For EDCI 780, I need to reflect on the Core Competencies of the Teacher Education Program I have demonstrated growth in. The area of Exploring and Enhancing Pedagogy, and in particular in developing an understanding of how learners learn in order to cultivate effective learning environments is a particular area I feel I have experienced growth in.
I have had a lot of experience working with a lot of different people with diverse abilities. I worked for over ten years with people with developmental disabilities. I taught English to new immigrants to Canada who had zero to six years of formal education from their home countries. I worked with campesino women in Guatemala on their community development projects for 4 years. I taught international and local college students at Camosun who ranged in age from just out of high school to in their 50s. In part because of this experience, I recognize and appreciate diversity and see the importance of being able to adapt to it and teach across it. In addition, with my background and passion for community development and my strong belief in equity and inclusion, combined with my extroverted personality and tendency to over-participate, I am very aware in groups settings how people can get left out. As such, I have a strong desire to help the spaces around me be as inclusive as possible where everyone can thrive. To this end, I picked this as a focus of my inquiry project.
Part of how my growth in this area is demonstrated in the changing of my perspective. Originally, I wanted to focus on how to create a classroom where shyer students can have an equal voice. My perspective started to change after reading some articles and speaking to some shyer students. The students emphasized that they were fine with not speaking as much as some others in the class. One very illuminating article I read stated that our job as teachers is not to make introverted students into extroverts. In other words, I was thinking that it was a problem that shy students did not speak-up as much and felt they were being excluded, but that was not necessarily the case. My goal as a teacher should not be to turn introverted students into extroverted students.
Through discussion with others in the seminar and teachers at Belmont, I started to see that a better focus is on how to create a community in the classroom. My inquiry question then became “what are some strategies to create a community in the classroom”. This new focus has led me down a completely different road and a much better one. Through interviews, readings and conversations, I have a much better understanding of why and how creating a community in the classroom is critical to students learning and being healthy happier human beings.
I would say how I am demonstrating this new awareness and knowledge is perhaps in the way I conduct myself in my classes, small groups and other work with my classmates. As a ‘mature’ student, I have a lot more life experience than most of my classmates. Initially, I found it a bit frustrating as I felt my input was brushed off and my wealth of experience and knowledge was not regarded as important, helpful or valid. I started to realize that (perhaps because the course is very competitive to get in to and the primary focus is on grades) there are a lot of very A-type people in our cohort and initially a less collaborative, more competitive and having to prove yourself sentiment was felt (or maybe that was me projecting:). So, I have now taken a different approach. Rather than trying to “impart my wisdom”, I am trying to focus on asking questions to further prompt thinking. After all, we are all on our own learning journey, and their journey is theirs and mine is mine. And as I would not feel with my future students that my role is to impart my wisdom on them, but to help them build their own, so to should be the approach I take with my classmates. So, I continue to try and cultivate a learning environment there as well for all of us.
