Appendix C: “Teacher as Leader” Indigenized Syllabus Excerpts

University of Victoria
Faculty of Education
Department of Educational Psychology & Leadership Studies

 

Teacher as Leader: The Professional Role
ED-D 410 A01, Unit Value 1.5

Instructor: Dr. Lindsay Herriot
Web Site: http://www.uvic.ca/epls/
Note: courses may be cancelled within first two weeks of classes if enrolment drops below required minimums

Calendar Description

A seminar in contemporary professional issues, including structures and governance within the BC School system, school law, and legal requirements for the teaching professional. The role of the professional as an ethical, reflective and critically engaged practitioner is emphasized. Themes include teacher leadership, professional growth and collaboration, and maintaining professional relationships in schools and communities. Authentic assessment tools, including rubrics, portfolios, and professional benchmarks will be used for assessing professional growth.

Goals of the Course

to have prospective teachers understand the organization and administration of schools in British Columbia with particular reference to provincial governance in education and its relationship to and effect upon the roles of students, parents, teachers, administrators, school and district support staff, and the community.

  • to familiarize students with school and classroom organizations and administrative structures.
  • to acquaint students with the influence of legislation, policies, and practices on professional decision- making.
  • to encourage students to explore educational, cultural and social issues in education; learn how these issues are addressed in district and school policies; and consider how such issues affect their professional lives.
  • to foster professional attitudes such as critical inquiry, reflection and self-assessment
  • to help students articulate the goals and values of their professional practice.

All course readings will be available on CourseSpaces. The following are helpful websites that you will want to refer to throughout the course, and keep in your professional library:

Teacher Education Committee (2004) Handbook for New Teachers.: http://bctf.ca/uploadedfiles/public/NewTeachers/handbook.pdf

NOTE: Also, locate the website for your practicum school and for the School District in which the school resides – these will be invaluable resources for you!

BC Ministry of Education (MoE) www.bced.gov.bc.ca
Aboriginal Education (MoE) http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed/
BC Teachers’ Federation www.bctf.ca
BC Teacher Regulation Branch https://teacherregulation.gov.bc.ca/
BC Confederation of PACs www.bccpac.bc.ca
Charter for Public Education https://bctf.ca/history/rooms/BuildingOurProfession2003.aspx
Transforming BC Curriculum & Assessment https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/
B.C. School Trustees Association www.bcsta.org
B.C. Principals’& Vice Principals’ Assoc. www.bcpvpa.bc.ca
B.C. School Superintendents’ Association www.bcssa.org
University of Vancouver Island http://records.viu.ca/homeroom
Network of Performance Based Schools http://www.npbs.ca
EdCAN Network (Canadian Education Association) https://www.edcan.ca/
Canadian Council of Education Ministers http://www.cmec.ca/en/

Assignments

This course has two assignments, the Statement of Teaching Beliefs (submitted twice), and the Values Assignment (submitted three times). Assignments are submitted on CourseSpaces.

ASSIGNMENT A: Statement of Teaching Beliefs

Please prepare a two or three-page, double-spaced, statement of teaching beliefs that describes what being a teaching professional means to you. This document will be submitted twice, once for formative feedback on Friday, 20 October, and then the final version on Tuesday, 28 November. Your statement will become a “signature piece” in your professional teaching portfolio and will be helpful as you apply for teaching positions and respond to questioning in interviews, so you will want to:

  • Write in the first person, with your intended audience in mind (use appropriate language and terms).
  • Identify your values and beliefs about teaching, and use examples and details that indicate how these values and beliefs are embodied in practice.
  • Highlight your goals for practice and key aspects (e.g., specific teaching strategies, ways to organize for learning, assessment and evaluation approaches, role of parents/community etc.) that will facilitate students’ success.
  • Be authentic, reflective, and concise. Ensure that your writing is persuasive, coherent, and error-free.

ASSIGNMENT B: Values Assignment

Our own values around teaching and professionalism influence our thinking, and in turn, our professional practice. Yet these values are seldom explicitly examined, challenged, and/or reflected on. The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about your own values regarding the teaching profession, where they come from, and how they evolve or change over time.

You will submit this assignment three times (Tuesday, 12 September, Tuesday, 7 November, Friday, 1 December). The first submission, made in the first week of class, will obviously incorporate few, if any, of the course materials. That’s okay, that’s by design. The rationale sections are for you to specifically name what influences your thinking for each value. Your family? Your faith heritage? Your ethnic background? Your schooling? Your professional practice? Etc. etc. Be specific!

Your second submission, on the same document as the first, but in a different colour, should show how you’ve grown or changed as a result of this course. Mark the line using a different colour, and fill in the second rationale box. It’s 100% okay if you don’t move on the line, if you stay in exactly the same place. But what should change is your rationale. You should have new or more complex ideas about the topics than you did before taking this course. And your rationale on this second submission should reflect the materials you’ve engaged with in the course.

Much like the second submission, the third submission should reflect deeper and more nuanced understandings of the issues.

You will respond to ten (or more!) of the fourteen statements by:

  • Dragging a color coded triangle to the place on the scale that represents your opinion.
  • Providing a written rationale for the why you chose that place on the scale.

Course Outline/Reading List

Guest speakers are highlighted in yellow

Assignments and other writing tasks are highlighted in turquoise

Week 1: Introductions and Expectations, Friday, September 8

  • No preparatory materials required!

Week 2: Teachers Values/Teachers Bodies

Before Tuesday’s Class

  • Parker Palmer “The Courage to Teach”
  • Complete 1st submission of the values assignment

Before Friday’s Class

Week 3: Teacher Regulation Branch

Before Tuesday’s Class

Before Friday’s Class

Week 4: Teachers and Schools: What’s the Point?

Before Tuesday’s Class

Before Friday’s Class

Week 5: Parents, Caregivers, and Families

Before Tuesday’s Class

Before Friday’s Class

  • Parents: Backgrounder
  • Flom (2010) A Teacher’s Field Guide to Parents
  • Write reflection on your experience with parents in schools
  • Guest Speaker: Audrey Smith, Victoria School District PAC Leader

Week 6: Governance and Leadership

Before Tuesday’s Class

Before Friday’s Class

Week 7: Developing a Professional Identity Part I

Before Tuesday’s Class

Before Friday’s Class

  • Choose one (or more!) of the scanned chapters from the International handbook of research on teacher’s beliefs. 
  • Submit 1st draft of Statement of Teaching Beliefs

Week 8: Developing a Professional Identity Part II

Before Tuesday’s Class

  • Thomas and Beauchamp (2011) New Teachers Identity through Metaphor
  • Oskineegish and Berger (2013). Non-Native Teachers in Native Communities

Before Friday’s Class

  • Guest Speakers from Ministry of Education

Week 9: Teacher’s Unions and Associations

Before Tuesday’s Class

Before Friday’s Class

Week 10: Working with Colleagues/Indigenous Education Part I

Before Tuesday’s Class

  • BCTF – Teachers and Educational Assistants
  • Radford et al. 2015.
  • Second Submission of Values Assignment

Before Friday’s Class

  • Prep materials TBA
  •  Guest Speakers: Students from Life School

NO CLASS – READING BREAK

Week 11: Indigenous Education Part II

Before Friday’s Class

  • McGregor (2012) Decolonizing Pedagogies Booklet
  • Conflicts and Lessons in First Nations Secondary Education: An Analysis of BC First Nations Studies, Rachel Mason
  • Other prep TBA
  •  Guest Speaker: Chaw-win-is, Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator

Week 12: Getting a Job

Before Tuesday’s Class

  • Bring draft CV and cover letter to class
  • Guest Speaker: Michelle Floyd, UVic Career Services

Before Friday’s Class

  • Sample questions and Preferred Responses.
  • Review makeafuture.com
  • Check district websites for careers info
  • Guest Speaker: Breanne Stoudt, Human Resources Manager, School District 63 AND Mark Walsh, Secretary-Treasurer, School District 6

Week 13: Controversial Issues

Before Tuesday’s Class

  • Forrest, M. Sensitive controversy in teaching to be critical (chapter 8)
  • Scott, E. C. What’s wrong with the “Teach the Controversy” slogan? (chapter 9)
  • Submit Final Teaching Statement of Beliefs Assignment

Before Friday’s Class

  • Submit final Values Assignment

Attributions

Syllabus is copyrighted by Dr. Lindsay Herriot. It is not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Dr. Lindsay Herriot.

License

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Pulling Together: A Guide for Curriculum Developers Copyright © 2018 by Asma-na-hi Antoine; Rachel Mason; Roberta Mason; Sophia Palahicky; and Carmen Rodriguez de France is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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