Tag: praxis

Journey to Mastery: Stages of Teaching Professionalism from Novice to Expert

Reading Time: 4 minutesMany teacher educators refer to the initial years of teaching as the “swimming and surviving” phase for new teachers. The most significant difference between novice and expert teachers lies in their ability to interpret and manage classroom complexities (Wolff et al., 2016). To understand the process of teacher development, it is essential to recognize the stages a teacher progresses through,...

Mental Health: The Bigger Picture

Reading Time: 6 minutesThe United Nations has declared Oct 10th World Mental Health Day. Throughout the month of October each year, the UN encourages industries and organizations across the globe to: “spotlight mental health around the world, raise awareness of mental health issues and encourage efforts to support those experiencing mental health issues” (“World, N.D.) Mental Health has become somewhat of a buzz-term...

Motivating Your Students to Learn: What Works, What Doesn’t

Reading Time: 6 minutesThink back to a time when you were really motivated to learn something, particularly when you felt the activity was engaging and joyful.  It could have been a class, an event, a work project or anything that sustained your long-term interest.  What exactly was it that made it a joyful, engaging learning experience? What made you continue with the activity?...

Encouraging International Students to Take Notes in the Classroom

Reading Time: 3 minutesDr. Nasreen Sultana, Consultant, Teaching & Learning Notetaking has been one of the traditional and effective ways for post-secondary students to learn. However, as technology becomes more prevalent, students’ approaches to notetaking may have evolved. Nevertheless, Witherby and Tauber’s (2019) study with current and former post-secondary students found that the reason why students take notes has not changed much except...

Want to Improve Learning? It’s Easy as Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Reading Time: 6 minutesWe all want our students to remember what we teach them.  This is a reasonable expectation considering all that time you spent preparing lessons, activities and assessments.  But sometimes you might find that your efforts did not align with your expectations from those assessments.  Remember the results from that test you gave? Maybe the results left you feeling frustrated and...

Instructional Strategies

Reading Time: 8 minutesWhat are instructional strategies and why are they important? Whether you recognize it or not, almost everything you do in the classroom is an instructional strategy. For example, when you’re standing at the front of the room sharing new content with learners and helping clarify what’s written on class slides, you’re engaging with a “direct” instructional strategy. If you then...

Adult Learning Principles for College Teaching

Reading Time: 5 minutesHow can we be sure our practices reflect the fact that all of our students are adult learners? Conestoga’s youngest students are 17 year-olds who finished high school in Ontario. However, the average student age is about 22 years old, with an increasing number of adult learners who are older and who have years of work experience, additional post-high school...

First Graduate of the Post-Secondary Teaching Certificate

Reading Time: 3 minutesMy name is Wesley Butler and I am the first graduate of Conestoga’s Certificate in Post-Secondary Teaching. In my full-time support staff role, I’m responsible for mass communication on course offerings, workshops on emerging trends, and upcoming special events. I work with faculty who inquire about Teaching and Learning’s programming, and how they can enhance their educational goals. Working in...

How Collaboration Across Disciplines Can Spice Up Learning

Reading Time: 4 minutesBy Martha Terdik, Chris Arsenault and Cheryl Williams Martha Terdik teaches in the Bachelor of Public Relations Program (BPR). After a successful 25-year career in corporate communications, Martha enjoys mentoring the next generation of professional communicators.  Follow Martha on Twitter @marthaterdik. Chris Arsenault is the coordinator of the Journalism program at Conestoga College. Follow Chris on Twitter @chrisarsenaul. Cheryl Williams...