1. EC&I 808
Saturday, September 17th

2. Introduction EC&I 808 Instruction: Theory & Practice
Meadow Lake – North Battleford Cohort
September 19th – November 22nd, 2015
9:00 – 3:30

3. Course Description
The instructional practices that teachers exhibit in the classroom are deeply rooted in personal biography and taken-for-granted assumptions shaped by contexts in which they teach. This course helps teachers to understand their personal-practical theories of instruction through narrative writing, inquiry into their teaching practices, and examination of “best practices” occurring in the literature. The contexts of teaching are also explored to determine the impact in shaping instructional practices. Students explore different theoretical views of instruction and the forms of pedagogy that the different views generate.

4. Instructor – Davin Hildebrand
Personal Background
- Moose Jaw, SK
- Courtney Hildebrand
- Kenzi Hildebrand
- Carys Hildebrand
- Atley Hildebrand

5. Instructor – Davin Hildebrand
Professional Background
- Teacher at Gateway Elementary School
- Teacher at Jonas Samson Junior High
- Vice Principal at Ernie Studer School
- Vice Principal at Lakeview Elementary School
- Principal at Jubilee Community School
- Sessional Instructor – University of Regina
- Superintendent of Human Resources, Northwest School Division

6. Instructor – Davin Hildebrand
Academic Background
- B.Ed. – University of Saskatchewan
- M.Ed. – University of Calgary
- Ed.D. – University of Calgary
- Certified Human Resource Professional (Candidate)
- Master’s Certificate in Human Resource Management – University of Regina

7. Instructor – Davin Hildebrand
Contact Information

8. Required Reading
Kevin K. Kumashiro - Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice
- Expectations
- Reading Response Journal A & B
- A small part of the course

9. Assignments Teacher Narrative
Using a narrative inquiry approach, your teacher narrative will explore who you are in this place, space and time and reflect how your personal and professional stories influence and shape your pedagogical practice. The teacher narrative will provide a glimpse into who you are, where you come from, the context in which you work, your experiences, questions and complexities of teaching that you are currently experiencing or wondering about. Through this narrative, you will begin inquiring into and examining your values, beliefs and assumptions about instructional teaching practices. Choices of representation include written (4-6 pages), digital (5-8 minutes) or a scrapbook using photos or objects of your choice.

10. Assignments Teacher Narrative - Courtney’s Autobiography-
- Due October 15th

11. Assignments
Reading Response Journal – Part A – Blog You will respond to textbook readings, assigned articles and class experiences through a blog. The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to engage and critically reflect on key themes in the course, to document and provide evidence of your understanding and growth as an educator, to make connections to the readings and course experiences and to discuss ideas and issues that arise from your experience in the course. The response is intended to be a reflection of your thoughts and feelings rather than a synthesis of the author’s position.

12. Assignments Reading Response Journal – Part A – Blog
Possible guiding questions may include:
- What is the author saying to you?
- What connections are you making?
- What stories does this remind you of?
- How does the message relate to other feelings?
- Do the messages validate, affirm or challenge your beliefs?
- How might the message change your practice?
- What challenges does the position present?

13. Assignments Reading Response Journal – Part A – Blog
- Create a blog on Wordpress.com
- Link your blog to classmates blogs
- Make a minimum of 5 blog posts
- Actively respond to other blog posts
- Feel free to post assignments as well (these are not part of the 5 posts)
- You get what you put into a blog

14. Assignments Reading Response Journal – Part B – Visual
Create a one page visual representation of the key messages from Kumashiro. This may be a collection of quotes, drawings, graphic organizer or thoughts and ideas that you connected with. A picture of your visual representation should be uploaded to your course blog.

15. Assignments Reading Response Journal – Part B – Visual
Courtney’s Visual Representation of Kumashiro

16. Assignments Group Inquiry Into Teaching & Learning
Only you know your context and the unique learners that you walk alongside on a daily basis. In this assignment, you will identify a promising instructional strategy or teaching practice that connects with your practice. The presentation will be posted on your course blog.

17. Assignments Group Inquiry Into Teaching & Learning
The following questions may guide you in choosing your presentation topic:
What are my current challenges, frustrations, hopes and dreams?
What do I want to improve in my practice?
What do my learners need and want?
What instructional approach or teaching practice intrigues and excites me?
How can I find out more about where this idea came from?
What would this look like in practice?
What are the possibilities for this theory in my practice?

18. Assignments Group Inquiry Into Teaching & Learning Choose a partner
Choose a topic
Do the research
Create a presentation outlining the research
The presentation will be the foundation of the Action Plan
Presentations will be on October 15th
30 minutes

19. Assignments Group Theory & Action Plan
Demonstrate and tell the story of your promising theory and practice journey through a research-based presentation. This presentation can come in various forms including research paper, digital story, Prezi, poster presentation, sound recording, storytelling, dramatic production, artistic representation, model or radio play.

20. Assignments Group Theory & Action Plan
There are 5 major components of this assignment:
1. Reflective Process – Revisit reading response journal and initial teacher narrative. Pay attention to beliefs that may have engaged or been weakened or strengthened in this course.

21. Assignments Group Theory & Action Plan
2. Research – At least three references to peer reviewed journal articles must be made.
3. Focus on Theory & Practice
- What aspect of teaching and instruction do I want to change?
- Why is it important?
- How may this improve learning for my students?
- How does my teacher narrative connect with this change?
- What does the research say about this theory and practice?

22. Assignments Group Theory & Action Plan
4. Plan of Action – How will I go about making this change?
5. Presentation & Post – Prepare a 10 minute presentation of your project to share with your peers. The presentation will be posted on your course blog.
Presentations will be done on November 19th.

23. Break
Take 15 minutes.

24. Personal Artifact
1. On your own - Find one personal belonging that you have with you and reflect on how this item represents you as a person and as an educator. This may include your thoughts, beliefs, actions, etc. (10 minutes)
2. In a group of 4 – Share the story of you and your personal artifact. (20 minutes)
3. To the class – Share your story with the class. (30 minutes)

25. Blog Creation and Exploration
1. Go to and create your own blog
2. Review the course blog at:
3. Give me the address of your course blog
4. Review the link “Courtney’s Blog” to review assignments and thoughts from the 2011 Meadow Lake cohort.

26. Lunch
See you at 1:00.

27. Blog Update
Who has successfully created a blog including their first post?

28. The Perfect System of Education
It is possible for educators to get frustrated with the realities and challenges they face that seem impossible to change. This task asks us to look beyond barriers and imagine what could be. Our task is not to imagine the ideal world, but rather to imagine an ideal system to meet the challenges of the world we live in. By uncovering our vision of the perfect system, we begin to make transparent our personal educational values.

29. The Perfect System of Education
Write “10 Elements of My Perfect System of Education” in the center of your paper.
List/Draw the 10 elements on your paper.
In groups of 3, share your thoughts.
With your group of 3, move to another groups work and continue until you have seen the rest of the groups.

30. Break
Take 15 minutes.

31. Kumashiro Chapter #1 Get into groups of 4.
Assign each group member a number 1-4.
Group members will each own a question:
What are the similarities and differences between the notions of “troubling knowledge” and “always becoming?”
What are the dominant images of good teachers in teacher-education programs, and how does each image both advance and hinder social justice in education?
How does the teacher-education program in which you were/are teaching and learning reflect and challenge these dominant images in its policies, practices, curriculum, and culture?
What are alternative images of “good teachers” or “good teaching” in educational institutions as well as in popular culture, and how does each image both enable and hinder anti-oppressive education?

32. Kumashiro Chapter #1 3. Follow the Dialogue Diagram 1 – 2 & 3 – 4
1 – 3 & 2 – 4
1 – 4 & 2 – 3
4. Gather together in number alike teams and collect your ideas
5. Share these ideas with the larger group

33. Break
Take 15 minutes.

34. Fishbowl Conversation
Form 2 groups
One inside the other outside
One extra chair in the inside group
Only one person can talk and he or she must be on the inside
Those on the outside can fill the empty seat, but must leave after speaking
The goal is to have discussion about the guiding question

35. Fishbowl Conversation
What does it mean to learn?

36. Fishbowl Conversation
What does learning look like?

37. Fishbowl Conversation
What does it mean to teach?

38. Fishbowl Conversation
What does teaching look like?

39. Break
Take 15 minutes.

40. Kumashiro Chapter #2 What does it mean to learn through crisis?
What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with teaching in a way that leads students to learn through crisis?
How might you design a lesson in your setting that would productively allow students to learn through crisis?
Visually depict your own model of learning or what it means to learn.