I started out believing that people were responsive to their surroundings and developed to suit them. The role of the teacher was not about correcting but directing students to have the desire to expand their own knowledge independently. 

Pedagogy:

My pedagogy is one of: Anti-Oppressive Education and can only be approached as a socially moral lesson that must be taught and continually reinforced over time and throughout all your teachings and dealings with both staff and students but also in your daily life as well. What you represent at any moment is an active part of what you unconsciously teach to others around you and if you are not representative of the lessons you are teaching then you undermine its value by actively disregarding it. . 

Curriculum:

My role in the curriculum is in guiding others to their own conclusions and decisions by introducing them to a variety of lenses that they can use to apply to any given issue and have a level of understanding not restricted to just a single lens of understanding. Teaching students to understand their own process of doing things that fits and grows with them as individuals, allowing each student to focus on being a better them and not trying to live up to impossible standards set by others. I am teaching and guiding them to be the best part of themselves but also the best part of society by introducing lessons as learning opportunities for their own lives. Making lessons personal drives them home and makes it more likely that the student will stay involved in their own learning and value what they learn. I try to introduce subject matter in equal parts beauty and hard truth/uncomfortable knowledge because each gives the other proper perspective, actively teaching to appreciate the “fun” lessons and paying respect to the darker subject matter that can be seen in our history or news.

My teaching is focused around behaviorism because people grow and develop by experiencing the world and people around them. Teaching each student to be involved in the classroom and applying those lessons to their other environments in such a way that benefits themselves as well as others. 

By understanding the wide array of differences involved with having so many varying cultural and religious beliefs in one common society we are better able to plan around and incorporate each individual’s learning. When we show students this respect and knowledge of understanding we invite them into a classroom of inclusive place-based learning. Including traditional and cultural knowledge and respecting the importance of this knowledge, using inclusive music not limited to traditional western/English works, and teaching an attitude of respect and non-hostility are all examples of using inclusive teachings in the classroom and are vital for open respecting communication. Teacher’s provide a sense of foundation and security to the student giving them a feeling of value and place within the classroom, presenting them with respect and giving them the understanding that their thoughts are heard and questions addressed during the course. Music, while a seemingly simple answer, provides one of the easiest and most universally appreciated methods to make an inclusive air within the class.

It is not enough that we no longer treat the Indigenous population as a subpar class; teaching of the hardships faced, the tortuous struggles lived through, the families destroyed, the children lost, and the identity stolen by the destruction of a culture and society that valued coexistence with all parts of life within their existence. The proof that these lessons have not yet been learned is that their impact has not been felt, rather they have been disregarded by a generation that does not feel accountable for the mistreatment.

Things that are uncomfortable to learn or hear are less likely to be forgotten or disrespected because they are more difficult to learn the first time around. 

I want others to be more aware of the world they live in and of the interconnected nature of it all. Learning harsh truths is a necessary step to developing solutions to make sure that those lessons need not be learnt again. I still take a cautious approach but I also provide everyone the chance to show me who they are as an individual because until they show you who they really are you have no way of knowing what they are really thinking or going through. After being raised Christian my parents taught me about residential schools and it changed the way I viewed not only education and the intentions behind it but of religion and belief that up until then I had just taken at a face value of fact. 

Remaining Fears and Plan to Address them:

I worry that petty discrimination will continue until long after my time and be the cause of many more hardships to come for people from all different places, cultures, and walks of life because discrimination is just that, petty and baseless. People are too quick to assume things that they do not know and when these assumptions are acted on as fact it creates an obstacle to productive learning on the subject. Teaching students to champion a cause by rallying all the louder when for a cause that has fewer voices I will be showing students the impact they themselves have and building their confidence to independently identify and productively address address inequality and discrimination when they see it without themselves devolving to the same level. I want every student at the end of their day to be able to say they learned something that they wanted to learn; students should be left with thought provoking self-reflections based off something learned everyday, this especially includes how the lesson is used or applied to daily life as they know it or how it could be applied in a beneficial way. By focusing on cohesive and understanding cooperation we teach students respect and in addressing discrimination in this way we are building a solid foundation for education as a whole. Focusing on this foundation early on and consciously reinforcing it throughout later years of education is the backbone to building future generations of students learning a more involved and representative curriculum.