Through the important and defining revelations I have encountered through this course, I have discovered that my personal teaching philosophy is like a road trip: It has many stops along the way, joyful experiences, obstacles, and detours when arriving at my destination. However, I have also come to understand that along my journey in becoming an educator, there will not be a definite endpoint as there will constantly be new learnings for me to discover. 

The first stop on my road trip is encountering a very crucial question: What is education for? I have discovered that in order to truly accomplish my goal as a teacher I must encourage students “to examine society and try to change it and to fight it” (Baldwin, 2008, para. 2). Another stop along my journey is my takeaway from the mapping learning task. I learnt that everyone’s neighbourhood may look differently, but what unites us is the land in which we live: Indigenous knowledge and perspectives must be represented in the classroom in our efforts to reach reconciliation. An obstacle I have faced along my journey are the reflections I have had when reading The Gender-Friendly Classroom by Dr. Lee Airton. One may feel uncomfortable or nervous to incorporate queer representation in the classroom. However, as the article explains, you will make mistakes but what is important is to “make your mistakes visible” (Airton, 2019) and discuss them with students. A third stop is the understanding that as an educator to all kinds of learners, I must “meet kids where they are and help them to achieve maximum growth as learners” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 14) through adaptation. A fourth stop is determining the importance of environmental education. When you take students outdoors, nature is the real teacher and they will make new connections. Lastly, the final stop is the realization that what I have taken away from this assignment will be the philosophies I take with me into my future classrooms.