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Would find it more beneficial to scaffold the practicum into gradual release. Term 1 (2 consecutive weeks at 20%), Term 2 (4 consecutive weeks at 50%) and Term 3 (6 weeks at 80%). This would require more pre-loading of practical courses in term1 but also reduce the preparation workload for long practicum and provide better preparation for practicum. It doesn't need to be long. I also think team teaching would be a win win here

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My biggest problem that I have faced would be the stressful impact of Term 2. We were going to school all day, 5 days a week, completing regular coursework and trying to plan for our practicum. There was also no time off between Term 2 and practicum and that made me feel like I wasn’t adequately prepared as I had barely finished my work in term 2 and then I was thrown into practicum right away. I think the elementary model (2 regular terms, one week off, and then practicum in April) is a much better system that I feel the secondary program would benefit from. I feel like in secondary we have a disadvantage as we are not given enough time to prepare.

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Don't get me wrong I LOVE that we're in the same classroom all year so we get to know the kids better, but I wish the program facilitated something for us to be able to observe other grades and classrooms once or twice. Although you can organize this at your own school I think a program-wide initiative would be really valuable.
My suggestion: Have two of the weekly visits (one each term) be a "switch classrooms for the day" visit - TCs can switch with someone in their cohort for one day to check out a different school, district, grade, teaching method - whatever they want! I think this would be so valuable.

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1) I love the cohort system as it allows us to get to know a group of colleagues really well - these are people I will turn to for guidance and friendship throughout my career!
2) I loved that almost all our curriculum classes had unit plans as the major assignment - this was really helpful in getting at least a start on my practicum planning. I really appreciated the practicality of these assignments.
3) Weekly practicum visits help us to get to know the students - I can't imagine doing practicum without having had these! (Totally agree they should have been a different day on the two semesters though - I saw buddies and music every week but never Science or Social Studies!)
4) Some instructors are truly wonderful. I wish I could say all but honestly it's only about 1/3 but the gems are true gems and I really appreciate their guidance.

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1) More balanced coursework between the two terms - Term 2 is especially difficult because of the practicum planning that has to be happening. I would rather have equal semesters or better yet, slightly more courses first semester to allow for more practicum planning time Term 2.
2) Better allocation of time to different courses. EPSE 311 (Classroom Climate) was way too short because we only got the philosophical component not the practical. Also should be Term 1 in my opinion. EDST 401 and 403 seemed the same as each other which was odd. Assessment should also be Term 1. LLED 353 was twice as long as needed.
3) More practical skills. For example I really enjoyed that EPSE 311 focused on ways to build classroom communities that need less of traditional classroom management BUT the reality is that every teacher will need to use Classroom Management at times and we weren't taught any of these skills. Lesson planning was never taught at all, we just had to figure it out, etc.
4) Higher expectations for instructors/FAs/SAs - We had an absolutely terrible instructor for one class Term 1, gave her personal feedback, formally complained about her, nothing changed. Gave feedback on course evals and found out she was still teaching Term 2 (albeit apparently had a supervisor watching her frequently). Pretty frustrating that she was allowed to continue. I also have many friends with weak FAs and SAs.
5) I'd like instructors to ask us more what we want to learn about and to respect that! Although there's obviously required content and content instructors feel is valuable, there should be time set aside for content we express a need for.

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There definitely needs to be a better screening process for faculty advisors. I was put in a very difficult and complicated situation for my practicum simply because there was no screening process for the school advisor. This has added an immense amount of stress for me and is making planning for practicum extremely difficult. My faculty advisor even agrees it is a situation that should not have happened. Adding on extra stress to someone who is learning to be a teacher is not fun.

I also think we should be able to give feedback about our school advisors so we can address these issues and give feedback on how we felt the practicum experience was.

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I think there needs to be more opportunity to plan for practicum during the term. It can be very difficult to find time outside of our courses and coursework to plan for practicum.

I think there should be a 2 hour block of time set aside as a course each week for us to work on practicum and ask questions to our FA's and program coordinator. This would help alleviate a lot of stress I think for many of us.

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I feel like UBC needs to do a better job in screening for Faculty Advisors and School Advisors. Throughout this year, I have interacted with many other students who have had not so great SA/FA experiences. I am not talking about one off examples, but consistent recurring cases. These are the two people that are there to guide us throughout our practicum, so if they are unable to do that, then that makes it extra stressful for the TC.

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The program does a great job of making us think about where we position ourselves philosophically. I feel well-prepared in that regard.

Practically speaking, UBC could do better. As many have alluded to assessment is a very important part of teaching but the Assessment course did not prepare us adequately to perform this task. It was too theoretical and didactic. We keep hearing about gradual release in this program but the 'we do' part was missing. We were either lectured to or left to our own devices to research and figure things out on our own. In the future, I suggest instructors create a rubric, checklist or assessment tool as a WHOLE class in a guided instruction and properly unpack that. I'm walking in to my practicum with no clear idea of how strong my assessments are. Having paid for a course to prepare me,  I think this is really poor.

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Would like to see a situation where in Term 1 it's mandatory to spend time in your classroom but 2h every visit 'helping/observing' with another age group. For example Grade 7 would also see Grade 2 or 3 (your choice) but the contrast is really helpful. I didn't always feel there was time or encouragement to do this in the practicum.

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This course has a grad feeling to it in it's content and if anything should be scheduled in the summer when everything is winding down.

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1) Enjoyed the kick off week with team building ropes course. Week 1 was so inspiring
2) I think it's really smart to stay in the same classroom to build a connection with students
3) I like the traditional teaching of Art, Music, Science, Math, Assessment, Inquiry, PHE, ELA, SS...SFU can't touch that kind of practicality. I heard their students only get a week of assessment instruction
4) Some very inspiring activities and lectures along the way in Ab-Ed, SEL, Rod Brown...
5) I like the timing of the practicum (April -June) as it's less disruptive to the school and students. Having rookie teacher lead off the year in September is a big risk for a classroom teacher.
6) Love the 11 months finish. SFU can't touch that. Feels a little chaotic at times but in the end it shouldn't take 4 semesters like SFU is doing (extra money grab is unnecessary).
7) Love the CFE experience as a way to build the resume further and see more.

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1) Need more balance between terms in workload
2) 75% of the assignments should be practical and for the classroom. Center the learning around the practicum
3) Combine courses together. I didn't see the value in having 3 ELA courses. Two would have been fine. Ab-ed as important as it was could have been completed in half a term.
4) All TA's and instructors should be strong and experienced. I can think of a few that did not meet the criteria of experience and excellence that UBC claimed on day 1 kick-off
5) Term 1 and 2 need balance in workload. Term 2 students should have been given reading break for planning to avoid a direct clash with assignment deadlines.
6) Sometimes I found occasionally too many ice breaker games during classes (as fun as they were) they won't really help me too much in the classroom.
7) The one day visit in the classroom is great to stay connected but it shouldn't be the same day in both terms. This didn't allow me to see any variety.

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This term has been the most difficult so far, as mentioned by others it has been hard to juggle intense course work, Practicum, and unit planning! It would be helpful to have more time allotted to unit planning , as this is hard to do in combination with course work!

In addition I found some of the courses we took in need of careful revision! In particular the assessment course, I found the information was not valuable for those of us who are teaching primary grades (we spent a total of 20 mins going over assessment for kindergarten). From discussing with my colleagues there is a general consensus that we feel ill prepared/ not confident in assessment! Perhaps this course requires some adjustments to better serve TCs needs/ concerns.

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Professors in Term 1 allotted for work-times during class hours to work on assignments. This was especially appreciated when it came to group projects. Term 2 lacked those work-times, which was disappointing because there was more work, both individual and group work. AND we could have had more time working with same grade groups to unit plan together during this time.

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I appreciate the 11-month format as we end just in time for a new school year! It's an intense program, but it makes sense!

Furthermore, I know a lot of people complain about schedules, but again it's an 11-month program. Long days are something we signed up for if we want to be done earlier!

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I understand that the program wants us to start extended practicum at the same time as when the students return from Spring Break, but I think we would have benefitted from having a week off somewhere between the two semesters. Especially because we are also planning for long-term practicum as well as doing coursework.

Secondary TCs were given December to plan units as their long-practicum started at the end of January. And they also get two weeks of Spring Break in the middle of practicum to prepare without commitments of course work.

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For everyone three amazing instructors, there is about one terrible instructor that makes my BEd. experience difficult to enjoy. I have made more detailed comments in individual course evaluations, but I am curious as to why the head professor (e.g. Shawna Faber) do not check in with their own instructors to make sure they are teaching the content properly.

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There is no consistency between cohorts. When I talk to people outside of my cohort, there are so many differences that become concerning. Such as deadlines for unit/lesson plans (i.e. some cohorts had March 7th as a deadline, others had March 21st), Planning Day (i.e. useful for some, useless for others).

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I think the disparity between the workload in fall and this semester is bizarre. Why not create balance?
Also, what if SA’s has to submit what they wanted us to teach so that we could be planning all the way along.

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It has been very difficult to balance assignments, our  one day a week at practicum, as well as unit planning and preparing for our long practicum. I feel that these last couple of weeks should have been all about long practicum planning and instead we've been writing mountains of papers. I feel there are other ways we could be expressing our learning in our courses.

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Starting the long practicum on the same day as the new semester has been the perfect way for TCs  (working in semestered schools) to start.