B.Ed Program Day

Title: Eco-Anxiety: Supporting the Mental Health of Young People in the Climate Crisis.
Presenter: Scott Durling is a middle school teacher in the Seven Oaks School Division. He is a founding member of Educators for Climate Action (ECA) Manitoba, and an M.Ed. graduate student at the University of Manitoba. His thesis explores decolonization in teaching practice using place-based pedagogies. 

Session Description: A recent 2023 Canadian study of young people indicated nearly 4 in 5 feel the climate crisis is impacting their mental health, and over 50% reported feeling sad, anxious, and powerless in the context of climate change (Galway & Field, 2023). How can teachers support the mental health of students while teaching about the climate crisis and developing climate action in their practice, regardless of their teaching discipline/context? This hands-on workshop intends to invite teacher-candidates into the work of supporting eco-anxiety as climate action in K-12 education.

Title: Diversifying and Liberating the MY and SY ELA Classroom.
Presenter: Tara McLauchlan (she/her) is a teacher and literacy coach on the St. James Assiniboia School Division, and a UofM graduate student.

Session Description: Are you looking to update the "canonical" novels being centered in the ELA classroom? Or wondering how you can diversify and liberate the literacy practices in your Middle Years and Senior Years ELA classroom? In this session we will explore Middle Grades and Young Adult texts written by Indigenous, Black, Asian, Hispanic, 2SLGBTQ*, neurodiverse and disabled authors and discuss liberating literacy practices that empower students to become stronger readers, writers and thinkers. 

Title: Critically Examining Manitoba Curriculum: A (Multi)Cultural Lens.
Presenter: Sarah Ragoub is a teacher, graduate student and Instructor in the Faculty of Education. 

Session Description: In this workshop, Sarah Ragoub will start by presenting her research on critically examining the discourse of the Manitoba Senior 1 Science Curriculum document, while engaging participants in discussions on how this may impact teachers and students. The second part of the workshop will revolve around participants taking a closer look at curriculum documents they may use in practicum, teaching, or assignments in the Faculty. The participants will collaboratively and critically examine curriculum texts through a lens of their choice and discuss how this is relevant to teaching and citizenship in Manitoba. 

Title: "I Spy With My Feminist Eye": Using Media to Explore Influencers and Toxic Masculinity. 
Presenters: Dr. Jennifer Watt, Dr. Shannon Moore, Selena Alevizos, Alex Derlago (2023 Undergraduate Research Award Recipients, Current SY B.Ed. Students). 

Session Description: Please note that this session and its description focus on sexual violence. In this highly interactive session, we will explore how we believe popular media texts should be engaged in formal classroom spaces because a) it is already pedagogical, b) it provides distance through which to discuss potentially sensitive issues, and c) students are often more willing to talk in/through popular culture. After we have outlined our rationale for using popular media texts, we will explore the power of persuasion and how teaching about rhetorical tools can help increase understanding about the ways that certain influencers become convincing voices, particularly within youth culture. We will then draw upon Selena's Undergraduate Research Award project regarding influencers and toxic masculinities - particularly exploring the phenomenon of Andrew Tate and his impact on students in K-12 schools. This is a stand-alone session, but if you are interested in the theme of media literacies, you may be interested in the afternoon session which explores similar themes but focuses specifically on sexual violence in schools and sports. 

Title: "I Spy With My Feminist Eye": Using Media to Explore Sexual Violence in Schools and Sports. 
Presenters: Dr. Jennifer Watt & Mackenzy Groot (2023 Undergraduate Research Award Recipients, Current SY B.Ed. Students). 

Session Description: Please note that this session and its description focus on sexual violence. In this highly interactive session, we will explore how we believe popular media should be brought further into formal classroom spaces because a) it is already pedagogical, b) it provides distance through which to discuss potentially sensitive issues, and c) students are often more willing to talk in/through popular culture. After we have outlined our rationale for using popular media texts, we will spend time looking at our own Media Diet biographies, try out an "I Spy With My FeministEye" (Watt et al., 2023) critical media tool, and draw upon Mackenzy's Undergraduate Research Award project which focused on sexual violence, grooming, and power imbalances in coaching and sports by examining scenes from a film. We will also share a sexual violence education resource that might be helpful for B.Ed. students. This is a stand-alone session, but if you are interested in the theme of media literacies, you may also be interested in the morning session which explores similar themes but focuses specifically on social media influencers.

Title: Power, Politics, and Pedagogy: Education for Social Justice. 
Presenter: Justin Fraser is a Music Specialist in the Louis Riel School Division, a UofM graduate student, and the recipient of the Canadian Music Educators' Association Builders Award for Newer Teachers.

Session Description: In this interactive workshop, we will be engaging with two overarching questions: 1) What is the purpose of education? and 2) Whom does it serve? To do this, we will critically explore the inherently political nature of education, how our positionalities shape both how and what we teach, and ways that we might engage in more equitable and just pedagogies and practices. Ultimately, this workshop will allow us to critically reflect on how education has the potential to reproduce the colonial, capitalist, and patriarchal status quo while creatively considering how we might work toward more radical, democratic, and justice-oriented modes of teaching and learning. 

Title: Embracing Neurodiversity 
Presenter: Angela Taylor is a neurodivergent former youth in care labeled with complex needs, caregiver to neurodivergent children, and service provider for over 24 years. She is currently a PhD candidate in Education, studying the most effective therapeutic modalities for the neurodivergent. 

Session Description: This workshop will be an introduction to neurodiversity in our community (ADHD, Autism, FASD, and CPTSD) and how this intersects with disability justice. Participants will explore how to increase connection and calm, and co-create safe spaces with youth and children, while navigating systems that support them.
(This session was also offered in the fall - if you attended this session at that time, please do not register for it now.)

Title: Narratives of Self-Connection, Relationships, Feelings and Needs: Learning With and From Early Years Children. 
Presenter: Sara Neufeld, recent M.Ed. graduate and classroom teacher at Governor Semple School, Seven Oaks School Division. 

Session Description: What could it look, sound and feel like, if as teachers and students, we were to centre love and relationality in education? How might connecting/reconnecting with our embodied selves, our feelings and needs, serve such an orientation - both individually and collectivelly - within our education systems? Through the exploration of personal professional stories from Kindergarten, Sara Neufeld (classroom teacher and narrative inquiry researcher) will invite you to reflect on your own educational stories, uncovering through story what is perhaps important to you as you live into your teacher identity with children. Through story, we will be exploring relational culture and belonging as learners and educators.
(This session was also offered in the fall - if you attended this session at that time, please do not register for it now.)

Title: Act Accordingly: Education in the Technological Now.
Presenter: Noah Cain is an English Language Arts teacher in Lord Selkirk School Division, multimodal artist, critic, UofM graduate student and educational researcher.

Session Description: Emerging media and technology are changing society and consciousness in ways that are difficult to quantify, comprehend, and predict. This workshop is designed to equip you with conceptual and concrete tools for responding to these changes in the context of education. It is informed by my experience as an English Language Arts teacher, educational researcher, and multimodal artist, and will include a showing of UN/WIND UN/WOUND (24min.), a series of linked videopoems exploring embodiment, memory, and meaning making in the technological now.  

Title: The Medium is the Message that Reads You: A Foray into Digital Literacies. 
Presenter: Amir Michalovich is an Assistant Professor of Literacies Education in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning. 

Session Description: This workshop focuses on deepening participants' reflection on the affordances and constraints of various digital tools and practices, highlighting how they shape our ways of meaning-making, thinking, relating, doing, and being. The workshop aims to foster a heightened awareness of the mediating and increasingly responsive nature of digital technologies, guiding participants to critically assess and thoughtfully consider whether and how they might approach integrating them into their teaching practices. 

Title: Trauma-Informed Practice and Healing Centred Classrooms. 
Presenter: Dr. Jan Stewart, Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba. 

Session Description: Students experiencing issues related mental health and trauma are of increasing prevalence in today's classrooms. Teachers can play a pivotal role in identifying, supporting, and nurturing the healing of students as they encounter challenges. This session will provide participants with an overview of mental health and trauma-related issues and provide experiential activities that teachers can use in the K-12 classroom. Some examples include art therapy, storytelling, music, expressive arts, life skills and career planning, identity texts, and perspective work. 

Title: If you find a Rock: Building Relationships with our own School's Greenspaces. 
Presenter: Bela Ferreira, Learning Support Teacher - Forest Park School, Seven Oaks School Division. 

Session Description: Greenspaces are often thought of as places we must travel distances to find - forests, ponds, parks. What about our own school's front yards and back fields? Are there trees and gardens planted? When it rains, do puddles form? When the snow melts, does the field become a lake? What animals do you see and what are they doing? Are there rocks on your school grounds? In this workshop, we will look closely at all subject areas and uncover how our own school's greenspaces offer the perfect canvas for conversations surrounding climate change, habitats, Indigenous communities, art inspirations, physics, power and agency and so much more. Participants will be actively engaged in connecting the Land with the abundance of teachings that it offers us, while simultaneously, being inspired by each other's and enjoying time outdoors.