Popular Podagogy - Queen's Faculty of Education – Details, episodes & analysis

Recent Master of Education Graduate Tristan Lewis joins Chris Carlton this month to talk about his MEd project - A Month of Queer Thriving: 20 ways to queer your classroom. Enjoy this conversation full of helpful and easy to implement ideas about ways to queer your classroom. 

Make sure to check out Tristan's resource, A Month of Queer Thriving: 20 ways to queer your classroom which is designed to take some of the guesswork out of finding innovative ways of engaging students while employing queer and trans pedagogical practices. He hopes you'll use it to foster queer thriving via your teaching practice in concrete, practical, but perhaps unexpected ways. 

Tristan Lewis is a queer high school teacher in Ontario. His teachable subjects are English, Drama, and History. As a new teacher, he had trouble being bold enough to work against what's 'expected' of teachers. 

Did you know that accommodations from high school don't automatically transfer to University? Or that the goal of accommodations for students changes once you get to University? Alan Jeans, Manager of Queen's Student Accessibility Services and current PhD student at the Faculty of Education joins host Chris Carlton to discuss the transition from K-12 to University for students with accommodations.

• Find out more about Queen's Student Accessibility Services (QSAS). 
• The QSAS Intake Guide walks incoming students through every step of the intake process. 

Alan Jeans is a disability advocate who has worked in disability communities in Canada from coast to coast – from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Vancouver, British Columbia with stops in between. Currently, Alan manages Queen’s Student Accessibility Services (QSAS) at Queen’s University. In addition to managing QSAS, Alan is also a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. His research takes a critical disabilities approach to exploring the shifting intersectional landscape between disability and masculinity over generations. Having Tourette Syndrome himself, Alan identifies with a neurodiverse experience and is a proponent of the belief that strength arises from, not in spite of disability.

When we think about literacy we often think about literature and poetry – but what about non-fiction? The National Council of Teachers of English put out a powerful statement (with recommendations) about the importance of non-fiction literacy and the value it has in the classroom. Non-fiction children’s author Lindsey Carmichael joins us to talk about how non-fiction can engage students who may not engage with other literature, some of her favourite moments with non-fiction in classrooms, some tips for integrating non-fiction into the classroom, and talks about her new book.

Resources: 

• NCTE Position Statement on the Role of Nonfiction Literature (K-12) 
• List of Resources for Teaching with Non-Fiction created by LE Carmichael
• The study that gave a model of how to integrate non-fiction organically into learning: Maloch and Horsey (2013) Living Inquiry: Learning From and About Informational Texts in a Second-Grade Classroom. The Reading Teacher 66(6): 475-485
• The study that discusses kids reading above their level when they’re interested in the topic: Caswell and Duke (1998) Non-Narrative as a Catalyst for Literacy Development. Language Arts 75 (2): 108-117
• A study that emphasizes the validity of NF as “real” reading, focused on upper grades: Hynes (2000) “I Read for Facts”: Reading Nonfiction in a Fictional World. Language Arts 77 (6): 485-495
• Lindsey Carmichael's website lecarmichael.ca
• Lindsey's webpage on the KidsCanPress website

 Katrina Carbone, PhD student, talks about her research and how mental health, wellness and assessment are intertwined – and how assessment can be used to support student flourishing. She also discusses research she completed during her Master of Education centred around assessment identity and how our own experiences as students can shape how we practice as teachers. She ends the podcast with some great tips on how to implement assessment practices into your classroom.

Resources

Queen’s Assessment and Evaluation Group: queens-aeg.ca/

Teacher Assessment Identity (Looney et al., 2018): doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2016.1268090

Katrina’s MEd Thesis: qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/29415

Seligman’s PERMA+ Model Explained: A Theory of Wellbeing: positivepsychology.com/perma-model/

​Historian Deirdre McCorkindale (PhD ABD), Assistant Professor of History at the University of Guelph, joins us this month to discuss the history of Black History month itself (did you know it has over 100 years of history?), some of the problems with how Black history is taught in school, and how to keep your Black history lessons local. 

​Bio: Deirdre McCorkindale is a historian interested in the history of Race in North America with a focus on the African Canadian and African American Experience. Her current research currently concerns the history of intelligence testing in North America focusing on a racial intelligence study preformed southwestern Ontario in the 1930s. Deirdre has appeared in several documentaries talking about the Black history of Ontario specifically the Chatham Kent region and is a proud member and consultant for the Chatham Kent Black Historical Society.

Resources and More information

• Chatham Kent Black Historical Society and Black Mecca Museum - this is a community-run, non-profit and I'm a little biased towards it because I am a member and my grandmother is currently the President. 
• Josiah Henson Museum of African Canadian History (formerly Uncle Tom's Cabin) 
• The Buxton Historic Site and Museum - has a virtual tour but I recommend going in person. 
• Guelph Heritage Hall 
• Amherstburg Freedom Museum 

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Dr. Nenad Radakovic, our newest Faculty member, joined us to talk about transdisciplinary approaches to math education - or using math to explore big questions - like how we tackle climate change or how we make musical compositions that are pleasing to everyone. 

He talks about math classes he taught in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in which the students looked at the risks of different types of power plants and explored the responsibilities of the different organizations. The lesson touched on all kinds of different disciplines. 

Links

• Nenad Radakovic PhD thesis
• Transdisciplinarity in Mathematics Education: Blurring Disciplinary Boundaries 
• Border in Mathematics Pre-service Teacher Education 

Find out how you can get access to teaching resources at Queen's University's library, what is available to you as a teacher at public libraries and more in our latest podcast!

October is library month in Canada - with the theme: one card one million possibilities. We were lucky to have a chance to talk with two different librarians this week - Kristen Lemay, Acting Manager, Programming and Outreach, from the Kingston Frontenac Public Library, and Brenda Reed, Head Education Librarian at Queen's.

Resources
- Kingston Public Library Events Calendar
- KFPL Teen Reviews
- KFPL Volunteering at the Library
- Sign up for KFPL's newsletter
- Forest of Reading
-  Peggy Collins - Harley the Hero
- education.library@queensu.ca - email to get a Queen's Education Library Card
- Queen's Education University Library Research Guide
- Queen's Education University Library


Kristen Lemay's Bio
 
Kristen Lemay is a librarian with the Kingston Frontenac Public Library. She is currently the Acting Manager, Programming and Outreach. She works with a programming team of librarians and programming assistants to bring programs and awareness of library services to the community.

Brenda Reed's Bio
 
Brenda is the Head Education Librarian at Queen’s University Library where she has worked for over 20 years.  Before moving to Kingston, Brenda grew up in Gander Newfoundland, went to Western University in London, worked at St. Mary’s University Library in Halifax and Bishop’s College School Library in Lennoxville, and then at Queen’s Education Library ever since.

As an Education Librarian Brenda gets to work with people who are dedicated to teaching, learning, and research, from teacher candidates to graduate and faculty researchers.  This means that every day is full of learning and sharing and the challenges that come with figuring things out – which really works for Brenda since she loves persisting to try to get to the end of a puzzle.  Coming to work every day is pure joy – what other job lets you come in the front door and be greeted by a wall of brand new books – every one of which you’d like to read! – and then work with a team of colleagues all day who are passionate about learning and especially reading.  It’s a dream job for sure.

For the past 10 years or so Brenda has also served on the Silver Birch Express Steering Committee and is excited to be Co-Chairing that Committee again this year – check out the Forest of Reading book lists that were released last Friday – you’ve got a winter reading list for K-12 right there!

To celebrate Science Literacy Week, award-winning Canadian science children’s author Dr. Lindsey Carmichael joined us to talk about what science literacy is, why it is important, and what role books play in science literacy.

To celebrate Science Literacy Week, award-winning science children’s author Dr. Lindsey Carmichael joined us to talk about what science literacy is, why it is important, and what role books play in science literacy.

Helpful Links and Resources:

• Lindsey's website 
• Kids Can Press - Publisher of Lindsey Carmichael's books The Boreal Forest (2020) and Polar (2023)
• Sci/Why - a group blog run by Canadian children's science authors
• Melissa Stewart's Celebrate Nonfiction Blog - author, editor, and advocate for children's nonfiction
• Joyce Grant - author and teacher of media literacy for kids - Teaching Kids News 
• Erica Fyvie - author of Mad for Ads 

Smile big or go home! We are thrilled to have Lynda Colgan join us to talk about the upcoming Science Rendezvous event – and the very exciting highlights, what resources are available for teachers to use in their classroom, online workshops, and what makes this event special for kids and adults. Intro Music by: Trevor […]

Earth Day is coming up on April 22, 2022. The theme this year Celebrate Every Day! And we couldn’t think of a better person to have on our podcast and talk about sustainability in your classroom than Dan Hendry. On this episode, he’ll talk about sustainability projects big and small – and how to work with […]