During Block three of the program, the secondary part of our cohort took one of two classes depending on our specialisation in the humanities or sciences. For myself and the rest of the humanities students, we were seated in EDUC 361 which is also titled “Curriculum and Instruction: Secondary Humanities. This was the first in person course for us during the program, which for myself resulted in an interesting mix of anxiety (given the pandemic circumstances) as well as excitement to have a new space common to my “sphere.”
The course was instructed by Glen Thielmann; one of my favorite educators I have met thus far, and was focused on various avenues that we could pursue as professionals to help our students engage with curricular content. The way the class ended up running was (in my opinion) absolutely spectacular. The atmosphere in the physical space was almost universally calm, organised, and constantly engaging. Typically, we would spend the first half of the class as a group focused on humanities “exclusive” content, and then after lunch we would meet up with the other secondary students in the science focused class and spend the latter half of the day with them and their professor Bonnie Fuller.
Bonnie quickly became another favorite, and role model for myself as a student both for the ways she expressed her own uniqueness as well as the co-teaching relationship that developed between her and Glen. This was their first time running the course together but the wealth of knowledge each of them brought from various areas of experience combined with an impressive synchronicity between their praxi, created a new space very different in feeling than the first half of class, but equally fantastic in its own ways.
A significant amount of the coursework involved experiential engagement which began to define our understanding of how we as professionals can bring the outdoors to our classrooms. Encouraged to consider a cross curricular approach, we started with activities such as intentional trail walks, sketching activities, etc., and then began incorporating those ideas into group and individual presentations. Something I really appreciated about this experience was that while I felt like I was truly learning, I also felt like the time spent in this course provided a much needed break from the mental taxation of a digital lifestyle.