congratulations to melena hope (phd, bed primary/junior teacher candidate, orillia), who has been awarded the ontario college of teacher's scholarship award for the primary/junior division! 

this oct award is granted to individuals who “demonstrate a high level of preparedness for teacher education through examples of community involvement, background and life experiences.”

melena, who has spent her whole life in education, received a bfa honours degree at york university and then travelled abroad to obtain a ma and phd in art history at the university of london, at the courtauld institute of art in england. this was followed by a two-year post-doctoral fellowship.

as a mature student, melena’s first career was teaching as a sessional and visiting lecturer at colleges within the university of london, and then as head of art history at morley college in london, england. her decision to embark on a new career came after she took time off to raise her children and was encouraged to work as an unqualified supply teacher within a local elementary school board. it was during this time that she realized her calling in life. she feels that teaching the youngest of 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and fostering a love for knowledge at an early age is a profound responsibility that she finds greatly rewarding. for this reason, she decided to return to school as a mature student and pursue her vocation as an elementary school teacher within the primary/junior division in the faculty of education, maintaining dean’s list status throughout her studies.  

in addition to her strong background in education, melena has also volunteered and worked with children in various capacities, including teaching art lessons and contributing her time to her local parent council by painting a mural at a local school and co-ordinating fundraising initiatives, among other activities.

“i am humbled and honoured to have received this award from the ontario college of teachers. to be acknowledged by the professional body in my field has inspired me even more,” she says.

世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from the med ecological consciousness through embodied transformation class have created an interesting ecological art exhibit that they hope will spread positivity to current and future lakehead 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 as well as alumni.

the project aimed to advocate ecological consciousness and demonstrate the relationship between humans and the natural world. under the guidance of course instructor dr. thomas puk, 17 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from diverse backgrounds created the exhibit to illustrate their insightful perspectives.

the project primarily involved creating an interactive exhibit composed of individual "petals" and the word “happiness” in six different languages (english, mandarin, korean, hindi, bangla, and cornish). the exhibit parts are painted on high-density fibreboard, basically sawdust and glue – a good use of used material.

the stand is made from local cedar, lilac and honeysuckle, all of which were destined to be disposed. the frame edges are from a countertop made from local birch. the maps are out of date maps of the local area from the geography department’s map library. the frame holding the fibreboard is leftover scraps of spruce. the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 also used flyers, cardboard, leave pressings, leaves, and bark.

the exhibit includes sub-themes of ecological literacy and reciprocal relationships with natural processes. through this project, 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 developed an emotional connection with nature, which they learned in their master of education course.

they did the project face to face on the thunder bay campus this fall, 100% of the time outside, or as they refer to it, intree, a term that means outdoors.

aparna roy, one of the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from the class, said she learned a lot from the project.

“essentially, the ecological sculpture project will be a bridge for alumni, current 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 , and future 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 by showing them the equality and unity that we as humans have developed with nature.”

dr. gary pluim (assistant professor, orillia) has received an award from the commonwealth of learning for educational programming targeted toward global issues relating to youth. his work involves pedagogies that promote youth’s rights, political engagement, mental health, and action toward the climate crisis. this project builds on a sshrc-funded research initiative titled “educational transfer between small states of the commonwealth: a vertical case study analysis of the professionalization of the field of youth work.” the study won a partnership engagement grant in november 2019 and is scheduled to continue through 2021.

gary describes the research as “a case study designed to capture the conditions that both permit and prevent educational transfer between small states”—countries with a population of approximately 1.5 million or less. the study follows the transfer of youth work curriculum between commonwealth countries in the caribbean and the south pacific. he explains that youth work has emerged as a national priority in many countries, particularly in small states, many of which are located in regions where youth populations are proportionately higher than in those with larger populations.

transferring promising educational practices between countries has been shown to be an effective means to address societal issues, as well as a way to attain educational goals and amass new knowledge about curriculum and pedagogy. gary notes that recent advancements in online and distance learning during the pandemic have enabled increased access and accelerated opportunities for educational transfer.

however, the idea that curriculum can simply be transferred from one global context to another is also fraught with difficulties. as gary describes, “cultural aspects such as history, language, political-economies, geographies and environments shape conditions for learning. the importance of place as a starting point in learning is well documented and entrenched in many educational traditions. education transfer is also seen as a form of neo-colonization—post-colonial scholars point out the direct link between the imperial rule of the british and the ways that colonial relationships have endured through education transfer.” these issues are among the complexities that form the backdrop of this study and the context of this award.

this award was granted by the commonwealth of learning, an intergovernmental organization that promotes the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources, and technologies.

dr. tanya kaefer (associate professor, thunder bay) is a co-investigator on a research project that has been awarded a grant by the inter-university research network.

the research project—entitled vocabulary and knowledge: powerful allies in redressing the achievement gap in reading comprehension—focuses on increasing intentional vocabulary instruction as a means of closing academic achievement gaps for children in nova scotia who are from lower socio-economic status and/or minority linguistic backgrounds.

“vocabulary knowledge predicts reading comprehension skills throughout schooling, as well as broader critical thinking skills, and high-school achievement. unfortunately, these are also areas in which there are striking differences between children from impoverished backgrounds and those from more economically advantaged homes. because knowledge is exponential, early development of knowledge is key to ensuring academic success for all children. these factors have made developing children’s vocabulary a crucial issue in education research,” tanya explains.

in the study, tanya and her co-investigators will examine the effectiveness of intentionally targeting 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 ’ vocabulary learning in schools identified as serving a higher proportion of 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from lower socio-economic status backgrounds. grades 1 and 2 teachers and 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 from nova scotia classrooms will participate, with some classrooms employing targeted, intentional vocabulary-building approaches. post-test learning, as it relates to 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 ’ initial oral language and comprehension skills, will be used to determine the effectiveness in the targeted instructional strategies in addressing vocabulary underachievement.

the outcomes of this study are expected to contribute to our knowledge of teacher-friendly approaches to vocabulary instruction, to help close the achievement gap in reading comprehension.