What does every Canadian need to know today? (Core knowledge)
Due anytime between June 16, 2015-June 23, 2015
Imagine that you are now an employed teacher. You work at a school with an exchange program whereby a certified teacher from another country (outside North America) will come spend 4 weeks in your school to learn more about teaching in Canada. The teacher arriving next month has no previous experience teaching/working in Canada and will be placed in your classroom.
The teacher has contacted you and would like to get a better sense of some of your beliefs about teaching and the Canadian school system. S/he wishes to find out, from your perspective, “What does every Canadian need to know today?”
Instructions for completing this assignment:
- Respond to the above question as if you were composing a well-written email to the colleague and cc’ing your Principal on the response. Remember: you are helping the incoming teacher to be as well-prepared as possible.
- What do you think “every Canadian needs to know” today? Is there something that, currently, is not commonly taught and that you think should be core curriculum? And/or are there topics/ideas/approaches that are part of the curriculum and that should continue to be emphasized?
- Make sure that you justify your answer, i.e. that you explain clearly why the core curriculum that you are proposing is important for Canadians today.
- Use examples from your coursework and teaching practice to support your answer.
- Aim for approximately 400-450 words
- Make sure the title of your post clearly identifies “what every Canadian should know”, i.e., Music, Math, Critical Thinking, or whatever it is you are writing about.
- Meaningfully reference at least one reading from the course syllabus (you can reference more than one, but at least one should be from EDST 403).
- You may write in French or English
- Proofread your assignment carefully
- Contact me if you have questions about the assignment
This assignment must be submitted through the course site in the manner described in the short screencast. If you watch the video and still have questions about how to do to this, please (1) ask a classmate for help or (2) email blog.support@ubc.ca or (3) be in touch with me.
Instructions for submitting the assignment can be viewed here:
Key: toggle “all student assignments” and “core knowledge”!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akKXDZkOSOw