Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Grant recipient: Dolores van der Wey, Faculty of Education

Project team: Angela Brown, Faculty of Education, Willow Allen and Victoria Lam, research assistants

Timeframe: October 2016 to January 2019

Funding: $5,000

Course addressed: EDUC 405 – Professional Development Program (PDP) IPTEM Module

Final report: View Dolores van der Wey's final report (PDF)

Description: We propose extending on our previous TLDG project where we worked with students in the first term of their Professional Development Program (PDP), in the Indigenous Perspectives Teacher Education Module (IPTEM) (View Dolores van der Wey's previous project findings here >>). The findings emerging from our first TLDG project indicated that the students had very limited skills in facilitating class discussions that extend on or critique interpretations of class texts. Based on these findings, our goal is to provide students, during their second term in the PDP program (most of which they spend in a classroom with children), support in the development of facilitation skills.

Questions addressed:

• How do students perceive the impact of engaging in practices geared to develop their skills in facilitating discussions of themes or issues emerging from literary texts when afforded the opportunity to practice and then receive feedback on their in-class experiences?
• What are students’ perceptions about the importance of facilitation in teaching critical Indigenous content, and the factors at play in doing so?

Knowledge sharing: Findings may be disseminated to the Professional Development Program, including the Director, Coordinators and Faculty Associates, during “program” meetings, at the discretion of the Director and Coordinators.

Keywords: Critical pedagogy, Indigenous pedagogy, facilitation, teacher education