Welcome to Phi Delta Kappa University of Alberta Chapter
Phi Delta Kappa invites you to our Our Next Dinner Meeting:
Thursday , March 7th
Growing from strength:
Intentional approaches to working with hope in schools
Denise Larsen
University of Alberta
Thursday, March 7th
The Faculty Club
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB
5:40 to 6:00 pm Fellowship
6:00 to 6:45 pm Buffet Dinner
6:45 to 7:45 pm Presentation and Q & A
8:00 to 8:30 pm Networking
The University Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa would like to invite members, guests and fellow educators from the Edmonton area for an evening of fellowship and networking, with special guest, Denise Larsen, PhD, RPsych. Denise will be featuring on hope:
Hope is to the human spirit what breath is to the body. Research overwhelmingly reveals the importance of hope when addressing challenging circumstances. Alongside the stories of difficulty lie powerful resources found in individuals’ hope and strengths. These resources sometimes go unacknowledged and are often under-utilized. Recent interest in positive psychology has spurred the development of many practical tools that can be used to effectively foster and harness the benefits of hope with students, teachers and school leaders. This presentation offers information on hope and positive psych research. It highlights specific evidence-based practices and the latest research taking place in Edmonton area schools.
Denise is a Professor of Counselling Psychology and the Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. She is a former elementary school teacher having taught in inner city schools. She is Director of the research unit, Hope Studies Central, which has a 26 year history of hope research with the University of Alberta. Her research is always applied, meaning that she is most interested in research that identifies effective ways of supporting students, teachers, and school leaders. Her orientation is strengths based and hope focused. In her spare time,
• Cost: $40.00 member; $45.00 non-member (payable on arrival – cheque, credit card, cash)
• Parking in Lot V (access from 116 Street, ½ block south of Sask. Drive) @ $2.50
Reserve your seat by Friday, March 1, 2019 by email to: dolainekoch@shaw.ca or call 780-477-0170 and leave a message.
Not A PDK Member? Not a problem.
The U of A Chapter of PDK would like as many local educators as possible to attend this dinner topic and special induction of new members - so we are offering seats at a price only slightly above what members pay. That said, we are currently in the middle of a membership drive and would really like more Edmonton-area educators (teachers, administrators, students, researchers, teacher educators, ministry officials, and post-secondary instructors) to consider joining our organization. We are a small but vibrant organization of local educators from every role and experience level and we are dedicated to educational leadership, service and research.
Interested in Joining Us? It’s as easy as 1, 2, & 3.
Feel free to forward this email or the attached poster to other educators who may be interested in participating. You are also welcome to print the poster and share it/post it.
Phi Delta Kappa invites you to our Our Next Dinner Meeting:
Thursday , March 7th
Growing from strength:
Intentional approaches to working with hope in schools
Denise Larsen
University of Alberta
Thursday, March 7th
The Faculty Club
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB
5:40 to 6:00 pm Fellowship
6:00 to 6:45 pm Buffet Dinner
6:45 to 7:45 pm Presentation and Q & A
8:00 to 8:30 pm Networking
The University Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa would like to invite members, guests and fellow educators from the Edmonton area for an evening of fellowship and networking, with special guest, Denise Larsen, PhD, RPsych. Denise will be featuring on hope:
Hope is to the human spirit what breath is to the body. Research overwhelmingly reveals the importance of hope when addressing challenging circumstances. Alongside the stories of difficulty lie powerful resources found in individuals’ hope and strengths. These resources sometimes go unacknowledged and are often under-utilized. Recent interest in positive psychology has spurred the development of many practical tools that can be used to effectively foster and harness the benefits of hope with students, teachers and school leaders. This presentation offers information on hope and positive psych research. It highlights specific evidence-based practices and the latest research taking place in Edmonton area schools.
Denise is a Professor of Counselling Psychology and the Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. She is a former elementary school teacher having taught in inner city schools. She is Director of the research unit, Hope Studies Central, which has a 26 year history of hope research with the University of Alberta. Her research is always applied, meaning that she is most interested in research that identifies effective ways of supporting students, teachers, and school leaders. Her orientation is strengths based and hope focused. In her spare time,
• Cost: $40.00 member; $45.00 non-member (payable on arrival – cheque, credit card, cash)
• Parking in Lot V (access from 116 Street, ½ block south of Sask. Drive) @ $2.50
Reserve your seat by Friday, March 1, 2019 by email to: dolainekoch@shaw.ca or call 780-477-0170 and leave a message.
Not A PDK Member? Not a problem.
The U of A Chapter of PDK would like as many local educators as possible to attend this dinner topic and special induction of new members - so we are offering seats at a price only slightly above what members pay. That said, we are currently in the middle of a membership drive and would really like more Edmonton-area educators (teachers, administrators, students, researchers, teacher educators, ministry officials, and post-secondary instructors) to consider joining our organization. We are a small but vibrant organization of local educators from every role and experience level and we are dedicated to educational leadership, service and research.
Interested in Joining Us? It’s as easy as 1, 2, & 3.
- Visit PDK International
- Contact Charlotte Rode to learn how you join our group and make an immediate impact. charrode@shaw.ca
- Complete the online registration process and to start receiving our updates and invitations, our newsletters, and the Kappan Magazine.
Feel free to forward this email or the attached poster to other educators who may be interested in participating. You are also welcome to print the poster and share it/post it.
President's Message - November 2018
President’s Message
March 2019
Greetings from Dar es Salaam. I am writing this president’s report from East Africa, where I am once again working with the vocational colleges in Tanzania. This will be my last visit for this particular project. This week I am meeting with instructors from Dar es Salaam and Mwanza to refine and make suggestions for improvement on the of the first year vocational studies curricula for Math, Engineering Science, English and Communication Studies and Life Studies. Some of the adjustments are quite significant. Most teaching in Tanzania is very rote-based; the teacher explains, the students repeat back. Instructors at many of the colleges are only beginning to experiment with group work, role-playing, problem based learning, and active learning strategies. Half of the teachers I am working with this week (the four instructors from Mwanza) have had an opportunity to collaboratively plan and team-teach two four-week pilot programs alongside instructors from NorQuest (Edmonton) and Lakeland Colleges (Vermillion and Lloydminister). Now these Mwanzan instructors, along with four colleagues from the Dar es Salaam campus are looking at how they might integrate the most promising practices and strategies from the Mwanza pilots into the existing curricula. By the end of March, we hope to send the edited curricula and a report with specific recommendations to the Vocational Educational Training Authority.
In the meantime, I have also been able to do a bit of sightseeing. I have included some pictures from Dar es Salaam (skyline and salesperson at fish market) and from my work at VETA headquarters (paired game and group picture). Enjoy!
January PDK Supper
Last month we were able to listen to the Deans of three different teacher education institutions: Concordia University, The King’s University, and Faculte St. Jean. It proved to be another wonderful night. It was good to learn about these smaller institutions and see how they each had their own particular spin on teacher education. One impression that I had was that small can be quite powerful, especially in terms of building community amongst students, maintaining quality and integrity in a teacher education program, keeping individual students connected and accountable, and responding to the desires of the systems and schools looking to employ graduates.
I especially appreciated the Q and A session after the presentations. Guests and members asked some very relevant questions about preparing teachers for students with various needs, about indigenization of curricula and helping teachers to deepen their understanding of indigenous perspectives, and about many more timely and significant issues. The answers that the three deans gave were authentic and honest. For many of these issues, our teacher education faculties (U of A included), are just trying to find professors with expertise and to find room in the program to meet the needs of contemporary schooling. It was quite interesting to hear how each institution is trying to grapple with this.
March Supper – Hope!
Our next meeting is on hope. Dr. Denise Larson will be featuring the research and findings from Hope Studies Central, a research unit with a 25 year history in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. Denise is the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, she is a Registered Psychologist and she is a former elementary classroom teacher; she also oversees Hope Studies Central. Denise’s research focuses on the role of hope along with its effective use and benefits in various contexts including individual, group, couples, career, and peer counselling contexts. She has also conducted research on hope in classroom contexts, exploring experiences of hope, its roles, and potential benefits with children/youth and educators. The field of hope research is vast, with research indicating that higher levels of hope are associated with beneficial outcomes in virtually all studies including, physical and mental health, education, sports, and even business. A hopeful orientation, despite adversities faced, encourages active engagement in life and creative problem solving.
I think this will be a powerful session. I know that hope has allowed so many of the students that I have seen at NorQuest College to persevere in spite of rather challenging situations. Many of our NorQuest students come to college after years of frustration and failure in schooling and many others have experienced personal and familial upheaval in leaving their country to flee persecution. I think we are also seeing how important it is to inspire hope in our K-12 classrooms. Not every child comes from a safe and caring environment. I hope to see many of you there at the presentation!
Leadership Opportunities
From my six years of experience of working on the PDK board, I can tell you that we have a wonderful team of volunteers. We look forward to meeting with each other, catching up and addressing the challenges of running a small organization. Our meetings are friendly and focused; we have many thoughtful discussions while we work to identify themes and speakers for our dinner series and consider ways to engage our membership and grow the chapter.
Why am I sharing this? Well, several long-standing board members have let me know that this will be their last year in a leadership role! I am sad to see them go, but I understand. So I am asking you to consider if the time is right to join our executive. At our last meeting of the year, we will have the opportunity to elect a new executive. If you have an interest in serving the organization in this way, please talk to one of the existing board members and let us know! We are looking for people who are passionate about teaching and learning and like to network with and learn from the educational community. In particular, we would love to have people who might help us to better connect with our membership through newsletters, social media, promotion, scholarships, and the like.
Till next month,
Jeff
Stay tuned for more information regarding the upcoming program.
To register: Contact - Dolaine Koch dolainekoch@shaw.ca
Click here for more information on Chapter meeting dates for this year!