EDUC 441 was a course focused on “Innovative and Community Based Approaches” for education. We were instructed by Shirley Giroux who quickly became a cohort-wide favorite due to her friendly and approachable personality as well as her wealth of knowledge which was quick to present itself as we made our way into the course content. Moreover, during “office hour” conversations via zoom she very early on expressed a well rounded understanding of students with exceptionalities, and showcased this through a “show, don’t tell” method that left me feeling very supported. I felt very familiar and at home with this course due to my focus in anthropology, which I felt complimented my experience in the class overall very well.
Shirley displayed an admirable degree of adaptability in her execution of the course. Due to some speed bumps that presented themselves after the condensing of the timeline, we were feeling extremely overwhelmed with the expectations in parallel to the available time we had to meet expectations. Shirley was one of most of our instructors who was happy to make accommodations to her syllabus in order to reduce the output while achieving the course targets. Not only this, but she was also exceptional at being able to provide clear and concise checklists of the work we were expected to produce for her. This helped me substantially with managing my schedule and keeping everything organised which I was extremely grateful for.
The course work we did had a strong emphasis on collegiality and group work, as well as a focus on student voice within the lessons. We were all encouraged to participate and contribute our ideas during class discussion which I found really facilitated a fluid experience overall. I really enjoyed being involved in discussions regarding the various ways that different levels and entities within the communal sphere can interact in positive ways with the learners who share that space. I really look forward to approaching my career with an intentional focus on community involvement and engagement. Ultimately, I think one of the most positive and healthy things that students can come away from any level of school feeling is a deeper understanding of the connections they have to their community, and which they would like to invest their time in.