New Enriched Education Opportunity will augment B.Ed. and MATL student teachers’ competencies in Disability/Diverse Learning Needs and provide valuable resources
Commencing in late fall 2018, fifteen B.Ed. and MATL students are engaging in a funded Enriched Education Opportunity (EEO), the first of its kind in the Faculty of Education.
As part of a 3-year funded initiative, and under the direction of Principal Investigators Dr. Fiona J. Benson, Dr. Tara Flanagan, and Dr. Anila Asghar, student participants are undertaking 40 hours of immersive focussed observation under the guidance of master teachers working in Disability/Diverse Learning Needs classrooms in five schools (both Elementary and Secondary) from the Lester B. Pearson and English Montreal School Boards. This observation is taking place in concert with 30 hours of co-requisite seminars, led by PhD student Luciana Martins Alves. Based on their experiences, both on-site and in seminars, student participants will provide their host schools with valuable teaching resources, all of which will be made available, as of fall 2018, to students across the B.Ed. and MATL Teacher Education programs.
The inaugural launch of this project was met with tremendous enthusiasm, garnering over 80 student applications and keen interest from many potential host schools. Student participants were carefully selected based on their CV, letter of intent and a personal interview attended by both faculty and student representatives. Over the course of their time in host school classrooms, student participants are gaining valuable insights into effective teaching/learning strategies in Disability/Diverse Learning Needs.
Upon successful completion, student participants will receive a notation on their McGill co-curricular record and an official letter of participation from the Associate Dean of Academic Programs, Dr. Fiona J. Benson. A small number of outstanding participants will be considered for the opportunity to present outcomes of their immersive learning experience at a national/international conference on Disability/Diverse Learning Needs, for which they will receive additional funding.
McGill's Faculty of Education is proud to offer its students this novel in-field experience which will inform their teacher preparation, benefit current and future student teachers, and contribute significantly to our partner communities of in-service teachers and educators. In addition, this opportunity has the potential to strengthen the development of pre-service teachers’ confidence and competence, specifically in areas that help meet the needs of all students with varying abilities and challenges, a key skill for educators in today’s diverse classrooms.
Stay tuned for further updates about outcomes, shared resources, and a call for next year’s student applicants!