“Good teachers might be both masters of research based pedagogical technique, and capable of personally charismatic, creative and imaginative engagement”
Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), situated in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is home to scholars who are constantly pushing the bounds of knowledge and whose teaching challenges academic instructors to go beyond the status quo. I am eager to meet the challenge. Innovative approaches to teaching and creative channels for making course content applicable and stimulating are what make the MSVU Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) educational experience so unique.
See below some of the most recent favorable students` feedback and the outlines of the two courses I designed:
“Thank you for the great semester Andras. I look forward to continuing and broadening my knowledge in Social Studies.”
“Thank you for providing me my marks and offering an engaging social studies class. I will say, the unit plan presentations at the end were extremely helpful. Designing a unit plan can be an overwhelming task but the feedback from my peers was valuable in filling in some gaps that appeared in my current unit plan and also future unit plans within my career…Again, I thoroughly enjoyed your class and thought you were an exceptional professor.”
“Thank you so much for your feedback Prof. Andras. Have a wonderful summer😊”
“Thank you for allowing me to make adjustments taking your feedback into consideration. I apologize. I see now that it was a little disjointed without the proper unit introduction at the beginning. This was the first unit plan we have created so without a guide I found it a little difficult.“
“Good evening, Thank you for your farewell words. It was a wonderful semester and so much was learned!
My farewell words to the teachers-in-making were the following:
Dear All,
It was a tremendous honor to be part of your learning journey over the winter semester. Please allow me to take my leave from your formal learning with the following.
Your students will look on to you as founts of knowledge. A significant portion of the general public will do it as well, seeing teachers as in the business of passing along what they know. Remember? I reminded you a couple of times that you are going to teach the general public. What an awesome responsibility that is! Many teachers likely share this common perception, but not all do. Some have a far less mechanical conception of their pedagogical responsibilities.
If you are seeking to establish your formative teaching tradition to be transformative, you are in fact seeking to accomplish a transformation of one kind or another in the person being taught. This is a very distinctive process from the transmission of factual and procedural knowledge from one person to another. The first is about forming--a qualitative change, often of dramatic proportion, a metamorphosis if you will. The second is about informing—an essentially imitative process. Your approach will, in most likelihood, encounter the above-mentioned traits at some point in your careers. The give-and-take of classroom life, however, requires no definition such as the above, what is wanted, of course, is that your love of teaching in all its aspects is reasonably high. That your love of education, of which I am certain, is not an explanation, but the very essence of your decision to become an educator. It is out of such a thinking that you might be able to get to the ultimate mission of education.
With warm wishes, András
2019 EDUC 5481 CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION IN SOCIAL STUDIES FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (2 x 0.5 Units). B.Ed. Program, MSVU.
If we are to encourage young people to think intelligently about human society, they must be led to acquire a true knowledge of social structure and social process.
—Valerie Burkett & Dennis Lawton
Course description
The purpose of this course is to introduce pre-service teachers to various approaches to the teaching Social Studies, and to acquaint them with the current Foundation for the Atlantic Canada Social Studies Curriculum and corresponding Social Studies: Essential Learning Outcomes frameworks for P- 3 and 4-6 respectively (see links below). In the Foundation, Social Studies are informed by a framework organized around six essential graduation learnings: aesthetic expression, citizenship, communication, personal development, problem solving and technological competence. EDUC 5481 students will investigate this material through the processes of inquiry, problem solving, researching, analyzing evidence, and communicating conclusions. This course calls on pre-service teachers to think in broad terms about what is needed to make social studies a valuable and interesting educational experience for their prospective students. Clearly, the area of social studies has the potential to be an exciting, dynamic and thought-provoking subject but, in order to achieve its potential, we ought to find meaning not in the definition of Social Studies but in the answer to a fundamental question: “What am I really supposed to be teaching in Social Studies?” It is imperative that every individual teacher comes to a coherent and defensible purpose that drives his or her Social Studies teaching. Developing this “picture,” critically and creatively, is the long-term aim of this course.
Course objectives
This course is intended to provide students (and, in the spirit of lifelong learning, the instructor) with an introduction to some of the foundational concepts, ideas, and perspectives in educational philosophy,
· to become familiar with the Social Studies curriculum in Nova Scotia;
· to develop a realistic view of the nature of Social Studies thinking, and the processes involved in the NS Social Studies curriculum: inquiry, communication, and participation;
· to develop the art of mediating, facilitating and guiding students-- rather than solely dispensing knowledge -- so that school students will become “participants” in Social Studies;
· to consider various teaching philosophies and their associated methodologies in a Social Studies context;
· to aid pre-service teachers in choosing content and activities wisely in order to develop varied, coherent and integrated Social Studies lessons and units for students with diverse learning styles, interests and aptitudes;
· to familiarize pre-service teachers with a number of issues involved in designing lessons and discuss how these can be addressed in order to develop educationally sound lessons;
· to explore various issues around teaching in the global world;
· to collect and critically examine Social Studies resources;
· to provide a forum for class members to interact and build on each other’s knowledge; and
· to be assisted in choosing content, methodology, and strategies in order to develop sound, varied, coherent and integrated Social Studies lessons and units for students with diverse learning styles, interests, aptitudes and skills.
Note: For a more detailed breakdown of this course please do not hesitate to contact me.
2018 EDUC 5321.02 Philosophy of Education (0.5 units), B.Ed. program, MSVU.
Course description:
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to educational concepts, issues and case studies through philosophical inquiry. This course offers preservice teachers a stimulating and accessible introduction to some of the most important issues in the field. By doing philosophy—examining, synthetizing, analyzing, speculating, prescribing, conveying, assuming and evaluating—we will connect philosophical reflection with current debates concerning various approaches to teaching, content of curriculum, methods of assessment, and many other practical matters that relate to schools and student learning. Participants will learn to think philosophically, that is, bring certain ways of thinking to their task, in order to develop the critical and creative attitudes, and begin to understand, as Wolfgang Klafki puts it, the “draft character” of planning and preparation for future classroom situations.
Course objectives
This course is intended to provide students (and, in the spirit of lifelong learning, the instructor) with an introduction to some of the foundational concepts, ideas, and perspectives in educational philosophy. Aristotle, in The Politics, raises the question of whether education should be directed mainly to the intellect or to moral character, and whether proper studies are those that are useful in life, make for excellence, and advance the bounds of knowledge. The great Greek philosopher`s comments are still relevant today, because as educators we have to constantly consider the fundamental questions of human existence. If we fail to investigate questions about the meaning of life, the nature of truth, goodness, beauty, and justice—with which the philosophy of education should be concerned—we promote an education that is inadequate.
In addition, the course aims to study educational philosophy in order to create an environment in which participants establish mutually supportive relationships that will enhance their learning, professional growth and research inquiry. By the end of the course we may have found answers to some of our questions, but we will also have learned how to generate many more.
During this course, participants will:
- Review the basic problems of education,
- Evaluate a wide variety of suggestions offered as solutions to problems,
- Learn to develop a philosophical perspective, and
- Develop an internally consistent point of view that relates to the larger-world context in a realistic way.
Note: For a more detailed breakdown of this course please do not hesitate to contact me.