Faculty Profile

TRENT CONTENTS 

Editorial

Association President's Message

Making Waves: John Jennings and the Canadian Canoe Museum

Physics 100: Swinging from the rafters

Nancy Sherouse Tribute

Reunion Weekend Accommodation Directory

Wilson's Wit and Wisdom: Alumni Coaches

The Formal and Informal Classroom or, What Really Happens at Trent

Unique Contribution to Archaeology Earns Spirit of Trent Award

Campus Alumni Profile - Deborah Berrill

Beyond Our Walls Report

In Memoriam

Sunshine Sketches

Deborah Berrill
by Francy Poapst '81

Deborah Berrill '69 is an outstanding member of the Trent Faculty. Her teacher's certificate is complemented by her undergraduate work in English and Philosophy at Northwestern University, and an MA in English at the University of Toronto (where Northrop Frye supervised her thesis). During the last year of instruction at the Peterborough Teachers' College, she became certified in teaching, after which she taught at the Grade 7 and 8 level and at the Secondary level. In the summer of 1981 a postal strike resulted in over-enrolment in the concurrent teacher education program and Deborah was asked to help out. This sessional appointment with Queen's University provided work practice while she obtained her PhD at the University of East Anglia in England. Her experiences in Chicago, Kingston and the U.K., gave Professor Berrill an interesting background to bring to Trent University and Peterborough.

The Trent-Queen's Concurrent Teacher Education Program instructs people to become teachers. But, what makes it unique? A few years ago, those involved in the program initiated a plan whereby the Teacher Candidates, along with the Associate Teachers and the Principals, established fundamental competencies that the program felt each new teacher should have. In gaining awareness of these competencies, each student is to develop his or her own 'professional portfolio' in the first year of the program. This portfolio helps to measure the student's level in assessment and evaluation, special needs (if applicable), technology and lesson planning. Naturally, the concurrent program provides courses in these areas but often the candidates will gather knowledge through workshops that are both staged, and attended, by the students themselves. The professionalism gained through this type of learning makes candidates better prepared to teach.

The learning does not stop when the new teacher obtains his or her first position. The Trent Centre for Professional Learning was begun to aid teachers in ongoing learning. The Ontario College of Teachers' mandate includes an ongoing learning component but, in the past, the time consumed to fulfill these requirements produced increased pressure for the teacher. Throughout the past few years Deborah and several of Trent's professors have worked to develop short courses for teachers. Currently, these are "20-hour highly focused courses in Mathematics and Science for elementary teachers." This is an exciting venture for both Trent's faculty and for the teachers and, once the accreditation issue is ironed out, the Trent-Queen's program plans to offer these short courses during the regular school year and the summer.

Tied very closely with the concern for ongoing learning is the issue of Secondary school reform. At the core of this project is unit (lesson) planning that is 'outcomes-based.' Essentially, this means that, when a student is expected to learn something, there must be 'performance indicators' that provide accepted validation that the student has grasped the material. The student is encouraged to engage in larger projects like model construction and exhibitions to 'prove' that the required knowledge has been gained. In this way, unlike the formal testing, both the student and the teacher are aware of the particular expectations being realized by the various parts of the task. It would follow then, that the way in which these expectations are assessed must change. The Secondary school reform is moving toward establishing the parameters of the levels of achievement. These will probably look like tables outlining precise criteria constituting the differences between a Level 4 or "A" performance and a Level 3 or "B" performance.

Another aspect of the secondary school reform centres around the familiar concept of the academic advisor. Implementing an "Annual Education Plan" with each student and by providing them with an academic advisor , echoes one of Trentís most valued mandates: the student comes first.

Deborah's other work involves Peterborough and the community. Not only have the teachers and principals of both local boards willingly accepted the Teacher Candidates into their schools, but they have provided invaluable feedback for Deborah and Trent University's Teacher Education program. After serving three, 3-year terms as Director of the Concurrent program, she has handed over that role to Queen's colleague, Mark Danby. This will allow Deborah to teach, and to concentrate on research in emergent literacy involving the learning disabled child and the 'at-risk' reader.

Deborah works closely with the Learning Disabilities Association of Peterborough and the Trent Valley Literacy Association. The former has honoured her with the Educator of the Year Award, based on her work in emergent literacy and with learning disabled children. Given the many and varied hats Deborah wears both within the Teachers Education department and within the Peterborough community, it is an award richly deserved.

In terms of the great satisfaction gained from her work at Trent, Professor Deborah Berrill is glad to be home in Peterborough:

"I'm excited about the present possibilities, both for the university itself and for continued and deeper involvement and partnership with local agencies and groups. What we do as a small university in a mid-sized community can provide a model for others regarding ways that we can help meet community needs as part of the work that we do, including new knowledge that we produce. I can't think of a finer location to do this!"


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