Faculty of Education

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Canadian curriculum, literacy and life writing as metissage

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Dr. Janice Rahn on the value of collaboration in art research and education

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Doctoral Program in Education: enhancing research capacity and culture

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Like grandmother, like grandson

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A community approach: supporting early language and literacy

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Building on curriculum and assessment

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Engaging science

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Practicum Semester III (PSIII): The pinnacle field experience

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The study of sports academies: Impact upon students

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