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Teacher candidates use drama to explore sustainability and global citizenship

Faculty of Education teacher candidates at the Regent Park site participated in a drama workshop in November to explore sustainability issues and global citizenship through a social justice lens.

teacher-candidate-workshopThe workshop,  presented by Sarah Papoff from the Council of Drama and Dance Educators (CODE), provided teacher candidates with an opportunity to explore how to use drama in teaching practice(s) as a creative and effective way to explore global issues with their students.

“We explored how and when we might use particular drama conventions that lend themselves to this work,” said Course Director Vidya Shah. “We then unpacked systemic ideas like power and privilege through dramatic games and activities inspired by the work of Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed.”

Teacher candidates participated in drama activities including flocking, mirroring, and image theatre to explore the intersections of colonization, racism and environmental degradation in the context of the proposed pipeline in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

“Through photos, discussions, and theatre, Sarah led us into the world of Standing Rock,” said Katharine Lewis, a teacher candidate. “At points, I felt like I was actually there. Our group created tableaus based on real scenes from the area of the proposed North Dakota Pipeline, which was much more difficult and complex to do than I thought it would be.”

Throughout the workshop, York students also discussed how notions of multiple and contradictory perspectives, environmental activism and solidarity could influence change in specific global issues.

“Sarah’s presentation was phenomenal. Her energy, passion and commitment to student learning was evident throughout the workshop,” said Colleen Weir, another teacher candidate. “She got us on our feet and inspired us to (re)consider the vital role the arts can play in all areas of the curriculum. Thanks to Sarah, I used ‘flocking’ to kick-start our unit on forces causing movement. My students loved it!”

York prof makes advances in hearing project for northern youth

A $300,000 prize awarded earlier this year to a team of audiologists, educators and community members from Ontario and Nunavut, including York U Faculty of Education Professor Pam Millett, has made some impressive advances.

Professor Pam Millett teaching kids about hearing loss in Ulaajuk School in Pond Inlet in May of this year
Professor Pam Millett teaching kids about hearing loss in Ulaajuk School in Pond Inlet in May of this year

The prize, which is a share of the $1.5-million Arctic Inspiration Prize, was awarded for the work Millett and her colleagues did on their Better Hearing in Education for Northern Youth (BHENY) project that demonstrates their knowledge to action plans that advance the health, wellness and quality of life of Canada’s Northern peoples and communities.

The project addresses the issue of hearing loss in 13 communities in Nunavut’s Qikiqtani region through the provision of technology, education and professional development for teachers and parents, and the enhancement of inter-agency and community partnerships.

At least 40 per cent of children in Nunavut have hearing loss, many due to complications from ear infections that are rarely seen in the south. Access to timely healthcare, as well as geography, make it difficult for families to seek out consistent treatment to prevent these complications.

Since being named as one of the winners of the Artic Inspiration Prize in January of 2016, members of the Bheny project have been hard at work.

To date, Bheny has:

  • installed 68 sound field systems in four schools – in the communities of Pond Inlet, Pangnirtung, Igloolik and Iqaluit;
  • trained 80 teachers/school support teachers, 25 student support assistants and five student support teachers in the use and maintenance of the systems;
  • presented Hearing Fairs for approximately 1,100 children and their parents, to learn about hearing and hearing care;
  • engaged in a variety of knowledge mobilization activities and new project initiatives related to professional development for student support teachers and student support assistants, and hearing screening; and
  • received a further $150,000 in funding from the Hear the World Foundation for the purchase of sound field systems in more communities in Nunavut.

The project will also see six more schools that will have every classroom outfitted with sound field systems by June of 2017.

The project includes partnerships with teachers and administrators from Qikiqtani School Operations, and the team’s long-term goal is to expand the project across the entire Nunavut region.

About the Arctic Inspiration Prize

Founded in 2012 by Arnold Witzig and Sima Sharifi, the Arctic Inspiration Prize recognizes and promotes the extraordinary contribution made by diverse teams in the gathering of Arctic knowledge, and their plans to implement this knowledge to real world applications for the benefit of the Canadian Arctic, Arctic Peoples, and therefore Canada as a whole. To date, 11 teams have been awarded prizes totaling $4.5 million.

York teacher candidates hear from experts on diverse and equitable classrooms

Voices from the field panelistsA panel discussion on “Supporting Teaching and Learning for Diverse and Equitable Classrooms in Ontario” delivered exciting insights to approximately 230 Faculty of Education teacher candidates on Nov. 24.
Teacher candidates enrolled in the Faculty’s Teaching for Diverse and Equitable Classrooms, Communities and Their Schools, and Urban Diversity courses, heard from principals and vice-principals from various school boards, and engaged in a lively conversation on the role of equitable and diverse classrooms as aligned with the vision of various school boards and educational spaces.
The panel also discussed the need for all educators, and especially beginning teachers, to engage in practices of equity and social justice with their students. The panel was comprised of Cherilyn Scobie (principal, Westview Centennial Secondary School, TDSB); Tanya Senk (Central Coordinating vice-principal, Aboriginal Education Centre, TDSB); Rima Ishtiaque (principal, Coppard Glen Public School, YRDSB); and Kimberly Dixon (principal, St. Columba, TCSB). The discussion was moderated by course director Salima Kassam and Dr. Aparna Mishra Tarc. York teacher candidates attending the panel discussion
Teacher candidates participated in the interactive dialogue that focused on practical ideas and solutions to some of the challenges faced when teaching with an equitable lens. Panelists shared curriculum connections, discussed pedagogical responses and responsibilities towards historically and presently marginalized students, and shared considerations for beginning teachers when discussing equity commitments and work in school board interviews. Audience members shared challenges faced in practicum placements and demonstrated insightful and deep thinking.
The conversation also focused on strategies for engaging schools, families and communities in teaching and learning focused on equity, academic success, and well being for all students.
Throughout the exchanges among panelists and audience members, themes of mentorship, allyship, disruption, authenticity, and hope emerged. Both panelists and participants shared inspiring stories of teaching for equity and diversity and the ways in which teacher candidates could be supported as they start their teaching block.

Faculty of Education awarded Catalyst Grant to develop parent workshop series

York’s Faculty of Education in partnership with Education Involved Advocacy has been awarded a $5,000 Catalyst Grant from the York-TD Community Engagement Centre (CEC) to deliver a series of experiential learning/interactive workshops at the CEC for parents with students in the Black Creek/Jane-Finch community.

The Critical Issues In Education Parent Workshop series will be connected and rooted in pathways, student success, equity and inclusion, and parents in partnership.

parent-workshop“The grant will allow us to facilitate and foster Faculty-community partnerships with the Black Creek community,” said Lindsay LaMorre, Community Practicum coordinator in the Faculty of Education. “Our relationship with community is foundational to our Bachelor of Education program. We provide teacher candidates with opportunities to engage with community through an inquiry process that supports learning and builds reciprocal relations with communities and their schools.”

York teacher candidates will have the opportunity to co-plan and facilitate these parent-engagement workshops with staff from Education Involved Advocacy and the Faculty of Education.

The workshops will provide an experiential and interactive two-way learning environment for parents in the community and for York teacher candidates. The goal is to engage the parent community by providing access and support in the navigation of invaluable community supports and school resources. York teacher candidates will gain a better understanding of community collaboration and the importance of parent involvement in education.

“Participating in the workshop development and facilitation will be a great teaching and learning experience for our teacher candidates,” said LaMorre. “This is an opportunity for teacher candidates to engage with parents in the community to support student success. Teacher candidates will be able to build on these understandings to transfer a more organic knowledge into their future teaching practice.”

Small catalyst grants are one of the ways that the York-TD Community Engagement Centre (CEC) is working to deepen university-community partnerships in Jane-Finch.

For more information on catalyst grants, visit the York-TD Community Engagement Centre (CEC) website.

Education students take classroom to the Humber River

Students in the Faculty of Education’s Pedagogy of the Land (EDUC 2300) course had an opportunity to learn from the land first-hand with a visit to the Humber River in Toronto.

The course, originally developed by Celia Haig-Brown and currently taught by Professor Jennifer Wemigwans, explores Indigenous understandings of the land as first teacher.

Doug Anderson teaches teacher candidates about the Indigenous agricultural earth moundDoug Anderson, Métis, and a founding member of Naadmaagit Ki Group (NKG) shared his knowledge with the class on the popular restorative use of urban lands based on Indigenous principles, knowledge and practices. “Naadmaagit Ki” means “Helping the Earth” in the Anishinaabe language.

Anderson generously shared his time with the class over a period of two weeks in October. During the first week, he visited York U and met with the class to discuss NKG’s work on the Humber River and other urban sites in Toronto, which include:

  • Eco-Restoration – returning disturbed lands and waters in Toronto to a healthy balance, in ways that restore, maintain, protect and develop historical Indigenous ecosystems for future generations
  • Plant Nurseries – cultivating nursery sites in both outdoor and greenhouse spaces, where they serve as places to learn and grow new plants
  • Indigenous Cultural Regeneration – focuses on activities that support urban Indigenous people to learn and practice cultural traditions, as a basis for reconnecting with communities and the natural world
  • Learning Opportunities – provides places to teach Indigenous values and ways of life and link with certification for stewards through accredited learning agencies wherever possible
  • Educational Ecotourism – engages with diverse local communities, tourists and other visitors, and welcoming friends in the surrounding community to the land
  • Landscapes for All our Relations – grows edible and medicinal landscapes for the next seven generations of humans, and for all life

Humber RiverThese topics were presented in the class and then demonstrated and shown during Anderson’s second visit when the Pedagogy of the Land class visited the Humber River for a tour of NKG.

Here students got to see and learn about Indigenous approaches to agriculture through the use of earth mounds. They were also invited to partake in Indigenous methods to learning that require individuals to take time and ground themselves and all of their senses for experiential learning.

In sharing very basic and humble knowledge on the smudge, the students were invited to share in the practice of the smudge as a way of preparing for the day’s learning. Many shared personal insights of the experience with the class, which they passionately argued was a pivotal learning opportunity for them. Others reflected on the meditative nature of the day as a walk through the grounds along the river was rich with knowledge as Anderson discussed the many activities that are being undertaken to restore, rebalance and the heal the land.

For some students being in nature with a group of 50 people was anything but quiet, and represented electric currents of knowledge spinning, evolving, and connecting while simultaneously realizing that by helping the land, the land then helps to restore, rebalance and heal people.

To learn more about NKG visit helpingtheearth.ca.

Results of the first ever National Youth Homelessness Survey released

homeless youth

The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University, A Way Home Canada and the Home Depot Canada Foundation announced late last week the results of the first ever National Youth Homelessness Survey in Canada. According to the groundbreaking new survey, youth homelessness can begin as young as age 13, and if not addressed can lead to years on the streets.

Stephen Gaetz, director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and professor in the Faculty of Education at York University
Stephen Gaetz, director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and professor in the Faculty of Education at York University

“So many youth have their first experience of homelessness in their early teens, and our research shows that once on the streets things really go downhill,” said Stephen Gaetz, director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University. “If we don’t address youth homelessness early, we will be dealing with chronic adult homelessness in the future.”

More than 6,000 youth do not have a safe place to sleep every night, making youth homelessness one of the most urgent social issues in Canada. Without A Home – The National Youth Homelessness Survey finds that understanding the causes and conditions of youth homelessness are vital to implementing the right supports to help create successful futures and break the cycle of youth homelessness.

“The findings will lead to more effective plans, strategies and interventions at the national, regional and local levels to prevent and end youth homelessness in Canada,” said Melanie Redman, Executive Director of A Way Home Canada. “From conception, this critical piece of research was a collaborative effort between The Home Depot Canada Foundation, researchers, service providers, and most importantly, youth with lived experience.”

In the past three years, The Home Depot Canada Foundation has helped more than 300 community partners ensure more homeless youth have access to housing that is safe and supportive, established a thought leadership advisory council, worked with youth who have lived experiences, and supported new research to better understand the circumstances and needs of homeless youth in Canada. In recognition of the successes of its original $10 million contribution in 2013, The Home Depot Canada Foundation also announced today it will double its investment. Adding an additional $10 million investment over the next two years toward helping prevent and end youth homelessness, bringing the total to $20 million by 2018.

“We are proud of the work we’ve done and access to this unprecedented data demonstrates how much more we must do,” said Jeff Kinnaird, chair of the board, The Home Depot Canada Foundation and president, The Home Depot Canada. “By focusing our efforts on organizations that provide safe, stable housing, life skills development programs and research initiatives, we can help build brighter futures for homeless and at-risk youth across Canada.”

You can download a copy of the full report here: Without A Home – The National Youth Homelessness Survey

Faculty of Education leads training program for educators from China

The Faculty of Education, in partnership with SuON College, hosted a group of education professors from various universities in Jiangsu province, People’s Republic of China, for an intensive training program from Oct. 17 to 28.

The educators from China were here to learn about best practices in teacher training in Ontario, and to participate in school and site visits.

Dean Lyndon Martin
Dean Lyndon Martin

Dean Lyndon Martin welcomed the visiting educators at an Opening Ceremony at Winters College on Oct. 17. Several staff members and instructors from the Faculty facilitated workshops that were well received by the participants.

Laura Crane, director Academic Affairs and Operations, and Practicum Coordinator Diane Vetter, gave the group an overview of the Bachelor of Education (BEd) program and its requirements, including an explanation of how the practicum component of the program works.

The group also learned about inquiry-based learning from Course Director Marc Husband, and were provided insight into how “assessment for, as and of learning” can improve their teaching practice by Course Director Karen Devonish-Mazzotta.

Dean Lyndon Martin welcomes the group of Jiangsu province educators at the Opening Ceremony at Winters College
Dean Lyndon Martin welcomes the group of Jiangsu province educators at the Opening Ceremony at Winters College

Director of Professional Learning Anna Jupp and International Educator Coordinator Rick White outlined some of the professional learning opportunities available to in-service teachers offered by the Faculty, and PQP Leader Mirella Rossi took the group on a student-led learning walk, a highly interactive and social approach to learning in schools.

In addition to the workshops, the group visited two elementary schools, a secondary school, the Ontario College of Teachers and the Ministry of Education.

Dr. Anning Ding, leader of Jiangsu Education Services for International Exchange (JESIE), said the professors were “most impressed with the programs offered at York University’s Faculty of Education and were very appreciative of the outstanding quality of instruction that they received in their workshops, and the compassion that York instructors have for their students and programs.”

York University’s Faculty of Education provides professional development programs for school administrators from around the world.

New book unites educational technology and social justice

Daniel Becker
Daniel Becker

Daniel Becker, an educational developer in the Faculty of Education presented his new book Technology for Transformation: Perspectives of Hope in the Digital Age at the 17th annual Curriculum and Pedagogy Conference in Cleveland, Ohio held Oct. 20 and 21. Becker presented alongside Libbi R. Miller and Katherine Becker, co-editors of the book.

The edited collection is the first published volume in a number of years to detail research, theory and practice regarding the use of educational technology through a social justice lens. It provides the insight needed to ensure that teacher education programs prepare teachers to use educational technology as a centerpiece for engaging in collective learning experiences that can help to solve key social problems that are specific to the local community.

echnology for Transformation: Perspectives of Hope in the Digital Age“The book fills the pedagogical void surrounding our understandings of technology, power, society and education,” said Becker. “We have created an invaluable resource that unites educational technology and social justice. The contributors of this work establish a critical theoretical framework that supports employing educational technology for transformative ends.

“Technology is often viewed as inevitable, yet neutral and value-free. Educational technology, however, is anything but neutral.” he continued. “The contributors collectively advance a hopeful discourse by exploring the potential of technology as a vehicle to transform and emancipate, while not forgoing a critically reflective measure of self-conscious critique of our own role as educators, students or scholars in oppressive silences, constraints and conditions. Our hope is that this book will provide educational practitioners from teacher education programs and from the K-12 sector with ideas and inspiration to incorporate the student use of technology towards emancipatory aims.”

During the conference, Becker spoke about his chapter in the book entitled “Creating Citizens Capable of Advancing Democratic Deliberation in a Networked World”. The chapter asserts that there is no blueprint to follow, but creating citizens capable of advancing democratic deliberation in a networked world can become a reality as long as teachers connect with their communities and help students to utilize technology to develop and practice justificatory literacy.

Prof. Connie Mayer leads international research on advancing literacy for deaf children

Professor Connie Mayer in York U’s Faculty of Education has launched an international research initiative to enable deaf children to develop better societal understanding and more advanced social negotiation skills, leading to more intuitive written skills.

Connie Mayer
Connie Mayer

Mayer, a world-leading expert in developing literacy in deaf children, launched the program during a teaching conference for deaf education specialists organized by The University of Manchester, in England. Teachers of the deaf from seven local authorities in the North West are to take part in the initiative.

The aim of the program is to translate the ground-breaking work the University of Manchester’s Deaf Education team is doing on Theory of Mind (ToM) into practical development of deaf children’s written narrative skills.

Theory of Mind explores the way children develop a sense of perspective to negotiate social situations – such as tempering criticism, or even the truth, to safeguard the feelings of others. Deaf children sometimes find the usually innate skills of ToM difficult to understand as development often hinges on language exposure which provides access to the thoughts and feelings of others.

Mayer was attracted to the project following the well-received work the University of Manchester’s Lecturer Helen Chilton and Professor Wendy McCracken have conducted into ToM, particularly in the deaf education setting.

“I have been following the truly remarkable work of Helen and Wendy for several years; their understanding of the practical development of Theory of Mind is so advanced I know we will be able to bring our collective skills together to create an order of magnitude change in deaf education and the development of skills deaf children need to be successful going forward,” Mayer said.

The project will enable the teachers of the deaf across a pilot group of seven local Manchester authorities to learn practical ways to introduce both Theory of Mind-based teaching and the advances Mayer has made in developing children’s written narrative skills.

The results of the pilot group will be shared with other local Manchester authorities, leading to an expected England-wide roll-out of the resulting combined teaching theories.

Helen Chilton said, “Our project to understand how deaf children can demonstrate and grow their Theory of Mind skills in their written work is the first of its kind in the world. The fusion of Theory of Mind and Dr. Mayer’s written narrative teaching will result in vital opportunities for enabling deaf children to develop better social negotiation skills – a developmental area almost entirely overlooked by the traditional teaching establishment.

“At the University of Manchester we believe that the only limitations for deaf children are those that are placed on them by others in society,” Chilton said. “This study will enable teachers to use deaf children’s writing opportunities in unique and novel ways. The training and research will enable them to identify deaf children’s starting points and developmental progression in this often ‘fuzzy’ but absolutely vital area of social cognition.”

The deaf education specialists taking part in the conference are from The Wirral, Staffordshire, Trafford, Salford, Tameside, East Riding of Yorkshire and Cheshire East councils in England.

York releases State of Homelessness in Canada report

Homelessness in Canada remains at crisis levels, but for the first time in more than 25 years, there is hope, according to the State of Homelessness in Canada 2016 report released last week in Ottawa by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.

The report presents recommendations to the Government of Canada for the upcoming National Housing Strategy and shows not only how homelessness could be eliminated, but that ending homelessness is achievable and affordable.

Stephen Gaetz
Stephen Gaetz

“It’s great to know that Canada is coming back to a National Housing Strategy,” said Stephen Gaetz, director of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University. “This is an opportunity to correct more than 25 years of inadequate investment, which has led to our current affordable housing crisis. It is also an opportunity to end homelessness in Canada once and for all.”

“We agree with the government’s National Housing Strategy objective to ensure all Canadians have safe, decent and affordable housing,” says Tim Richter, president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. “But we must act most urgently for those for whom a lack of housing can be a matter of life and death – people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.”

The report recommends an investment of $4.474 billion in 2017-2018 or $43.788 billion over a 10-year period, representing an annual increase of $1.818 billion more than the federal government is projected to spend on affordable housing in 2017-2018.That is only an additional $50 per Canadian annually, or less than a $1 per week, to prevent and end homelessness in Canada. It’s worth noting that homelessness currently costs the Canadian economy over $7 billion per year.

“The good news is we know what to do to solve homelessness: targeted affordable housing investment, community systems planning, Housing First, prevention and federal leadership will get us there,” said Gaetz. “And importantly, we also know solving homelessness will be far cheaper than ignoring it.”

Modern mass homeless in Canada is primarily the result of shrinking federal investment in housing beginning in the 1980s. As homelessness in Canada has grown, the face of homelessness has changed. What began as a phenomenon primarily impacting older single men now includes women (27 per cent of the homeless population), seniors (24.4 per cent of shelter users), and youth (18 per cent of the homeless population). Indigenous Peoples are 27 to 33 per cent of shelter users and are 10 times more likely to use homeless emergency shelters, yet only represent only 4.3 percent of the Canadian population.

“We cannot have a truly national Housing Strategy if we don’t at the same time address the needs of Canada’s most vulnerable people – those who experience homelessness or who are at risk,” said Gaetz.

State of Homelessness in Canada – 2016 key recommendations:

  1. Adopt a national goal of ending homelessness with clear and measurable outcomes, milestones and criteria
  2. Renew and expand Homelessness Partnering Strategy focusing on Housing First, prevention and building coordinated homelessness systems
  3. A new federal/provincial/territorial framework agreement that defines local leadership on homelessness and housing investment
  4. Targeted strategies to address the needs of priority sub-populations including youth, veterans and Indigenous peoples
  5. Retain and expand existing affordable housing stock
  6. Implement a National Housing Benefit
  7. Affordable housing tax credit
  8. Review and expand investment in affordable housing for Indigenous peoples

Homelessness by the numbers:

• 35,000 Canadians are homeless on a given night. 235,000 Canadians are homeless at some point every year
• In the last 20 years Canada’s population has grown more than 30% but federal funding for affordable housing has dropped more than 46 per cent. This has meant at least 100,000 units of affordable housing were not built
• Today over 1.5 million Canadian households live in core housing need, with over half of those households living in extreme core housing need (living in poverty and spending over 50 per cent of their income on housing)
• There has been a steady decline in the number of Canadians using shelters in the last 10 years. In fact, in 2014 there were almost 20,000 fewer people using emergency shelters than in 2005
• While there are fewer people using shelters, but those that are using them are staying longer
• The national occupancy rate – how full shelters are – increased by more than 10% between 2005-2014
• Most shelter stays are brief with youth and adults staying on average 10 days. But for seniors (50+) and families, the average length of stay is twice as long

The complete State of Homelessness in Canada 2016 report is available here: http://www.homelesshub.ca/SOHC2016.