EDUC 401 and 402 (Career Education and Diverse Classrooms, respectively) were two classes I took in the most recent condensed block of UNBC’s Education Program. While by title they seem like pretty separate courses, they ended up becoming intertwined and the learning that occurred in one almost always applied to the other. Our instructors for these courses were very intentional in working together to allow us to experience both full courses in a shorter time. We spent synchronous time co-creating criteria for assessments, and were given asynchronous time to explore our ideas within small groups. The most crucial aspect of both classes was that good pedagogy and instruction was modeled excellently throughout. I learned much throughout the course curriculum itself, but felt that I learned even more by just observing how the classes were conducted. Our opinions and thoughts were respected and listened to, both stretches and struggles.
For the final assessment of these classes, we decided as a group to do a combined 401/402 capstone presentation. The criteria for this were co-created between us as a cohort and the instructors, and we each could choose a specific criterion that we wanted to have considered when it came to our personal projects. We got the chance to present our capstones to a panel of education professionals which provided great feedback for future learning. Personally, I recorded a podcast with some of my friends from high school about themes of career theory and diversity in classrooms, particularly focusing on schooling in rural communities (of which we’re all from).
The image below is from my PowerPoint that helped in presenting this capstone. It explains my favourite theory of career education, which is happenstance theory. To boil it down, it is based on the idea that there will be many unplanned events that occur in your life, and often those events will have a large effect on the course of your life. The ability to be resilient through these events and come out stronger from them is a hugely important life skill. This is a skill that can be gained, despite many thinking it’s something that’s just innate. It is our responsibility as educators to challenge our students and give them opportunities to face unplanned events in a safer, scaffolded manner, which can help them further on in their lives.
