Self as Learner

This is a photo of a small, but mighty plant that one of my student’s gave to me at the end of last school year. I have always viewed learning as a lifelong journey, and like so many things in education, it is a work in progress. Similar to this plant, I require care, sunlight, and nutrients in order to grow. The change does not happen overnight, but overtime, you notice the growth.

I am a fairly recent graduate of the Bachelor of Education program (2021), and I still feel pretty “new” and “green” to the world of teaching. I started my teaching career during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has drastically shaped my views on student wellbeing and traditional methods of teaching. I am a Music and Drama teacher and when the pandemic happened, everything we knew about the curriculum that was performance-based had to be changed. While I consider myself to be open and receptive to learning, this was a time of resistance for the host teachers who had me in their classrooms. It was a constant battle between learning to understand their methods of teaching, while trying to show them more innovative and creative practices.

I am learning to practice patience and improve my understanding of the classroom and educational pedagogy.

Port Perry, June 2022