Connecting to place and space: Outdoor environmental education as storytelling in teacher education programs, a UVic example
Chris Filler, Naomi Casiro and Kali Wilson, University of Victoria

How is nature taught through teacher education programs? Outdoor environmental education (OEE) illuminates the intimate connection between who we are as teachers, as students and as planetary citizens through experiential meaning making. This presentation chronicles an outdoor education activity course as part of the teacher education program at the University of Victoria, Faculty of Education.  The stories that are told through this case study represent student learning, professional development and personal reflection. Inherent within this perspective is a valuing of multiple ways of knowing, and multiple ways of learning, including Aboriginal concepts of teaching and learning, most notably storytelling.

Single and/or multiple paper presentations

Blogging: space, community, and pedagogy co-created
Leanna Madill, University of Victoria

This workshop will address the pedagogical potential of blogging with pre-service teachers and how they in turn can use blogging with elementary and secondary students. The theoretical aspect of the workshop will include an examination of blogging as a “third space” for identity play and professional growth, as a socially constructed community of learners, and as a model that redefines teaching and learning. Practical aspects of blogging will also be addressed, such as how to make blogging successful, how blogging among a community of learners typically develops, and how blogging benefits an instructor’s approach and ability to facilitate powerful pedagogy. Workshop participants will be guided in creating their own free blog site to use for their own educational purposes.

Workshops and/or symposium

The problem with puzzles
Chris Obach, Leah Hunter, Laura Donald, Katie Bell and Sandy Margetts, Brandon University

A Mathematics Methods Professor and a Team of Pre-Service teachers will give participants opportunities to experience the joy of discovery while solving puzzles from a variety of rich sources which nurture reasoning skills. Leave with many ideas!

Workshops and/or symposium
-------------------------------------------------------------
Pedagogical Prison Break
Brittany Card, Bowen Lau, Aaron Nisbett and Michelle Sommerville, University of Calgary

The goal of our presentation is to showcase how important the physical classroom environment is to our students and us as teachers. Just as a prison’s layout can determine the effectiveness of the inmates’ rehabilitation and the way in which the wardens administer them, so too does the teacher’s creation and use of the learning space—be it the use of desks, tables, or boards—effect how and what our students learn, as well as our own effectiveness and satisfaction in our role as educators.

Single and/or multiple paper presentation

Children of War: What educators need to know about war-affected students in Canadian schools
Jennifer Wahoski and Rosanne Massinon, University of Manitoba

In our presentation we will address issues related to educating war-affected students and the challenges faced by these students before and after arriving into Canada.  We will discuss appropriate teaching strategies that teachers can employ within their classrooms. Educators will be provided with opportunities to gain insight into the tragic lives of these brave individuals.  We will discuss the Intensive Newcomer Support (INS) grant, established by the Provincial (Manitoba) Government in 2006.  INS was created as a resource for school divisions to provide adequate learning programs for refugee students in grades 6-12.  We will explore the benefits and downfalls of the Manitoba school programs that have been established using the INS grant.  After examining these current systems of support, we will give suggestions about ways educators can work toward improving the systems in their communities.

Single and/or multiple paper presentation
-------------------------------------------------------------
Engineers without borders - Global education for Canadian classrooms
Angela Hunter, University of Victoria

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a Canadian international development organization dedicated to connecting people in developing countries to appropriate technologies. Within Canada EWB also focuses on educating Canadians about Canada’s impact on overseas communities. This workshop will introduce participants to EWB’s school outreach program designed for students from ages 12-16. Classroom topics include Water for the World, Food and Global Hunger, and Fair Trade. Subject areas include Science and Technology or Social Sciences - Geography, Civics, Environmental Studies and Humanities.

Workshop and/or symposium

Making a difference for our most struggling readers
Heather Baptie and Terry Dobson, Central Okanagan School District

This session will describe The Literacy Centre, a unique learning environment designed for elementary students who have demonstrated persistent difficulties acquiring basic reading skills despite previous intervention. The presenters will highlight how to structure an intervention program to provide maximum support and will share strategies and resources they have found to be most effective.

Authentic evidence of the success of their research-based intervention will be featured. This data will confirm the centre’s dramatic impact on student achievement. Anecdotal comments from students, parents and staff will also reflect positive changes in students’ attitude, behavior and self-esteem. The implications of this are significant: with intensive intervention, we can raise the level of achievement and improve the quality and quantity of reading experiences for our most struggling readers.

Workshop and/or symposium
-------------------------------------------------------------
Branching out: A holistic approach to teaching EAL/ESL students in a mainstream classroom
Michael Victor Poirier, Lisa Marie Samborski, and Denise Christine Miller, University of Manitoba

This seminar will present our research findings regarding language acquisition strategies, inform educators based on current teaching strategies from interviews, as we will present an interactive workshop.

Following this years theme "Wcistenek: Pedagogies of Places and Spaces" our session will feature creative ways of adapting lesson plans for EAL students using a variety of teaching styles while providing a "mosaic of experiences" for the learner. Moreover, we will show how recognizing multiple intelligences, affective filters and cultural perspectives in our EAL learners will improve their learning environment.

Workshop and/or symposium

Sustainable thoughts – growing a sustainable school system
Dean Fortin (Mayor of Victoria), Rick Kool (Royal Roads University), Jason Price and Matthew R. Christie, University of Victoria

The need for sustainable education is clear, whether it is to fend off impending doom due to environmental catastrophe, to re-establish a reciprocal connection with the land, or to look for alternative ways to structure our society. But what is sustainable education, and how do we create it in our school system? Come explore these questions and more with leading sustainable education experts and start growing a sustainable school system.

Panel presentation

Going global to understand diversity
Lisa J. Starr, University of Victoria

Experience is the greatest teacher. Immersing yourself in a culture by teaching overseas allows you to experience diversity that will enrich your life personally and professionally. The heterogeneity of cultures within Canadian schools requires a philosophy of education that goes beyond a conventional appreciation of multiculturalism. In the journey towards a deeper understanding of the self and of others, the context or place serves as both the setting and the guide for transformational learning.

Single and/or multiple paper presentation
-------------------------------------------------------------
Stories From the Front Yard of Higher Learning: Eco-Centred Teacher Education
Veronica Gaylie, Davinder Bal, Jason Parkinson and Elisha Peller, University of British Columbia Okanagan

This presentation describes a unique eco-centred model for teacher education that began in Fall 2005. The presentation centres on the process of a teacher educator and student teachers who helped conceptualize and create a Learning Garden on campus. The goal of this research is to examine the ways in which student teachers engage in eco-centred teacher education as a curricular, conceptual, community model of teaching and learning around traditional and alternative philosophies of land use. The study applies current environmental education theory to garden-based teacher education in a way that allows for the emergence of an inclusive, transformative model of teaching and learning.

Single and/or multiple paper presentation

AISI: An examination of grass roots learning
Guy Anthony Pomahac and Maurice Hollingsworth, University of Lethbridge

The Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) is a grass-roots initiative supported by Alberta Education and several leading partners to further school improvement and enhance student learning. The University of Lethbridge is one of several educational stakeholders working closely with educators and student teachers to advance an understanding of research to further school and district-initiated projects. Addressing the needs of 165 schools in Southern Alberta, the University of Lethbridge provides faculty expertise in research design, measurement, evaluation and reporting. As a research component of the Professional Semester III internship program, pre-service teachers engage in school-based AISI projects as a means of enhancing their on-going professional development.

Single and/or multiple paper presentation

Listening to learn and learning to listen
April McLeod, Katie Matthews, Shannon Rigby-Jones, Jen Johnson and Laura Mann, Vancouver Island University

A team of student teachers will explore the pedagogical value of active listening through facilitation of a hands-on workshop, which will allow for participants to explore a variety of strategies to teach active listening skills.

Workshop and/or symposium
-------------------------------------------------------------
Have a hoot with collaborative learning!
Deanna Thompson and Chelsea Sihota, University of Victoria

Hands on, interactive demonstration with owl pellets intended to promote collaborative learning within your classroom. Materials, resources, and lesson plans will be distributed.

Workshop and/or symposium

EduSpace: 50 mb in the final frontier
Anne Scholefield and John Yamamoto, University of British Columbia

Two coordinators and two teacher candidates from UBC’s Teacher Education Program (TEP) will present the concept of the E-portfolio assignment mandatory for all graduating teachers at UBC. TEP chose a web 2.0 platform, WordPress MU, to host the e-portfolios and to enable social networking among teacher candidates and faculty. According to Serge Ravet (2006) we hope to create “the conditions for a continuum in the learning space where someone starting an e-portfolio...at university…is able to use it during our lifelong and lifewide learning journey” (p. xxix). Bring your [wireless] laptop to this session and you can get started, too.

Workshop and/or symposium

Learning and teaching in an indigenous world: Finding place, making space
Lorna Williams and Michele Tanaka, University of Victoria

This session illustrates how a university course demonstrates and integrates Indigenous perspectives of teaching and learning within an academic setting. Drawing from local Indigenous knowledge, the course is a unique community endeavour by Indigenous artists/knowledge holders, pre-service teachers, undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty members and community members. It revolves around interactive group participation in hands-on activities and helps to illuminate various Indigenous concepts. The presenters will share their experiences and what they have learned in the course. Discussion will address implications for teachers, community members, administrators and/or students who wish to implement similar programs.

Workshop and/or symposium

Evolving teacher identity and language of teacher preparation
Peter John Heffernan, University of Lethbridge

Both beginning and experienced teachers evolve in their professional identity. For second language/culture teachers, a fundamental part of this is the language in which they teach and work. The presenter will share with participants at his session research he has done on the challenges and opportunities for growth in one's professional language. While English is a Juggernaut, as a précis of his research demonstrates, professional attitudes are changing and opportunities for professional growth in one's language of work becoming more a reality.

Single and/or multiple paper presentation