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I’ve heard the word “Cohort” quite often in my decades-long journey in the education system. Portmanteau’ing it along with contortionist fairly accurately describes the flexibility needed to navigate these different labels and roles.

The first time hearing ‘cohort’ was in reference to belonging to the “double cohort” a term coined for the glut of secondary school graduates when the Ontario government decided to eliminate Grade 13. Being the final year of OAC we were the leading edge of this cohort, a group who would, through the strike of the legislative pen, compete with twice the number of high-achieving students for coveted program spaces at Ontario universities. A confusion between personal and educational goals and the labyrinthian paper OUAC applications were a few of the barriers in the process but it thankfully ended with a choice of acceptance at the University of Waterloo.

Waterloo was my second experience as a cohort member, this time a little more positively. Launching a new BA program in “Peace and Conflict Studies” the UW college Conrad Grebel was looking for new students to join a cohort of this trailblazing program, the first in Canada. Filled with exciting moments, a teacher who threw away her curriculum with the beginning of the second Iraq war, a guest speaker sharing a box of dates smuggled out of Iraq (making all of us violators of UN Security Council resolution 661, my first and probably last time flaunting international law), and a tight-knit group of students who brought a view of the world as a place of hope and an enthusiasm for sharing stories of how to overcome conflicts big and small.

This word ‘cohort’ followed to teacher’s college when, again, my cohort became the harbinger of program endings; again thanks to changes at Queen’s Park. Returning from 5 years teaching in Japan ready to translate my classroom experience into pedagogical competency OISE offered the perfect B Ed program for someone in their late 20’s; a one-year commitment in an accelerated course. With Ontario looking to halve teacher grads from 9000 down to 4500, UofT decided to end the program I was enrolled in and, like OAC, our cohort became the second last B.Ed class to exist at the university.

Cohort 21 marks my fourth time as a member of a distinct ‘cohort’ – and following the pattern this should be a year filled with positive outcomes and growth as an educator among colleagues interested and engaged in similar forward-thinking ideas about classroom education.

I’m looking forward to continuing the journey as a cohortionist in 2016; let’s see where this goes!

 

4 thoughts on “My Life as a Cohortionist

  1. Love the use and dissection of this iteration of “cohort” while telling a little bit about your story! I’m looking forward to working with you on your action plan Gordon!

  2. Thanks for your thoughtful first blog post, Gordon! I enjoyed reading about your journey thus far and look forward to working with you on your action plan! I truly believe this will be a meaningful ‘cohort’ experience for you — one that will continue to support and encourage you to grow and question your teaching practice long after the ‘program’ ends this year!

  3. Love the play on the word! I think you’ll see that this Cohort is framed in a much more positive light and unlike your other cohorts, you’ll be active in this one for as long as long as you’d like to be with people who share the same ideas around hope and enthusiasm as they pertain to shifting education and making it better for our students.

    Looking forward to being a part of your cohort this year!

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