Events

  • Latest edition of Brock Education Journal now available

    The latest edition of the Brock Education Journal, Critical Perspectives on Mental Health in Education: Striving for Social Justice, is now available.

    Current scholarship that analyzes ‘mental health’ as a dynamic, socio-political and cultural construct often leaves out intersectional social factors and determinants of health and well-being. This special issue will bring attention to this need for work in critical mental health within the context of the field of education. Despite increased awareness in the fields of critical mental health studies (Cohen, 2017) and Mad Studies (LeFrançois et al., 2013; Beresford & Russo, 2021), much of the literature pertaining to mental health and well-being in schools adheres to biologically essentialist and reductionist understandings of mental health and well-being. This has the effect of limiting and narrowing understandings of mental health. This depoliticization of mental health can cause conversations regarding mental health in education to not be considered through an intersectional analytic that also considers the ongoing effects of settler colonialism, white supremacy, cis-heteropatriarchy, ableism, sanism, neoliberalism, and capitalism on educators, students, and school communities.

    In this call for papers, we seek contributions that are invested in conversations regarding critical approaches to understanding mental health in schooling and education, with “education” and “schooling” including early years education, K-12 schooling, and higher education. We seek contributions that take into consideration social determinants of health and well-being, critique reductionist understandings of mental health and well-being, and that place inclusive and affirming pedagogies at the forefront. We welcome contributions that centralize lived experiences and challenge dominant positivist approaches to researching mental health.

    Guiding questions include: How can schooling and education centralize the mental health and well-being of children, youth, students, educators, and others in their collective communities through culturally-affirming, intersectional, and critical pedagogies and practices? How might schooling and education perpetuate epistemic harms and injustices relating to the silencing and disenfranchisement of students and educators who experience mental distress, or identify with madness or as Mad? In what ways can schooling and education work with transformative praxis and consciousness-raising practices (Freire, 1970) that can seek the overall health and wellness of all students and educators?

    Access the Brock Education Journal here.

    Categories: Events, News, Uncategorised

  • Student participants needed for Brock Equity Census focus group

    Brock is hosting a student focus group next week that will help inform the University’s upcoming Equity Census. This is in addition to focus groups currently under way with Brock faculty and staff.

    The Equity Census — a short, voluntary and confidential survey — is part of Brock’s continual journey and commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). As a part of Brock’s ongoing efforts, the University is working with MNP to develop an Employee EDI Strategy.

    The student focus group session, which will inform how the census is communicated, carried out and reported on,  will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 3 p.m.

    Participants can register on the Equity Census web page.

    Participants will be contacted directly with meeting details by consultants from MNP, and an interview guide will be sent in advance of the focus group session.  Participants do not need to prepare anything in advance of the focus group session.

    What is shared with MNP will remain anonymous and confidential.

    More information on the Equity Census will be provided in the coming weeks.

    Tags:
    Categories: Events, Uncategorised

  • Event: Writing Productivity Workshop

    Do unfinished manuscripts languish in your drawers and hard drives? Do you often feel it takes much longer to finish a writing project than it should have? Do more urgent tasks take you away from writing projects? Do you often have high hopes for your writing projects but not meet your own goals?

    Please join the Faculty of Education for its inaugural writing and research productivity workshop run by Dr. Trevor Norris to learn writing strategies can you use to increase your weekly writing productivity. The Workshop takes place on Feb. 12 and 13 in Welch Hall 128A. The Workshop is open to all Brock faculty ($300/participant), Brock students and staff ($200/participant), and general public ($450/participant). To register, email Snezana Ratkovic at snezana.ratkovic@brocku.ca.

    Workshop aims

    • Develop skills and strategies to thrive and flourish
    • Increase your writing effectiveness and productivity on a daily, weekly and semester basis
    • Develop more efficient writing structures, strategies and habits
    • Help manage projects by setting goals, making a plan and breaking tasks into smaller parts
    • Clarify your sense of professional and scholarly identity

    Schedule

    Wednesday, Feb. 12 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 

    1. Introduction and overview
    2. Components of writing effectiveness and productivity

    Thursday, Feb. 13 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

    1. How to make a plan for the semester
    2. How to make a plan for the week

    Thursday, Feb. 13 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 

    1. Writing productivity strategies
    2. Thinking ahead: Coaching and accountability

    Tags:
    Categories: Events

  • Event: Student communication feedback sessions

    Too many emails? Tell us about it!

    In the Faculty of Education, we want you to have the information you need from staff in a way that works for you. Join us for a 50-minute guided discussion to help shape future communications.

    Sign up today to participate and have your voice heard:

    Categories: Events

  • Event: Geographies of Spectacle and Education

    Teachers at Play in the Liquid Now

    A Lunchtime talk and dialogue with Dr. Kelvin Sealey

    Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019
    12:30 to 2 p.m.
    WH 209

    The present is liquid, or so Zygmunt Bauman, noted sociologist, would have us believe. As an educator, my interest in the “liquidity” or mutability of the modern moment intersects with an intimate concern for what Guy Debord has called the Society of the Spectacle, a place ruled not by the day-to-day need to survive, but by the interests of media and communications conglomerates interested solely – and perhaps soullessly – in accumulating profits. Not a day goes by in the contemporary west that some spectacle or another doesn’t draw our collective attention, or that actors, good and bad alike, don’t find a way to bend our realities into spectacular formations. What can educators do? In partial answer to this question, I will lend insight into my research on education and spectacle, giving authority to an argument which posits that educators are well placed to contextualize the modern spectacle, particularly in their mediacentric formations, for the benefit of classroom teaching. Drawing upon examples from a long and varied teaching practice, it will be further argued that cinematic, journalistic and photographic incarnations of the spectacle are delightfully protean in ways that can advance wide-ranging pedagogical initiatives, affording educators the opportunity for playfulness, criticality and innovation.

    About Kelvin S. Sealey, Ed.D

    Beginning in June 2019, Dr. Kelvin Sealey, became the second Head of School of the Dragon Academy in Toronto. For over twenty-seven years, Dr. Sealey has been an independent school educator, adjunct instructor in undergraduate and graduate education programs, and educational consultant. As a scholar of cultural studies, and reflective of his doctorate in Interdisciplinary Studies in Education, Dr. Sealey’s research and lectures have embraced the sub-fields of Architecture and Education, Spectacle and Education, Entrepreneurship and Education, and Film and Education. As an instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University, he co-founded two academic research labs: The Film and Education Research Academy (FERA), and the Design Lab for Learning Organizations at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Across his professional career, Dr. Sealey has blended academic practice with entrepreneurial pursuits, leading small technology ventures in wireless gaming and wireless finance in the payment card industry as social ventures. His edited texts Film, Politics and Education (Peter Lang 2008), Restoring Hope (Beacon Press 1997) and A Reader in Social Enterprise (Pearson 2000) remain strong contributors in their respective fields of study.

     

    Categories: Events

  • Teacher Education Information Sessions

    Brock Teacher Education – BEd – Information Sessions

    Learn more about Brock’s Consecutive Teacher Education Program (BEd), including:

    • Program overview
    • Admissions requirements
    • Admission timeline

    Register online today or just join us on:

    Tags:
    Categories: Events, News

  • Event: Consecutive Teacher Education information sessions

    Thinking about a teaching career? Registration for information sessions on Brock’s Consecutive Teacher Education program is now open.

    During the information sessions, you can learn more about:

    • the flow of the 16-month(2-year) program
    • courses
    • practicums
    • two campuses (St. Catharines and Hamilton)
    • admission requirements (academic and experience profile)

    Tags: ,
    Categories: Events

  • Event: A Celebration of Mathematics

    OAME Golden Section Spring Conference

    The OAME Golden Section Spring Conference takes place in Welch Hall at Brock University on Wednesday, April 17. The conference is presented by the Golden Section of OAME, Brock University Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Brock University Department of Mathematics and Brock University Faculty of Education.

    This year, the conference features a keynote by the inspiring Bill Ralph.

    Registration Information

    Conference Fee

    • $30.00 for OAME member
    • $35.00 for non-member
    • $10 for Faculty of Education Students
    • Dinner: additional $25.00

    All registration will be done electronically at www.oame.on.ca/mcis starting on Tuesday, March 26th. Click on Conferences Open For Registration, then click on Online Registration for Golden MiniConference 2019. If you have questions regarding registration, please e-mail: liisa.suurtamm@dsbn.org.

    Other questions can be directed to: elizabeth.pattison@dsbn.org or jaime.rootes@ncdsb.com.

    Driving Directions to Brock University can be found here: brocku.ca/directions. Parking is available in Lot D. When arriving, tell the parking attendant you are attending the OAME conference to be admitted into the lot. To locate Welch Hall, please view the map of the Brock Campus available at brocku.ca/maps.

    Schedule of Events

    3:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. – Registration Welch Hall, Brock University
    4:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. – Session A: Keynote – Dr. Bill Ralph
    5:15  p.m. to  p.m. 5:30 – Break
    5:30  p.m. to 6:45  p.m. – Session B: Workshops
    7:00 p.m. – Dinner in Pond Inlet, Brock University (dinner will be a buffet selection including salads, pasta, an entre with side dishes and desserts)

    Session A: Keynote

    After professing his love for mathematics for more than 30 years in the Faculty of Mathematics at Brock University, Bill Ralph is retiring! Over those 30 years, Bill has been a consistent and enthusiastic supporter of Golden Section – he has opened his classroom to our students, given talks at our spring conference, provoked our thinking about the role of technology at our inaugural fall social, welcomed students at our Math Olympics and given a keynote address when the Provincial OAME conference was hosted by Golden. But more importantly, Bill has been, and continues to be, an inspiration to many mathematics teachers in the Niagara Region and beyond.

    We are thrilled that Bill will enlighten, entertain and inspire us once again at our mini-conference. Bill will be sharing highlights of his many interests, with a focus on:

    BOOM OR DOOM –The Mathematical Ups And Downs Of The Stock Market

    If your house is built on quicksand, in an earthquake zone, and on a flood plain, then buying stocks will be as easy for you as falling off a cliff. If you’re very risk averse like me, you might want to bring a little mathematics into your investing to help you sleep at night. We’ll look at what mathematics tells us about predicting risk and return and see if it can explain why the teachers’ pension fund does so well. Bring some coins to toss for some hands-on experiments that could introduce your students (elementary or secondary!) to stock market mathematics. You might want to have a look at my financial website www.portfoliomath.com or my art website www.billralph.com.

    Session B: Workshops

    B1: Engaging Students in Mathematics Learning Through Games and Puzzles

    • Presenters: Mary Vetere & Melissa Wigglesworth, NCDSB
    • Audience: Grades K – 3
    • Are you looking for ideas to engage students in math learning? This session will explore a range of tasks that can be used immediately to get K-3 students excited about mathematics.

    B2: Engaging Students in Mathematics Learning Through Games and Puzzles

    • Presenters: Susan Ume & Jaime Rootes, NCDSB
    • Audience: Grades 4 – 8
    • Are you looking for ideas to engage students in math learning? This session will explore a range of tasks that can be used immediately to get 4-8 students excited about mathematics.

    B3: Inquiry Based-Learning in Mathematics in Junior/Intermediate Classrooms

    • Presenter: Gillian Berard, NCDSB
    • Audience: Grades 5 – 8
    • “How can I create a business?” Learn how to implement, assess and document student driven inquiries in the junior/intermediate classrooms in mathematics. Engage in activities that show how to create a class of deep learning, wonder, to spiral your program and to integrate multiple strands during an inquiry. Learn how to use questions and curiosities to engage students in your mathematics classroom with examples of financial literacy, woodworking, coding, building, cooking and much more …

    B5: Building a Thinking Classroom

    • Presenter: Braden Coles, DSBN
    • Audience: 9 – 12
    • Have you ever wondered who does the thinking in your classroom? Is it your students or you? During this session we will explore elements of Peter Liljedahl’s Thinking Classroom such as vertical non-permanent surfaces, visible random groupings and flow. In this session participants will learn about these elements and how they benefit student learning. Participants will explore problem solving in a vertical classroom, putting themselves in the position of the student and witness firsthand the benefits to student learning. [Note: This session will be different from the DSBN PD Day session.]

    B6: Let Me Tell You My Problems

    • Presenter: Angelo Lillo, DSBN
    • Audience: Grades 9 – 12
    • Problem based instruction is a great way to engage students in Mathematics. I try to use problems to begin my classes as often as possible, but it is sometimes difficult to find good ones that fit the curriculum. I have scoured the internet and other sources for problems that will challenge your students and help them to become creative thinkers and risk-takers. Join me for a hour where you will have a chance to work on some interesting problems that fit different parts of the secondary Mathematics curriculum. . [Note: This session will be different from the DSBN PD Day session.]

    B7: Can You Escape Math Class?

    • Presenter: Melissa Suita, DSBN
    • Audience: Grades 9 – 12
    • Escape Rooms are all the rage right now and students are just as hooked as adults. Why not take something as fascinating as an Escape Room experience and adapt it for the classroom environment! With just a few basic supplies, and a bit of creativity, you can create a similar experience for your math students.

    Tags: ,
    Categories: Events

  • Event: Upcoming information sessions

    Information sessions for three Faculty of Education programs will take place on March 23 at the Hamilton Campus:

    • An information session for those who have completed (or will soon complete) a university degree and would like to apply to the Consecutive Teacher Education program to pursue a career in teaching. Register here to attend the information session.
    • An information session for those applying for admission to the January 2020 intake of the Technological Teacher Education to become a Technological Education Teacher and teach one of Ontario’s 10 Broad Based Technology curriculum. Register for the information session here.
    • An information session for those already holding an ECE diploma who are interested in earning a Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (Honours) degree. Register here to attend the information session.

    Brock will be offering on-the-spot admissions to the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education program. If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, please bring:

    • high school and post-secondary transcripts
    • photo ID
    • $100 application fee for full-time studies; $55 application fee for part-time studies

    Directions to the Hamilton Campus are available here.

    Categories: Events

  • Event: Speaker to explore new grounds on race debate in Cuba

    Guest speaker Porfirio Samuel Furé Davis will explore the race debate in Cuba during a presentation hosted by Brock’s Faculty of Education on Tuesday, March 12.

    Race and racism have been controversial topics in Cuba in the post-revolutionary period. Furé’s talk will explore new grounds for the race debate in Cuba and provide insight into a complex discussion.

    A distinguished scholar and Professor Titular in the School of Foreign Languages at the University of Havana, Furé is known for his work on Afro-Caribbean oral tradition, Cuban reggae and Anglo-Caribbean literature, and is also the author of La Cultura Rastafari en Cuba, his seminal history of the Rastafarian movement in Cuba. He also serves as a host and a scholarly mentor to visiting international scholars who go to Cuba to study the issue of Black culture in Cuba.

    The talk was organized by Michael O’Sullivan, Associate Professor and Associate Dean Graduate Student Services, Research and International in the Faculty of Education. Furé has been connected with Brock since 2008 and has collaborated with O’Sullivan on a research project in the past.

    His talk takes place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in WH 206. All are welcome to attend.

    Categories: Events