Questions for Reflection:
Are you teaching new programs this year?
How are you doing things differently?
How is your practice changing because of the new courses you teach?
How do you deepen your own understanding of the programs you teach?

Why “knowing the program”?

As teachers, it is rare that we want to focus only on the final exam or offer our students a series of de-contextualized activities that we hope will get them there.

When we do fall into this pattern, it may have to do with our own comfort level with the new programs we teach.

Shanna Loach (Teacher & Pedagogical Consultant, New Horizons Adult Centre, ETSB) created this DevPro video when she began to work with the (then) new CCBE programs. The key points are just as relevant today:

  • It is helpful to learn with others
  • We must remain critical about the authenticity of the learning situations we use with our students
  • It is important to recognize when we fall into our old routines
  • Success comes when we connect our teaching to our learners’ realities

In the video, she demonstrates how she not only hopes but plans for her students’ success with the new programs she teaches.

Video: My First PD Steps into the Reform: Knowing the Program by Shanna Loach for DevPro

Learning resources created by Shanna Loach (Teacher & Ped Consultant, ETSB), the DevPro project,  and Tracy Rosen (RECIT Consultant, CSSMI), 2013, 2017.

Thank you!

If you would like more information about these resources or if you have something you would like to add to this tile, please contact Avi Spector or Tracy Rosen.

All materials are expected to be reused and shared according to this Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0