Breaking Barriers
Lucky Pod # 7
Thetis Island Team Building Retreat
The final semester of the Education program at Vancouver Island University was designed as a place-based, personalized and collaborative process. Through inquiry and community based learning, this innovative endeavor invited students to explore Social Justice, School Governance and Inclusion for Students with Learning Differences as they interrelate with our teaching philosophy, vision and practice.
A desire to reflect in practice what we are learning about best practices in teaching --this Year 6 semester experience addressed our personal and professional needs as beginning educators.
Who we are:
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Kim Greenwood, Karina Strong, Kurt Feschuck, Ginny Knobl, Jonathon Van Spronsen, Andrew Gait, Elliot Jones
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The following inquiry topics were discussed within our Pod of 7 students, resulting in incredible depth of learning:
Social Justice:
- WildCraft Play: an exemplar for Gamification and Nature Based Play
- Structured Vs. Unstructured Play: (un)Bounded Education
- Relational Poverty: exploration of “A framework for understanding Poverty” by Payne
- Challenges of incorporating First Nations ways of knowing/Nature/Environment into secondary calculus concepts
- Body Image: Internalized Unrealistic Cultural Standards for all genders
- Global Citizenship: the challenge of Me to We
- Teachers in Rural Education
Governance:
- The structure of BC Educational Bureaucracy
- School boards: Roles, Responsibilities and Power
- School Funding: Budget acquisition and allocation
- Follow the Money: origins of BC educational reform
- Teachers as Leaders
- Stakeholders and Provincial Assessment Shift
- Professional Boundaries and Responsibilities: The TRB and you!
Inclusion:
- Finding Sparks: Developmental Relationships and Developmental Assets
- ConnectZone.org- Creating community and support
- Inclusive practises in the Classroom
- IEPs: You are Not Alone.
- Creating Culture: connecting with your class
- Don’t Drink the kool-aid: Inquiry is NOT for Everyone
- EA’s: Their role in the Classroom
