by Zian Zhang(Anne) Master of Education student

The course CTL1817 H CURRENT ISSUES IN TEACHER EDUCATION from Dr. Clare Kosnik is a highly recommended course at OISE. Many students recommended this course to me in the past year. I asked several students who took this course and they told me that Dr. Clare knosnik was very serious and considerate during class. She implemented the courses’ plans carefully and interacted with students nicely.

This course examines various issues of teacher education, including the longstanding criticisms (e.g. program is disjointed) while others are more recent concerns (e.g. defining a knowledge base for teachers). Specific topics will be examined in light of the current context of education with an effort to understand the complexity of becoming a teacher. This course will systematically examine the current research on teacher education. We will consider teacher education both within Canada and internationally. We will systematically work through various topics by reading widely, discussing issues, and trying to determine ways to reform and renew.

I think this course will greatly help improve students’ understanding in Teacher Education. Dr. Clare Kosnik is very famous and knowledgeable in the field of Teacher Education and Development. She is also the Director of the Jackman Institute of Child Studies, Director of the Master of Teaching program, Head of the Centre for Teacher Education and Development, Director of the Elementary Preservice Program, and Coordinator of the Mid-Town Cohort. If you are interested in the Teacher Education area, you should sign up this awesome course quickly.

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by Zian Zhang(Anne) Master of Education student

OISE hosted Fall convocation on November 13^th for the graduating students who were convocating at OISE NEXUS LOUNGE from 12pm-2pm . As OISE student ambassador, I worked at the convocation  today.I decorated the venue, helped create a photo booth , welcomed the guests, helped to create a friendly and celebratory environment for the new graduates and their families.

I had the pleasure of seeing some of my former classmates from my CSTD program (The Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development Program (CSTD) is a forum for systematic reflection on curriculum, viewed in the broadest sense as educational experiences that occur in both formal and informal settings) graduated  today. We came to Toronto at the same time. So it is very bitter sweet for me to see them graduate because although I am proud of them, I am sad to see them go. I took some photos of them and said happy graduation to them.

Congratulations to all our graduates!

Happy Graduation:) !

by Zian Zhang(Anne) Master of Education student

I went to my classmate Cleo’s home and had a big dinner with my OISE classmates to celebrate Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving day. It was my first time to eat turkey which was made by beautiful Ruth, who is doing her master’s at OISE and studied Accounting at National Taiwan University before. It was also the first time for Ruth to make turkey. She did it perfectly! The turkey was so delicious and the texture of meat was softer than ordinary chicken. I really enjoyed that evening because we chatted happily and knew each other more outside of classroom. For me, OISE is a wonderful place to meet excellent classmates and make friends with them.

On Thanksgiving Day, I went to OISE professor Merlin Charles’ home to celebrate the holiday with her family. She made Caribbean food for us. I helped Merlin prepare the food before our dinner. We talked during the dinner and watched Blue Jays together. I felt very good when I experienced a different culture from my homeland China.  I also felt very thankful to have such nice people in North America where I do not have any relatives. I felt warm when I stayed with them.

I think I made a great decision last year to pursue my master’s degree at OISE. If I did not go to study at OISE, I might never meet them in this life or have had a chance to eat turkey ;)!

by Zian Zhang(Anne) Master of Education student

I planned to pursue a Master Degree of Education by studying an advanced graduate program involving policy and development for education when I was doing my Bachelor’s Degree in a Chinese University.

Through my consulting and research, I discovered that Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto is the ideal institution that offers the advanced education and training that I was seeking. OISE offers the opportunity to work with world famous scholars and experts whose academic ideas will significantly broaden my academic horizon. Equally important is that I can enjoy an inexhaustible variety of advanced teaching resources at OISE. Meanwhile, OISE is top in the field of education in the world. OISE’s reputation for being a leader in education makes it the best place for me to grow.

Many foreign universities will assign representatives such as teachers and students to go to china to introduce themselves to Chinese students. They will hold an event, which is like the job fair in Toronto, like Open House at OISE. Each university has their booth. Some universities will also contact universities to ask for holding lectures on campus.

China also has many overseas education organizations, namely, helping students who want to study abroad understand the educational situations in foreign countries. Teachers who work in these organizations will give advice to students to help students make a decision.

I went to all of these places I mentioned above and got lots of information about foreign universities. Many people introduced OISE for me because OISE is very famous in the field of education in the world.

But the vital reason why I chose OISE is related to my International Communication Volunteer experience when I was studying Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at Zhejiang University of Media and Communications .As an international volunteer for two years, what I did was to receive foreign students and visitors to my undergraduate university. I assisted them with daily activities and did some translation work in both study and life, accompanied and guided them to have some travels in China. Because of this, I had many foreign friends when I was in China. When I told my friends about my master’s plan, they helped me check online. They know more foreign resources than Chinese people. My friends helped me compare different universities through current students’ and other people’s comments. Among them, Roy and Michael play a significant role in the process of deciding my graduate university. Both of them are foreign teachers at my undergraduate university. Roy comes from United Kingdom. Michael is from America. When they were in their homeland, they were teachers. I was also paired with them for a year and helped them deal with every problem they encountered during their stay in China. They suggested me to go to Canada to pursue my master’s degree. If I choose United Kingdom, I only have one year to learn education. The period is short. They told me that maybe I did not get use to the environment but I should go back to China. It is better for me if I could stay longer in foreign countries, which mean that I can study more and get some overseas working experience, which is important to my future career. Therefore, I consider thinking about studying in North America. Michael told me OISE is top in the field of education in North America. And OISE is located in Toronto, which is an international city, which means that more working opportunities and more competitive and active. It is good for people who are 22 years old like me to live in a competitive city.

Toronto has the CN tower which looks like the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, which is my favourite city in China. This gives me a feeling of home. I am so lucky that OISE gave me an offer to the Master of Education degree program so that I can experience everything OISE has to offer.

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by Zian Zhang(Anne) Master of Education student

I finished seven courses in the past year. Among these courses, Jack Miller’s courses SPIRITUALITY IN EDUCATION and THE HOLISTIC CURRICULUM impressed me most. His courses helped me solve some relationship problems as a student. And in Professor Miller’ classes, many students shared their life stories about forgiveness and lovingkindness which deeply touched my heart. Therefore, I highly recommend his courses to you, especially those who are good story listeners. You will gain a lot from his courses.

Professor Jack Miller also recommended lots of books to us in his classes. My favorite book is called All About Love: New Visions. All about Love: New Visions is a book by bell hooks published in 2000. bell hooks is a cultural critic, feminist theorist, and writer. She is also a charismatic speaker who divides her time among teaching, writing, and lecturing around the world. She is the author of more than seventeen books, including All About Love: New Visions, Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work, Wounds of Passion: A Writing Life, Art on My Mind: Visual Politics and so on. In the book All About Love: New Visions, hooks indicates that people yearn to live in a society where love can flourish. People want to end the lovelessness which is so pervasive in modern society. In thirteen concise chapters, hooks examines her own search for emotional connection and society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love. All About Love: New Visions teaches us how to return to love. It lets us know that we must love again.

There are some quotes I like in this book. “We can never go back. I know that now. We can go forward. We can find the love our hearts long for, but not until we let go grief about love we lost long ago, when we were little and had no voice to speak the heart’s longing”. “By learning to love, we learn to accept change. Without change, we cannot grow. Our will to grow in spirit and truth is how we stand before life and death, ready to choose life”.

bell hooks shows that love makes the world go around, which resonates most with me
. For me, life is not worth living if we do not know love. I hope that everyone could hold love in his or her whole life.

If you have more questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Email: oise.ambassador@utoronto.ca

by Zian Zhang(Anne) Master of Education student

Many students told me that it was difficult for them to choose courses in the first year of OISE. They searched courses on the website http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ro/Graduate_Students/Continuing_Students/Course_Information/Course_Schedules/ and tried their best to go to the first class of every course, which made them feel very anxious.

My recommendation is that students should read the course description first on the website http://ro.oise.utoronto.ca/CrsCU_OnCampus_W.html. If students want to know more details of the course, they can send an email to the course professor to ask for the syllabus. My classmates did this and they received syllabus. OISE professors are very nice; so don’t be afraid to do this.

If you have more questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Email: oise.ambassador@utoronto.ca

by Zian Zhang(Anne) Master of Education student

The Application information for the 2016-17 academic year is now available. The main application deadline is Tuesday December 1, 2015. This is the website about applying programs. http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/ro/Graduate_Admissions/index.html

To be sure your application will be considered for a place in a program, as well as for financial support, submit your application plus required supporting documents by December 1.

Tips:

These are five steps to accomplish your application:

I hope this helps and you can get an offer from OISE!

If you have more questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Email: oise.ambassador@utoronto.ca