۲ݮƵ Education Updates – Winter 2020/21: News About the Faculty's Strategic Initiatives and Priorities
۲ݮƵ Education's Winter updates for alumni and friends of the Faculty helps to keep you informed of the great things we're doing, with news about the Faculty’s strategic initiatives and priorities, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 health crisis.
To subscribe to our e-newsletter contact Associate Director of Development, Rayna Goldman (rayna.goldman [at] mcgill.ca).
Addressing Teacher Shortages in Cree Communities
Nearly 500 ۲ݮƵ student teachers were placed in Montreal-area schools this fall, but did you know that more than 30 new Cree ۲ݮƵ B.Ed students are studying in their home communities in Eeyou Istchee, places like Chisasibi, Waswanipi, and Oujé-Bougamou?
۲ݮƵ Faculty of Education Receives $7.3M in Philanthropic Support
The experience of homeschooling during the initial phase of the pandemic brought with it a newfound respect for teachers. Celebrity shout outs to elementary and high school educators filled our social media feeds and as teachers have become the new front-line workers during this second wave, the public continues to hold them in high regard.
Donor-Funded Internship Opens New Doors for Howse
For many of us, the summer of 2020 was a time to take a breath and regroup. For Fiona Howse, an undergraduate kinesiology student, it was a time to take a breath and examine breath. Thanks to the Adriano Tassone Internship Award, Fiona Howse had the opportunity to spend the summer working full-time at the Cardiovascular Health and Autonomic Regulation Lab (CHARLab), researching how slow breathing affects heartrate variability in both men and women.
Reaching Across the Globe for Mental Health Awareness
Despite the inability to travel during COVID’s second wave, ۲ݮƵ’s Faculty of Education launched a major initiative overseas in partnership with ۲ݮƵ University Asia Office. This October marked the inaugural ۲ݮƵ Mental Health Awareness Week in Asia which also launched the ۲ݮƵ University Bicentennial Project on Mental Resilience Education in Asia.
Parents Learn Virtually at ۲ݮƵ
۲ݮƵ students weren’t the only ones learning remotely this past semester; parents also did a great deal of virtual learning when the ۲ݮƵ Effective Parenting Series moved from an in-person to an online format. Launched in 2018 by the Faculty of Education’s Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology (ECP), the Effective parenting series was held annually in the spring for an audience of 80 to 100 subscribers who attended a weekly seminar for four weeks.
A Bold New Partnership with Renowned Montreal High School
A new partnership between ۲ݮƵ’s Faculty of Education and Trafalgar School for Girls – known as the CoLab – aims to advance collaborative research that will address the evolving needs of both educators and students. Unlike traditional laboratory schools at Oxford, Columbia, UCLA and the University of Chicago, which operate as an adjunct to a university, this new venture will be a true partnership, the first of its kind in Canada.
Media Spotlight – Bronwen Low, DISE, in the Montreal Gazette
Quebec’s law on religious symbols appears to be emboldening racists to lash out against student teachers who are members of minority groups, a new survey has found.
Media Spotlight: Bronwen Low Discusses the Problem with Borat
In December of 2007, Dr. Bronwen Low co-authored "Borat and the Problem of Parody" in reaction to the Sasha Baron Cohen film that took the world by surprise. With a new cringe-worthy Borat film having been released this fall, ۲ݮƵ DISE's Dr. Low was recently interviewed by the Huffington Post (UK edition) as a follow-up to her earlier written critique.
Fall 2020 Sports Science Project Grants Awarded to Dr. Dilson Rassier and Dr. Tyler Churchward-Venne
۲ݮƵ’s Sports Science Institute (SSI) at the Faculty of Education awarded the Fall 2020 Sports Science Project Grants to Dr. Dilson Rassier for his project “From Gene to Sports Performance: The Genetic Basis of Muscle Mechanical Properties” and to Dr.
Karissa Leduc, ECP, Receives American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award
Karissa Leduc, a doctoral candidate in the Human Development Program, was awarded the American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award. This award is given to doctoral students to support costs associated to research projects that reflect excellence in scientific psychology.
۲ݮƵ’s Faculty of Education receives $7.3 million in philanthropic support to aid student teachers and launch Canada’s first teaching and learning lab
Two donations, one from the estate of Mary Marsh and another from The Molson Foundation, will support students and spur innovations in pedagogy.
At a time when school teachers everywhere are being challenged by the second wave of the pandemic and by technological advances that are ۲ݮƵ where, when and how students learn, ۲ݮƵ’s Faculty of Education is pleased to announce over $7 million in new philanthropic support through a pair of generous gifts from longstanding donors.
To teachers, with love: Elementary school teacher Mary Marsh leaves a historic bequest for Education students after a lifetime of giving
They may not know it yet, but ۲ݮƵ’s student teachers are getting a big boost from a kindred spirit.
The late Mary Marsh, DipEd’42, a Grade 1 teacher at Rosedale School in Montreal for most of her career, has left more than $4.8 million in her will to support students in the Faculty of Education through a suite of awards – an investment that couldn’t have come at a better time for a profession deeply marked by the pandemic.
New CoLab spurs innovations in pedagogy: Valuable support from The Molson Foundation will bolster a novel approach to education
A new partnership between ۲ݮƵ’s Faculty of Education and Trafalgar School for Girls – known as the CoLab – aims to advance collaborative research that will address the evolving needs of both educators and students. Unlike traditional laboratory schools at Oxford, Columbia, UCLA and the University of Chicago, which operate as an adjunct to a university, this new venture will be a true partnership, the first of its kind in Canada.
Honouring the Women of École Polytechnique
DISE's Allison Gonsalves, Co-Chair of ۲ݮƵ’s Senate Subcommittee on Women, gave the following statement at the vigil:
"As part of the virtual vigil for the women who were murdered at École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989, a new scholarship was announced to support female engineering students.