Webinar Series
With support from the Ministry of Education, BC’s Rural Education Advisory, UBC’s Edith Lando Virtual Learning Centre, and the Greater Victoria School District invite educators in BC to join in a shared conversation about literacy learning in the primary years. Sessions have a blend of current thinking, examples from practice, and time to process and personalize ideas.
Our two-part interactive webinar series is led by Dr. Leyton Schnellert with special guests for each session:
- October 27, 2022 – Faye Brownlie, Harpreet Esmail, Charmaine Shortt
- February 9, 2023 – Harini Rajagopal, Briana Adams, Faye Brownlie
Session 1: October 2022
Faye Brownlie, Literacy and Learning Expert: Faye is a long-time advocate of inclusive classrooms where all children continue to grow as readers and writers. She believes in our collective ability to reach and teach all our learners, working collaboratively, asking questions, remembering to include passion and joy, and most importantly, teaching responsively. Faye finds great joy in working side-by-side with teachers in complex and diverse classrooms, co-planning and co-teaching. She is known as a literacy leader who puts research into manageable practice. She has co-authored many teacher resource books, the most recent with a primary focus including Student Diversity, 3rd edition, Grand Conversations, 2nd edition and Learning in Safe Schools, 2nd edition.
Harpreet Esmail, Early Learning Coordinator SD43: With years of experience as a Kindergarten and Grade 1/2 teacher, Harpreet Esmail is the Early Learning Curriculum Coordinator for School District 43 (Coquitlam). Her passion for early years pedagogy affords her the opportunity to facilitate, coordinate and promote professional learning opportunities for educators exploring inclusive practices that meet the needs of early learners.
Charmaine Shortt, SD61 District Principal Early Learning & Childcare: In the midst of her upbringing, Charmaine was unaware that she was living an unconventional childhood, nor did she realize how profoundly her early years would impact the work she does today. It was through books, TV, and early classroom experiences, that she realized how different her world was from that portrayed around her. Charmaine’s career as a teacher, facilitator, and district administrator as well as her post graduate studies and research in social & emotional leadership, have been guided by the imprints of her 5-year-old self. Equitable and engaging learning for all can be achieved in classroom environments where each child recognizes and internalizes that they belong and that their entirety is welcome and represented at school.
Session 2: February 2023
Harini Rajagopal, PhD
Harini Rajagopal (she/her) is a listener of stories and enjoys working on collaborative and creative pedagogical designs to listen carefully. She is grateful to currently live and work on the traditional, unceded, ancestral territories of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm people. Her work, rooted in antiracist and anti-oppressive perspectives, engages with collaborating with children and teachers to mindfully include diverse communicative repertoires (including multiple languages, photography, arts) into mainstream classrooms, while paying attention to the realities of class, cultural, and systemic inequities. Focusing on relationships, she uses participant-friendly methods that value multiliterate practices as powerful resources for students’ academic and socioemotional learning, and for designing caring justice-oriented pedagogies.
Briana Adams, Teacher SD38
Briana is a teacher consultant for literacy K-7 in the Richmond School District. Before that, she taught Kindergarten and K/1 in both French Immersion and English classrooms. Her focus is supporting teachers with planning and assessment to nurture all learners as readers, writers and communicators. Her passions include play and inquiry-based learning, as well as nurturing belonging and community in classrooms.
Faye Brownlie, Literacy and Learning Expert
Faye is a long-time advocate of inclusive classrooms where all children continue to grow as readers and writers. She believes in our collective ability to reach and teach all our learners, working collaboratively, asking questions, remembering to include passion and joy, and most importantly, teaching responsively. Faye finds great joy in working side-by-side with teachers in complex and diverse classrooms, co-planning and co-teaching. She is known as a literacy leader who puts research into manageable practice. She has co-authored many teacher resource books, the most recent with a primary focus including Student Diversity, 3rd edition, Grand Conversations, 2nd edition and Learning in Safe Schools, 2nd edition.
With thanks to the Edith Lando Virtual Learning Centre.
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