Spring is off to an exciting start in the Faculty of Education!

In early March, we were very fortunate to welcome the Honourable David Eggen, Minister of Education, for a pre-budget talk and Q & A session with students about the Alberta government's commitment to funding for K-12 education, the current curriculum development process and other government initiatives that will impact future teachers.

He’s raised millions of dollars in support of hospital patients, the LGBTQ community and numerous other social causes, yet Salah Bachir isn’t one to brag. Far from it, in fact: Bachir is jovial, earnest and eminently humble as he discusses his philanthropic career.

What constitutes a city? Is it the sum of urban physical features within a defined boundary? Is it the bylaws and regulations that maintain order in that specific place? Do the citizens make up a city and, if so, who gets to be a citizen?

There is no substitute for that feeling you get when you pick up a good book and find yourself transported to another world and immersed in the lives of other people.

Step into Jessica Maloughney’s (BEd’11) Grade 2 classroom at St. Patrick’s Community School in Red Deer, Alta., and you may be reminded of a six-year-old’s bedroom. Minecraft posters decorate the walls, Lego figurines are tucked around the classroom, and collections of Star Wars and Frozen books populate the bookshelf.

The year Lori Friesen (‘12 PhD) began teaching, she adopted a puppy: a Maltese-poodle named Tango. It was the first dog she’d had since the passing of her beloved childhood dog, and she was thrilled. So were her Grade 1 students, who begged to meet the puppy. Seeing the learning opportunities for students, Friesen agreed to bring the dog to class.

Once Tango had been introduced to the children, pairs of students were allowed 10 minutes with the dog in the reading corner. That’s when the canine magic began. “They started bringing books to read to her,” recalls Friesen.

Stories have been part of human culture since humans were, well, human. It goes back as far as cave people scratching images of their lives onto stone, probably further. With storytelling, we recall the past and anticipate the future by weaving events into juicy narratives.

Traditionally, storytelling was a spoken-word or written affair. But with access to computers new ways of sharing stories have emerged — from podcasts and online learning to digital storytelling.

With Fall Reading Week and Fall Convocation happening this month and the holidays just around the corner, it is a perfect time to pause and reflect on the significant events and accomplishments of the past few months.

When local Cree and Métis artist Aaron Paquette was a young, rebellious teenager in Edmonton, he learned the impact words can have on someone.

“Your words create worlds,” said Paquette, 42, as he recounted how he started to believe a then-abusive family member when they would tell a teenaged Aaron, “You’ll never be anything”. Later in life, Paquette learned that this family member was so horrifically abused as a child that they had never learned to read.

Before students descended on the University of Alberta for the hectic start of fall term, a small group of 10 to 16-year-old girls from the Edmonton area were on campus for a summer camp with a difference.