Summer Newsletter | June 2025
| In this newsletter... - Congratulations to the Class of 2025
- Employment Opportunities
- Faculty of Education Strategic Plan
- Research Corner
- Alumni Spotlight: Thomas Bégin
- Alumni Spotlight: Kara Ross (story published on Make a Future)
- Teaching English and Additional Languages (TEAL) Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
- Interdisciplinary Studies in Contemporary Education Post-Baccalaureate Certificate and Diploma
| Congratulations to the Class of 2025! A message of congratulations from Dr. Kedrick James, director. On behalf of the Okanagan School of Education, it is my great pleasure to extend heartfelt congratulations to our graduating students on this momentous day! Convocation is a time of both celebration and reflection. It marks not only the completion of your program, but also a passage into new responsibilities, new relationships, and new possibilities. In addition to celebrating all of our graduates today, we have a few special acknowledgments: - Congratulations to our Bachelor of Education, Head of Graduating Class, Tum (Alicia) Marchand.
- Congratulations to our Maxwell Cameron Award recipients, Corie Harsch and Gaby Sandhu.
- Congratulations to our Sharon McCoubrey Award in Visual Arts Teaching recipient, Makeena Hartmann.
Read more | Employment Opportunities The Okanagan Montessori Elementary School is seeking an educator. Learn more | Shaping the Future of UBC Faculty of Education The Faculty of Education is developing its new strategic plan. This process will draw on insights from both internal and external communities, guiding the Faculty as it navigates the evolving landscape of higher education. Learn more: educ.ubc.ca/stratplan. | Re-writing Our Place Together
By Sumer Seiki-Wong, Jody Dlouhy-Nelson, Bill Cohen, tum Alicia Marchand and Kara Ross Five Okanagan School of Education (OSE) colleagues co-created a literacy symposium in December, 2023, to serve as a culminating learning opportunity for a seminar of literacy studies in the OSE Bachelor of Education program. They created space to learn diverse literacies and wrestle in dialogue and experience to unlearn a colonized literacy for 110 K-12 preservice teachers. The symposium was intended to interrupt a direct path to conceiving literacy in narrow and fixed ways. This one-day literacy symposium brought the pre-service teachers, matriarchal knowledge from more than one first culture including syilx and Hung Dee Moy from Toisan, and the land-based understandings passed down through millennia into one space. Understanding how students’ knowledge is made, found, and relayed, co-creators and authors ultimately wanted BEd students to consider the vast number of knowledges that potentially exist in their K-12 classrooms through the embodied literacies living within their K-12 students. In this paper, authors inquire into their practitioner question, “What did we learn from co-teaching and co-composing this literacy symposium, and what will we do for our preservice teachers and the people-to-be with that learning?”. In this co-written paper, they share their investigation through the theory and practice of currere. Published in the Currere Exchange Journal Read more | | Kindness Can Also Be an Absence of Action
By John-Tyler Binfet "In my research, I've identified a subset of kind acts that involve self-restraint or an absence of action. These are acts by students that draw little attention, that might easily go unnoticed, and that demonstrate students' ability to self-regulate." Published in Psychology Today Read more | | Meaningful Elements and Impactful Outcomes: A Thematic Review of the Literature on Short-Term Study Abroad for English as an Additional Language Learners
By Scott Douglas Short-term study abroad programs for English as an additional language (EAL) learners are an attractive option for students looking to supplement their post-secondary studies; however, they still represent a considerable investment of time, money, and effort on the part of students. To identify the meaningful elements and impactful outcomes of these types of programs, a thematic review of the peer reviewed literature related to short-term EAL study abroad in post-secondary contexts was carried out. Published in the Journal of Worldwide Education Read more | | Editor's Choice Article: Keeping loneliness on a short leash: Reducing university student stress and loneliness through a canine-assisted intervention
By Lori Kogan, Colorado State University, Editor-in-Chief of Human-Animal Interactions The BARK team's research on reducing student loneliness through canine-assisted therapy is a CABI Editors Choice Article! Published in CABI Digital Library Read more | | Music, Teaching, and Cultural Passion Drawn to music from a young age, Thomas Bégin, BEd ’25, never imagined his passion for guitar would lead him to a fulfilling career in education. After earning multiple music degrees and teaching guitar, a chance opportunity brought him to BC, where he discovered the joy of sharing his French language and culture with students. “French is my culture, and sharing that with students is rewarding,” he shares. “I love seeing students embrace the language and gain an appreciation for it.” Read more | From Student to Teacher: UBC Okanagan Grad Reclaims Culture as an Educator Story posted on Make a Future Kara Ross walks the same halls she once did as a teen at W.L. Seaton Secondary in the Vernon School District No.22 — but now, she’s at the front of the class, doing something she never got to experience as a student: teaching the Syilx language, Nsyilxcn. Read more | Teaching English and Additional Languages (TEAL) Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Looking to expand your teaching expertise and better support additional language learners? The Teaching English and Additional Languages (TEAL) Post-Baccalaureate Certificate is designed to build on your existing experience, offering advanced strategies in lesson planning, language awareness, intercultural communication, and more. Upcoming Courses | LLED_O 497 (3): Practicum in Additional Language Teaching and Learning Delivery method: in-person
Dates (Thursdays): Sept. 11 & 25, Oct. 9 & 23, Nov. 6 & 20
Time: 6:30PM – 8:30PM Learn more | | LLED_O 494 (3): Introduction to Additional Language Teaching and Learning Delivery method: online (asynchronous)
Dates: Jan. 5 to Apr. 9, 2026 Learn more | | Interdisciplinary Studies in Contemporary Education Post-Baccalaureate Certificate and Diploma With it’s flexible design, the certificate or diploma program can be tailored to meet your unique needs and interests. You can build your own individualized program while still meeting the educational needs and requirements for specialization (e.g. learning assistance or resource teachers)., Upcoming Courses | EPSE_O 470-G (3): Autism Spectrum Disorders Delivery method: online (asynchronous)
Dates: Sept. 2 to Dec. 5, 2025 Learn more | | ECED_O 445 (3): Social Equality and Early Learning Delivery method: online (asynchronous)
Dates: Sept. 2 to Dec. 5, 2025 Learn more | | Okanagan School of Education
Okanagan Campus
Syilx Okanagan Nation Territory
EME 3115 - 1137 Alumni Ave
Kelowna, BC Canada V1V 1V7 education.ok.ubc.ca | You are receiving this e-newsletter because you’ve subscribed to this email from Okanagan School of Education. © Copyright The University of British Columbia | | | | | |
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