Gabriella Brandes - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Gabriella Brandes
Reports processes utilized by ACLS groups in determining curriculum at university level
This article analyzes a social-justice teacher education project in a larger teacher education pr... more This article analyzes a social-justice teacher education project in a larger teacher education program in Western Canada. This program-within-a-program took an anti-oppressive education approach designed to help teacher candidates to understand and challenge various forms of inequity and their interconnections. We review the social justice project first, through a descriptive analysis of our teaching, and second, through hour-long qualitative, semistructured interviews with 20 graduates of our program (all beginning teachers). Our alumni provided examples of teaching against the grain and also spoke to the challenges of implementing critical pedagogies. We conclude by providing four key recommendations and reflecting on the implications for future teacher preparation. Cet article analyse un projet de justice sociale dans le cadre d'un important programme de formation des enseignants dans l'Ouest canadien. Ce « programme à l'intérieur d'un programme » a adopté une app...
Using ethnographic research methods this case study examined how a group of teachers and universi... more Using ethnographic research methods this case study examined how a group of teachers and university educators analyzed teaching for the purpose of enhancing students’ involvement in their learning. Data were collected from weekly meetings and interviews over a period of two school years. Three research questions guided the study: 1) How does a collaborative group of teachers and university educators, who meet regularly in order to improve teaching practices aimed at increasing students’ active learning, evolve over a period of two school years? 2) What is the nature of the conversational dynamics of this collaborative group? and 3) In what ways can the nature of the discourse in this collaborative group be described and represented? In this study, the group deliberations are described in terms of reflective conversations (Schön 1983; 1987; 1991). While Schön has used this term metaphorically to refer to an individual’s “conversation” with a problem setting, this study extends this t...
In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing eP... more In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing ePortfolios to serve multiple purposes from recruitment to evaluation. This paper analyzes ePortfolios created by graduate students at a Canadian university. Demonstrated is how students’ constructions can, and should, be more than a simple compilation of artifacts. Examined is an online learning environment whereby we shared knowledge, supported one another in knowledge construction, developed collective expertise, and engaged in progressive discourse. In our analysis of the portfolios, we focused on reflection and deepening understanding of learning. We discussed students’ use of metaphors and hypertexts as means of making cognitive connections. We found that when students understood technological tools and how to use them to substantiate their thinking processes and to engage the readers/ viewers, their ePortfolios were richer and more complex in their illustrations of learning. With mo...
Scholar Practitioner Quarterly, 2004
Widely appealing, the phrase teaching for social justice masks contested definitions, which, if l... more Widely appealing, the phrase teaching for social justice masks contested definitions, which, if left unaddressed, can undermine efforts to translate concern for social justice into practice. Yet there is little research recording and analyzing what teachers are actually saying and doing when teaching for social justice. The study described in this article-interviews with 20 veteran high school English and social studies teachers committed to teaching for social justice-aims to begin filling this gap. We analyze the diverse ways that the veterans defined social justice and discuss the possibilities and challenges they encountered.
Exceptionality Education Canada, 2000
Teaching and Teacher Education, 2005
This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for profession... more This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for professional development of the participants through collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher educators. The two projects, the Australian Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL) and the Canadian Learning Strategies Group (LSG), focused on the teaching and learning practices in secondary school classrooms. We examine those features that we contend have resulted in long-term sustainability and the success of these partnerships. An analysis of our own experiences and other empirical data from both projects illustrate our claims that these small-scale projects have: improved the learning environment in classrooms for students and teachers; created models of professional development for school and teacher educators; and provided valid knowledge about learning and teaching issues in classroom settings. The potential of such projects to achieve these aims depends upon: (a) a mutually held understanding of what types of classroom practices nurture good teaching and learning, (b) a setting where teachers have a strong commitment and control over the project and decide on its direction, and (c) a structure that allows teachers and teacher educators to meet regularly in an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding.
Curriculum Inquiry, 1995
ABSTRACT Reflection has become the commodity that no one wants to be without. Perhaps because of ... more ABSTRACT Reflection has become the commodity that no one wants to be without. Perhaps because of its attraction, or perhaps in spite of its attraction, reflection has been assigned a multitude of meanings and beyond those meanings a multitude of interpretations. Valli attempts to search out the commonly held views of reflection and investigate how those views are interpreted in practice. She compiles seven case studies, each from a different university, where reflection has been the driving force behind the design of the teacher education program. Each case study defines reflection, describes how that definition of reflection led to the development of the program, and then describes the history, implementation, and evaluation of the seven public and private programs. Further, each case study gnaws on the questions behind student teacher reflection. How do we help student teachers reflect? How do we know when reflection occurs? What should student teachers reflect upon? Does or should every student teacher reflect in the same way or about the same things? And finally, just what is reflection? The second part of the book consists of six critiques of the cases. The critiques range from summarizing and problematizing the cases to examining each case from a critical perspective. Cases are analyzed according to cognitive, critical, or narrative approaches; academic, social efficiency, developmentalist, or social reconstructionist traditions; feminist pedagogy; and postmodernism. Each critique assesses the implementation of the described program in reference to its stated definition of reflection. The critiques then extend the concept of reflection as it has been developed from the stated critical perspective. The combination of case studies that examine important teacher education programs and critiques that open the floodgate of questions about the fuzzy, but essential, concept of reflection makes this book enlightening and well worth reading.
Alberta journal of educational …, 1998
Educational …, 2004
Minnes Brandes, Gabriella and Deirdre M. Kelly (March 2004). Teaching For Social Justice: Teacher... more Minnes Brandes, Gabriella and Deirdre M. Kelly (March 2004). Teaching For Social Justice: Teachers Inquire Into Their Practice Educational Insights, 8(3). [Available: http://www.ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication /insights/v08n03/articles/teaching.html] ... Teaching For Social Justice: Teachers Inquire ...
Journal of Curriculum and Supervision
This paper is based on a six-week research project that took place in a secondary school choir re... more This paper is based on a six-week research project that took place in a secondary school choir rehearsal setting. In the paper I describe the research process, drawing specific attention to the Alexander Technique activities and
In this article we explore the struggles of 12 beginning teachers committed to social justice to ... more In this article we explore the struggles of 12 beginning teachers committed to social justice to define their roles when facilitating classroom discussions of social issues. We discerned five distinct positions about the possibility and desirability of teacher neutrality. To teach for social justice involves shifting out of neutral, both in terms of a teacher's orientation to social inequalities and
In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing eP... more In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing ePortfolios to serve multiple purposes from recruitment to evaluation. This p aper analyzes ePortfolios created by graduate students at a Canadian university. Demonstrated is how students’ constructions can, and should, be more than a simple compilation of artifacts. Examined is an online learning environment whereby we shared knowledge, supported one another in knowledge construction, developed collective expertise, and engaged in progressive discourse. In our analysis of the portfolios, we focused on reflection and deepening understanding of learning. We discussed students’ use of metaphors and hypertexts as means of making cognitive connections. We found that when students understood technological tools and how to use them to substantiate their thinking processes and to engage the readers/ viewers, their ePortfolios were richer and more complex in their illustrations of learning. With m...
Teachers and Teaching, 1998
... Our program would seek to maximize these values in consider-ation of the transitional nature ... more ... Our program would seek to maximize these values in consider-ation of the transitional nature of ... world.' He proposed a model using the five lenses of identity, citizenship, social justice, power and ... And so the teacher-scholars can pick up on some of that ...' (US3, first interview). ...
Journal of Jewish Education, 2009
Interchange, 2008
Assessment of students' learning in school is deeply implicated in teaching for social justice. Y... more Assessment of students' learning in school is deeply implicated in teaching for social justice. Yet classroom assessment is neglected relative to other aspects of curriculum and pedagogy in the literature on teaching for social justice. Some books have a relatively clear theory of anti-oppression education at their core but do not provide details about the links between assessment and their anti-oppression theory, while others provide a more detailed view of assessment practices but do not specify precisely how particular assessment strategies either promote or hinder antioppression education. This article provides a theoretical framework that spotlights key links between teaching for social justice and classroom assessment. To illustrate these connections, we draw on guided group discussions with ten high school social studies and English teachers, interested in pursuing professional development in this area. We conceptualize assessment as a set of institutional processes with the potential either to inhibit or nurture the development of young people as well as their capacity for selfdetermination. We analyze: (a) how teachers, through various assessment practices, can attempt to enable equitable relations within and beyond the classroom; and (b) performance standards aimed at helping teachers assess their students' progress toward becoming more socially responsible and, ultimately, more selfdetermining. We conclude that even as teachers struggle to enact more socially just assessment practices, they need to communicate clearly with students and parents about what constitutes equitable assessment and what institutional practices, by contrast, sow seeds of self-doubt and lead to destructive labeling, ranking, and gate keeping.
Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l'éducation, 2001
... They seemed to assume, however, that the multiple perspectives, once surfaced, would compete ... more ... They seemed to assume, however, that the multiple perspectives, once surfaced, would compete as equals on the neutral ground of their classrooms, as illustrated well by Jack's story about teaching a grade-10 social studies unit on "The Opening of the West." With the aim of ...
Teaching and Teacher Education, 2005
This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for profession... more This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for professional development of the participants through collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher educators. The two projects, the Australian Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL) and the Canadian Learning Strategies Group (LSG), focused on the teaching and learning practices in secondary school classrooms. We examine those features that we contend have resulted in long-term sustainability and the success of these partnerships. An analysis of our own experiences and other empirical data from both projects illustrate our claims that these small-scale projects have: improved the learning environment in classrooms for students and teachers; created models of professional development for school and teacher educators; and provided valid knowledge about learning and teaching issues in classroom settings. The potential of such projects to achieve these aims depends upon: (a) a mutually held understanding of what types of classroom practices nurture good teaching and learning, (b) a setting where teachers have a strong commitment and control over the project and decide on its direction, and (c) a structure that allows teachers and teacher educators to meet regularly in an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding. r
Reports processes utilized by ACLS groups in determining curriculum at university level
This article analyzes a social-justice teacher education project in a larger teacher education pr... more This article analyzes a social-justice teacher education project in a larger teacher education program in Western Canada. This program-within-a-program took an anti-oppressive education approach designed to help teacher candidates to understand and challenge various forms of inequity and their interconnections. We review the social justice project first, through a descriptive analysis of our teaching, and second, through hour-long qualitative, semistructured interviews with 20 graduates of our program (all beginning teachers). Our alumni provided examples of teaching against the grain and also spoke to the challenges of implementing critical pedagogies. We conclude by providing four key recommendations and reflecting on the implications for future teacher preparation. Cet article analyse un projet de justice sociale dans le cadre d'un important programme de formation des enseignants dans l'Ouest canadien. Ce « programme à l'intérieur d'un programme » a adopté une app...
Using ethnographic research methods this case study examined how a group of teachers and universi... more Using ethnographic research methods this case study examined how a group of teachers and university educators analyzed teaching for the purpose of enhancing students’ involvement in their learning. Data were collected from weekly meetings and interviews over a period of two school years. Three research questions guided the study: 1) How does a collaborative group of teachers and university educators, who meet regularly in order to improve teaching practices aimed at increasing students’ active learning, evolve over a period of two school years? 2) What is the nature of the conversational dynamics of this collaborative group? and 3) In what ways can the nature of the discourse in this collaborative group be described and represented? In this study, the group deliberations are described in terms of reflective conversations (Schön 1983; 1987; 1991). While Schön has used this term metaphorically to refer to an individual’s “conversation” with a problem setting, this study extends this t...
In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing eP... more In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing ePortfolios to serve multiple purposes from recruitment to evaluation. This paper analyzes ePortfolios created by graduate students at a Canadian university. Demonstrated is how students’ constructions can, and should, be more than a simple compilation of artifacts. Examined is an online learning environment whereby we shared knowledge, supported one another in knowledge construction, developed collective expertise, and engaged in progressive discourse. In our analysis of the portfolios, we focused on reflection and deepening understanding of learning. We discussed students’ use of metaphors and hypertexts as means of making cognitive connections. We found that when students understood technological tools and how to use them to substantiate their thinking processes and to engage the readers/ viewers, their ePortfolios were richer and more complex in their illustrations of learning. With mo...
Scholar Practitioner Quarterly, 2004
Widely appealing, the phrase teaching for social justice masks contested definitions, which, if l... more Widely appealing, the phrase teaching for social justice masks contested definitions, which, if left unaddressed, can undermine efforts to translate concern for social justice into practice. Yet there is little research recording and analyzing what teachers are actually saying and doing when teaching for social justice. The study described in this article-interviews with 20 veteran high school English and social studies teachers committed to teaching for social justice-aims to begin filling this gap. We analyze the diverse ways that the veterans defined social justice and discuss the possibilities and challenges they encountered.
Exceptionality Education Canada, 2000
Teaching and Teacher Education, 2005
This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for profession... more This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for professional development of the participants through collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher educators. The two projects, the Australian Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL) and the Canadian Learning Strategies Group (LSG), focused on the teaching and learning practices in secondary school classrooms. We examine those features that we contend have resulted in long-term sustainability and the success of these partnerships. An analysis of our own experiences and other empirical data from both projects illustrate our claims that these small-scale projects have: improved the learning environment in classrooms for students and teachers; created models of professional development for school and teacher educators; and provided valid knowledge about learning and teaching issues in classroom settings. The potential of such projects to achieve these aims depends upon: (a) a mutually held understanding of what types of classroom practices nurture good teaching and learning, (b) a setting where teachers have a strong commitment and control over the project and decide on its direction, and (c) a structure that allows teachers and teacher educators to meet regularly in an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding.
Curriculum Inquiry, 1995
ABSTRACT Reflection has become the commodity that no one wants to be without. Perhaps because of ... more ABSTRACT Reflection has become the commodity that no one wants to be without. Perhaps because of its attraction, or perhaps in spite of its attraction, reflection has been assigned a multitude of meanings and beyond those meanings a multitude of interpretations. Valli attempts to search out the commonly held views of reflection and investigate how those views are interpreted in practice. She compiles seven case studies, each from a different university, where reflection has been the driving force behind the design of the teacher education program. Each case study defines reflection, describes how that definition of reflection led to the development of the program, and then describes the history, implementation, and evaluation of the seven public and private programs. Further, each case study gnaws on the questions behind student teacher reflection. How do we help student teachers reflect? How do we know when reflection occurs? What should student teachers reflect upon? Does or should every student teacher reflect in the same way or about the same things? And finally, just what is reflection? The second part of the book consists of six critiques of the cases. The critiques range from summarizing and problematizing the cases to examining each case from a critical perspective. Cases are analyzed according to cognitive, critical, or narrative approaches; academic, social efficiency, developmentalist, or social reconstructionist traditions; feminist pedagogy; and postmodernism. Each critique assesses the implementation of the described program in reference to its stated definition of reflection. The critiques then extend the concept of reflection as it has been developed from the stated critical perspective. The combination of case studies that examine important teacher education programs and critiques that open the floodgate of questions about the fuzzy, but essential, concept of reflection makes this book enlightening and well worth reading.
Alberta journal of educational …, 1998
Educational …, 2004
Minnes Brandes, Gabriella and Deirdre M. Kelly (March 2004). Teaching For Social Justice: Teacher... more Minnes Brandes, Gabriella and Deirdre M. Kelly (March 2004). Teaching For Social Justice: Teachers Inquire Into Their Practice Educational Insights, 8(3). [Available: http://www.ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication /insights/v08n03/articles/teaching.html] ... Teaching For Social Justice: Teachers Inquire ...
Journal of Curriculum and Supervision
This paper is based on a six-week research project that took place in a secondary school choir re... more This paper is based on a six-week research project that took place in a secondary school choir rehearsal setting. In the paper I describe the research process, drawing specific attention to the Alexander Technique activities and
In this article we explore the struggles of 12 beginning teachers committed to social justice to ... more In this article we explore the struggles of 12 beginning teachers committed to social justice to define their roles when facilitating classroom discussions of social issues. We discerned five distinct positions about the possibility and desirability of teacher neutrality. To teach for social justice involves shifting out of neutral, both in terms of a teacher's orientation to social inequalities and
In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing eP... more In recent years, different professional and academic settings have been increasingly utilizing ePortfolios to serve multiple purposes from recruitment to evaluation. This p aper analyzes ePortfolios created by graduate students at a Canadian university. Demonstrated is how students’ constructions can, and should, be more than a simple compilation of artifacts. Examined is an online learning environment whereby we shared knowledge, supported one another in knowledge construction, developed collective expertise, and engaged in progressive discourse. In our analysis of the portfolios, we focused on reflection and deepening understanding of learning. We discussed students’ use of metaphors and hypertexts as means of making cognitive connections. We found that when students understood technological tools and how to use them to substantiate their thinking processes and to engage the readers/ viewers, their ePortfolios were richer and more complex in their illustrations of learning. With m...
Teachers and Teaching, 1998
... Our program would seek to maximize these values in consider-ation of the transitional nature ... more ... Our program would seek to maximize these values in consider-ation of the transitional nature of ... world.' He proposed a model using the five lenses of identity, citizenship, social justice, power and ... And so the teacher-scholars can pick up on some of that ...' (US3, first interview). ...
Journal of Jewish Education, 2009
Interchange, 2008
Assessment of students' learning in school is deeply implicated in teaching for social justice. Y... more Assessment of students' learning in school is deeply implicated in teaching for social justice. Yet classroom assessment is neglected relative to other aspects of curriculum and pedagogy in the literature on teaching for social justice. Some books have a relatively clear theory of anti-oppression education at their core but do not provide details about the links between assessment and their anti-oppression theory, while others provide a more detailed view of assessment practices but do not specify precisely how particular assessment strategies either promote or hinder antioppression education. This article provides a theoretical framework that spotlights key links between teaching for social justice and classroom assessment. To illustrate these connections, we draw on guided group discussions with ten high school social studies and English teachers, interested in pursuing professional development in this area. We conceptualize assessment as a set of institutional processes with the potential either to inhibit or nurture the development of young people as well as their capacity for selfdetermination. We analyze: (a) how teachers, through various assessment practices, can attempt to enable equitable relations within and beyond the classroom; and (b) performance standards aimed at helping teachers assess their students' progress toward becoming more socially responsible and, ultimately, more selfdetermining. We conclude that even as teachers struggle to enact more socially just assessment practices, they need to communicate clearly with students and parents about what constitutes equitable assessment and what institutional practices, by contrast, sow seeds of self-doubt and lead to destructive labeling, ranking, and gate keeping.
Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l'éducation, 2001
... They seemed to assume, however, that the multiple perspectives, once surfaced, would compete ... more ... They seemed to assume, however, that the multiple perspectives, once surfaced, would compete as equals on the neutral ground of their classrooms, as illustrated well by Jack's story about teaching a grade-10 social studies unit on "The Opening of the West." With the aim of ...
Teaching and Teacher Education, 2005
This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for profession... more This article discusses two projects that were aimed at enhancing the opportunities for professional development of the participants through collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher educators. The two projects, the Australian Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL) and the Canadian Learning Strategies Group (LSG), focused on the teaching and learning practices in secondary school classrooms. We examine those features that we contend have resulted in long-term sustainability and the success of these partnerships. An analysis of our own experiences and other empirical data from both projects illustrate our claims that these small-scale projects have: improved the learning environment in classrooms for students and teachers; created models of professional development for school and teacher educators; and provided valid knowledge about learning and teaching issues in classroom settings. The potential of such projects to achieve these aims depends upon: (a) a mutually held understanding of what types of classroom practices nurture good teaching and learning, (b) a setting where teachers have a strong commitment and control over the project and decide on its direction, and (c) a structure that allows teachers and teacher educators to meet regularly in an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding. r