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EDST 498I: A Walkabout: Co-creating Pedagogies of Hope on the Land
July 24 – July 28 (monday to friday ) | 9:00 A.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Format: In-Person
“As we walk, we simultaneously step into the organic flow of knowledge and knowing that generates attunement to relationality.” (Dwayne Donald, 2021)
Be with nature on a week-long walkabout. The tmxwủlaʔxw (land) and n’wah-kwi-sen (mission creek) will be the teacher and the classroom. As we walk the river, dialogue and journal – healing relationships may emerge. New and seasoned educators are offered an integrated approach that weaves land-based, sustainability, and health education with indigenous epistemologies in a gesture to re-member humanism. Educating towards wholeness, best practices of land based learning and the wisdom of the collective will be shared for future generations.
Curiosities to be explored:
- How do I relate with the land in Okanagan Syilx territory?
- How can educators foster critical hope in the face of modern challenges?
- How is healthy human development edified through play, curiosity, courage and kindness with/on the land and water?
- How can educators reimagine their classrooms as communities of hope and wholeness in a modern culture of distractibility, hyper-individualism, climate injustice, oppression and reconciliation?
Please note: Participation requires moderate physical activity such as walking, gathering, food preparations and exploring wilderness. Accessibility accommodations for all ability levels are available.
By the end, practitioners may hopefully be more comfortable on the land practicing a compassionate curriculum that includes:
Circles – participating in and co-leading a community in a circle.
Cycles – recognizing cyclical patterns in nature such as feedback loops and connecting these cycles to your learning community.
Ceremony – practicing rituals such as: awakenings, check in’s and tea ceremonies.
Common Unity – connecting to a community that is safe, caring and awe-some in hopes to transfer this sense of belonging to your workplace.
Consciousness – attuning to an inner and outer awareness of self, other and place with the aim of being a healthy and whole educator.
Creativity – creating curriculum, experiences of transformative learning, lessons of un-learning, stories of significance, authenticity in professionalism and accountability to a collective caretaking responsibility.
Classroom – enjoying nature as your classroom. Practical, logistical, financial and other administrative management tools will be shared including proper field studies paperwork and risk management best practices.
Commitment – feeling more confident to take learners on the land and receive the valuable gifts from doing so.
Challenge – being challenged on: teaching philosophy assumptions; accountability to relations, maturity of thought; sobriety in the challenges facing our society.
Celebration – celebrating a major shift towards a pedagogy of peace and curriculum of compassion by the conclusion of the coursework.
NOTE: Participation requires moderate physical activity such as walking, gathering, food preparations and exploring wilderness. Accessibility accommodations for all ability levels are available.
Michael Ross
Michael has been privileged to learn with others in nature. His teaching philosophy is grounded in the land and relationships. He is a guest on the unceded ancestral lands of the Okanagan Syilx people.
Raised in Joe Rich Valley east of Kelowna, he was schooled at Black Mountain Elementary, Rutland Middle School and Trinity College School. Following a year teaching Outdoor Education in Australia, Michael studied Economics, Asian Studies and Sustainable Development at UBC in Vancouver.
After another teaching experience in Beijing China, Michael’s call to the profession was answered with a Bachelor of Education at UBC’s Okanagan Campus. In 2005, at Collingwood School taught math and facilitated service learning trips to France, Scotland and Dominican Republic.
In 2006 he landed at Okanagan Mission Secondary and embedded himself in the community coaching rugby, volleyball, basketball and swimming and teaching middle and highschool subjects. He collaborated to serve the Lake O’hara backcountry experience to over 1000 students over 10 years. With amazing colleagues he started the SALTS tall ship training expedition and the Outdoor Education program. Learners experienced paddle boarding in Clayoquot Sound, hiking in Okanagan Mountain Park, canoeing in Murtle Lakes, camping in Cape Scott, ziplining in Costa Rica, winter camping at Hydraulic Lake and much more.
In 2018 Michael co-founded Quest BC to realize his lifelong dream of creating a community around a campfire and exploring our inner and outer nature as a tight learning tribe. www.questby.weebly.com
As an Instructor at the Okanagan School of Education Summer Institute, Michael passes along the challenges and wisdom of teaching on, for and with the land and water.
Michael is enrolled in the Doctorate of Education in Leadership and Policy at UBC. His research interests include the relationships between neurodiversity, syilx – okanagan teachings and water.
How to register
To register for courses, please visit the Student Information Service Centre (SISC).
Register for Term two (July/August) courses via the Student Information Service Centre (SISC). If you intend on taking a 400-level course, please ensure that you receive prior approval by your graduate supervisor using this form.
If you are looking to transfer a course into UBC Vancouver, or another institution, please confirm transfer credit will be approved prior to registering for a UBC Okanagan course.
*It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the course is accepted towards the completion of a program.
Register for Term two (July/August) courses via the Student Information Service Centre (SISC). You must have current Summer registration eligibility. If not, please email sie.education@ubc.ca.
If you are looking to transfer a course into UBC Vancouver, or another institution, please confirm approval of transfer credit prior to registration.
*It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the course is accepted towards the completion of a program.
To register for a course, you will first need to submit an online application via Education Planner BC portal.
- Sign up for your EducationPlannerBC Account and follow the instructions to complete your applicant profile.
- Select University of British Columbia as the institution you want to apply to
- Select the upcoming Winter Session: September – December
- Select “Access Studies”
- Under “Access Studies” section, indicate that your program of interest is the Okanagan School of Education’s Summer Institute in Education Summer Session May – August.
- Once all necessary fields are filled in, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.
- You will be prompted to review your EPBC application and pay an application fee.
Once you have paid the application fee, email nondegree.ok@ubc.ca if you want UBC to process it quicker. If not, it will take three to five business days for UBC to admit you.
Please contact sie.education@ubc.ca with your UBC student number and courses of interest.