The monthly Student Services newsletter for August includes a list of programs, resources and acronyms for students in preparation for the new academic year. Here are the ABCs for teacher education:

A – Academic Advising
All part-time consecutive and concurrent BEd students will be required to attend an academic advising session during the school year to prepare for the subsequent year's enrolment. Summer Science students will have their advising session during the October reading week on Thursday, October 14, at 9:30 am. All regular ED1/ED2 concurrent and part-time consecutive teacher candidates will be required to attend a group advising session during the February reading week. Direct Entry BEd students will receive their new student advising session in July along with all the other new students entering the first year (ED1) of the BEd degree. More details will follow closer to these dates. To book an individual appointment, go to https://apps2.sis.yorku.ca/Apps/WebObjects/SAB.woa/wa/sab?param=ed_curr.

B – Boards Night
Also known as a Boards fair, this event is organized jointly with the Faculty of Education Students' Association and the Pre-Service administrative staff for all graduating ED3 concurrent as well as part-time and full-time consecutive teacher candidates. It provides an opportunity for representatives from boards of education and overseas agencies to discuss employment possibilities. This year’s event will occur on Thursday, January 13, 2011.

C – Convocation
Information pertaining to convocation, such as the schedule of dates, robing procedures, and how to obtain your diploma if you do not attend can be found online at www.yorku.ca/mygraduation. If students are not able to confer their degree at the June ceremony but complete their program requirements by end of summer, the next scheduled convocation occurs in October. For Fall 2010, the October convocation is scheduled for Wednesday, October 13, at 10:30 am for the Faculty of Education.

D – Deaf-and-Hard-of-Hearing Program
York offers a post-graduate diploma for anyone with a BEd degree who is certified to teach by OCT without conditions. Tuition for this program is fully funded by the Ministry. For more information, visit http://edu.yorku.ca/deafed.

E – Evaluations for Courses
Course evaluations for Summer 2010 courses offered in the D2 term (EDUC 3700, EDUC 3820B, PRAC 4000) are available online. Your input is very valuable to us and it is taken seriously. Feedback helps improve and enhance student experience and satisfaction in courses. Faculty members rely on your course evaluation feedback to improve their teaching and design of their courses. Course evaluations are also used for tenure and promotion purposes. The process is confidential. Students have until August 13 to submit their evaluations at http://courseevaluations.yorku.ca/.

F – FESA
The Faculty of Education Students' Association is the student government that serves the student body population. FESA hosts several workshops, an annual conference, and social events. To find out more about FESA, visit http://blogs.yufe.ca/fesa.

G – Glendon
Courses taking place at Glendon campus for teacher candidates in the BEd (French) degree option are coded as section G. Students attending the Keele campus and are not admitted to the BEd (French) degree option should not enroll in Section G for Faculty of Education courses. The BEd (French) program is housed mostly at Glendon and includes courses to prepare French immersion teachers. This unique bilingual option offers students two additional courses EDCU 3100 Teaching and Learning French in Elementary Classrooms and EDUC 3110 Teaching and Learning French in Immersion Classrooms. For more information, visit http://edu.yorku.ca/bed/bedfrench.html

H – Host School
The host school is where students are placed for their practicum placements. York University’s Faculty of Education carefully selects host schools that will offer teacher candidates exposure to different teaching settings. For this reason, teacher candidates cannot arrange their own practicum placements. All practicum placements take place at one of our York-partnered host schools. Concurrent and Part-Time Consecutive BEd teacher candidates will be mailed their ED2/ED3 school placement information by the end of August. Full-Time Consecutive BEd teacher candidates will receive their placement information when they meet with their site Course Directors on August 30. Concurrent and Part-Time Consecutive students are required to come to orientation day on September 7 as well as attend their first practicum session in the afternoon of that day. All ED1 students will select their field experience placement from a number of options on that day. Most ED1 experiences do not begin until late September and in some cases October. 

I – Indigenous Teacher Education
The Indigenous Teacher Education option is available for concurrent and part-time BEd teacher candidates at all certification levels who would like to an indigenous focus incorporated in their teacher education. This program, taught at Keele campus, includes two additional required courses, EDUC 2200 Issues in Indigenous Education and EDUC 2300 Pedagogy of the Land. Both courses will be counted towards the BEd Education elective requirement. The course EDUC 2200 Issues in Indigenous Education should be completed prior to admission with a minimum C+ final grade. For further program information, visit http://edu.yorku.ca/bed/indigenous.html

J – Jewish Teacher Education
The Jewish Teacher Education course of study is unique in North America. This program option prepares teacher candidates to teach Hebrew Language and Jewish Studies in public schools and Jewish Day schools. This is offered at Keele campus and includes two additional required courses, HEB 2030 Teaching Hebrew & Jewish Studies I and HEB 3030 Teacher Hebrew & Jewish Studies II. The courses do not count towards the BEd Education elective requirement but may be used towards your undergraduate degree. For more details, visit http://edu.yorku.ca/bed/jewish.html

K – Keele Campus
Although some faculty members have offices at Glendon, all the administrative offices for the Faculty of Education are located at the Keele campus. The Student Programs and Advising offices at Glendon cannot advise students on the BEd (French) degree requirements.

L – Labour Day
York University will be closed on Labour Day, September 6, 2010. Offices will be closed and there are no classes scheduled for this day. For more information on other holidays and university closures, visit http://www.registrar.yorku.ca/importantdates/fw10.htm. University sessional dates for the start and end dates for classes only apply to Concurrent and Part-Time Consecutive students. Full-Time Consecutive students begin classes August 30.

M – Mentor Teacher
A mentor teacher is the educator who works with a teacher candidate for his/her practicum placement. The practicum evaluation which every teacher candidate will receive from the mentor teacher at each placement along with the outline of the roles and responsibilities for teacher candidates, site coordinators and mentor teachers can be found online at http://edu.yorku.ca/mentor/mentorts.html.

N – Newsletter
The Student Services newsletter is posted the first week of each month on the Student Services blog to provide students with timely reminders and information related to the Bachelor of Education programs.

O – Orientation
All teacher candidates in the concurrent and part-time consecutive programs are required each year on the Tuesday after Labour Day to attend an orientation day. The morning sessions include presentations from the Ontario Teachers’ Federations and the Ontario College of Teachers. The afternoon sessions will be the first time students can meet their seminar leaders. Full-time consecutive orientation occurs on Thursday, September 2, in Accolade West room 109. All ED1 part-time consecutive and concurrent BEd students will meet in Accolade East room 102 at 9:00 am on Tuesday, September 7. ED1 teacher candidates can pick up their curriculum documents at 8:30 am in the Accolade East lobby. All Summer Science as well as ED2 part-time consecutive and concurrent BEd students will meet in CSE lecture hall A at 9:00 am on Tuesday, September 7. All ED3 part-time consecutive and concurrent BEd students will meet in Accolade West room 109 at 9:00 am on Tuesday, September 7.

P – Police Record Check
Every teacher candidate is required to have a cleared vulnerable screening police record check by the start of each community and school practicum placements. Students should not rely on the OESC web site. Special instructions for Peel (public only) placements apply. For other instructions, visit http://blogs.yufe.ca/studentservices/2010/07/05/police-record-checks/.

Q – Quarter Courses for ED3
Every ED3 Primary/Junior and Junior/Intermediate teacher candidate will need to enrol in a Science & Technology course that runs for six weeks in the fall or winter term. There are two courses that are valued at 1.5 credits and only run for half the fall or winter term (a.ka. quarter courses). To find out more about P/J and J/I ED3 enrolment, read http://blogs.yufe.ca/studentservices/2010/06/01/ed3-pj-and-ji-quarter-courses/.

R – Recommendation to OCT
When students graduate from the Bachelor of Education degree, the Faculty of Education will automatically send the recommendation to OCT following the degree being officially conferred at convocation. This is only one portion of what is needed in order to be certified to teach. Read "T - Transcripts" for more information on how to be certified to teach in Ontario.

S – Sharepoint
Students can find Education-specific resources online through the Faculty of Education’s intranet. Students will need to login using the same login created for their Faculty of Education webmail account. To access Sharepoint, visit the Faculty of Education web site http://edu.yorku.ca/ and click on “Sharepoint” on the top header on the homepage.

T – Transcripts
Transcripts must be ordered by the graduating student and sent to the Ontario College of Teachers once the BEd degree has been conferred in order to be certified to teach in Ontario. It is the students’ responsibility to order the transcripts. The Faculty of Education will not send transcripts on behalf of the student.

U – Undergraduate Calendar
In cases when there is a discrepancy between documents, the latest online university calendar is always the final and official document for academic requirements. The official document with program requirements is the York University Undergraduate Calendar, which can be found online at http://calendars.registrar.yorku.ca/calendars/2010-2011/faculty_rules/ED/index.htm.

V – Verification of Degree
YU Verify is an online service, which confirms whether or not someone received a degree from York University. It will specify the type of degree and the year in which it was conferred. To use YU Verify, someone can either enter some basic biographical information about the student (e.g. first name and last name, day and month of birth) or their York University student number. To use the degree verification application, visit http://www.registrar.yorku.ca/services/yuverify/.

W – Webmail
The newsletter is promoted through notices sent to students’ Faculty of Education email accounts. To find out more about your edu.yorku.ca email account, visit http://blogs.yufe.ca/studentservices/2010/04/05/faculty-of-education-webmail/.

X – eXchange
If a concurrent student wishes to participate in a study abroad or exchange term, he/she will ordinarily do so during a Stop Out year. For pre-approval of courses taken elsewhere that will count towards your undergraduate degree, visit the advising office for your home faculty. For courses taken at Hebrew University that may qualify for Education courses or courses that may count towards the BEd (French) Francophone culture course requirement, contact the specific Program Course Directors.

Y – York Lanes Site
The Consecutive BEd takes place at various sites, including on campus in the TEL and York Lanes buildings. The new classroom space in York Lanes will house the ECE and Toronto I/S consecutive BEd programs. Students for these sites will find their classroom in Suite 234 York Lanes.

Z – Zero Credit
Practicum seminar courses are zero-credit at the Faculty of Education. This means there is no tuition associated with this course, however associated course fees may apply. Practicum seminar courses are the only courses at the Faculty of Education which are graded on a pass/fail basis. Students cannot continue or graduate with the BEd if they fail their practicum seminar.