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Nonsense and Bullshit in Quebec Secondary Mathematics and in the McGill
Faculty of Education formation of secondary mathematics teachers:
In 2003, I entered the McGill B. Ed program.
In spring 2005, I failed a pass-or-fail field experience due to the
expectation of instruction in which course materials were poorly written and
in which course definition were absent or inaccessible.
The Faculty of Education has violated Rule 9 a of the Charter of
Student Rights and Responsibilities, namely
the University offers an education capable. of providing students (this
McGill Ph. D included) with
an adequate level of competence in the relevant field of study. The
education and assessments I received was incomplete, inconsiderate and
arbitrary. Assessment in the
field experience employed host teachers and McGill field experience supervisor
whose individual subject mastery and classroom management skills was based on
hope in place of screening (verification), and the appeal of my assessment
employed an appeal committee with no subject matter, expertise. Teacher
certification, pass-or-fail assessments are based on random factors, and on
the ability to digest and process incomplete or incoherent course material and
designs in a manner satisfactory to host teachers and field supervisors whose
subject mastery is doubtful. That nonsense and bullshit continues today in the
undergraduate education of B. Ed students.
In the author`s opinion, McGill University
should (i) screen host teachers for field experiences
for subject expertise and classroom management skills for the sake of rigor
and fairness in its assessment and formation of student teachers;
(ii) provide field experience supervisors with a knowledge of high school
mathematics for the sake of rigor and fairness in its
assessment of student teachers; (iii) provide courses detailing and explaining the
content of high school mathematics in a manner sufficient to compensate for lack of clarity
or nonsense in Quebec government courses
definitions and Quebec government approved and required textbooks - that
again is for
the sake of rigour and fairness in the formation and assessment of student
teachers; and (iv) explain and end its past or present association and even peaceful coexistence with
a decade of nonsense and bullshit in
secondary mathematics, and in particular explain and end its association with
production of English language versions of textbooks for secondary IV and/or V
courses 436 and 514, this time for the sake of future rigour and clarity in
the formation and assessment of student-teachers.
Finally, McGill University needs to unleash the talent and experience among
its present and retired professors of mathematics, engineering, and science to
review and/or provide clearer course material; and to give
prospective and very importantly existing instructors - those exposed to and so
influenced by substandard courses materials and unclear course definitions in
the last decade --
clearer and coherent models for course content and delivery. Action
is required. Questions:
- Is the employment of host teachers for the in-school formation and
assessment of student teachers without any screening of host teachers for
mastery in subject material and classroom management skills, a provincial
standard or only a McGill standard?|
- Is the employment of field experience supervisors unfamiliar with subject
material being taught or met by student teachers, a Quebec standard, or only
a McGill University standard?
- Is the lack of courses to describe and explain the local high school
curriculum content and quirks, and to share advances for mathematics
instruction, a Quebec standard or only a McGill University standard? Teacher
certification programs in Saskatchewan provide such courses.
- Is nonsense, bullshit, lack of coherency and poor diction in high school
mathematics texts a Quebec standard, or this standard found elsewhere in
Canada?
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