In my Future Classroom: A Teaching Manifesto
Pedagogy:
I believe in student-led learning. In my classroom, students will learn and lead from their strengths. Students will feel welcome to share their diverse views and experience, safely articulate their needs, and contribute to learning/teaching by remaining empowered to construct their own knowledge.
I believe in fostering critical thinking. In my classroom, students will be encouraged to pursue difficult topics, challenge preconceived ideas, and be open to hearing/sharing new ideas, existing values, and uncertain/developing beliefs and conclusions.
I believe in collaborative learning. In my classroom, students will not be inhibited from different models of learning, including group/partner work. Effective collaboration is a useful life skill.
I believe in experiential learning. In my classroom, I will promote learning “experiences” that allow students to build on existing knowledge, solidifying concepts and experiences for lifelong learning.
I believe in accommodation. In my classroom, students will have access to adaption, modification, scaffolding, and extension activities, allowing students with a variety of exceptionalities to excel beyond their own perceived limitations.
Assessment:
I believe in ongoing, formative assessment. In my classroom, we will primarily rely on assessments that regularly check in with students, encouraging students to take learning risks without the fear of inadequacy or failure that often accompanies daunting, summative assessments.
I believe in assessment that prioritizes the learner. In my classroom, assessment will be flexible, varied, and, if need be, individualized, as it is there to serve the learner first and foremost. Assessment provides feedback for the sake of students in order to further their personal learning goals and the goals we have set out to meet together. An aversion or anxiety to assessment in my classroom will indicate to me an imbalance or misplace emphasis on competing, perfection, appeasement–all of which I aim to avoid.
Social Justice:
I believe that socially conscious citizens are encouraged and equipped in the classroom. In my classroom, social justice will guide our learning in our pursuit of complicated and difficult topics. By exploring such, we will encounter the limits of and potential for justice in our classroom, community, and society.
I believe that reconciliation and treaty education are primary concerns of teachers and curriculum makers. In my classroom, we will be aware of the existing status of treaty relationships, the failures of Canada in their obligations, and the opportunity we possess to work towards reconciliation and resurgence.
I believe that inclusive classrooms are the microcosm of a just society. In my classroom, we will prioritize inclusion, celebrate difference, and encourage diversity of perspective.
Lifelong learning
I believe that skills and concepts developed in the early education and beyond are invaluable, sustaining learners long into adulthood, parenthood, and the twilight years. In my classroom, we will encourage the relationship between literacy and freedom! Reading and writing can equip students with skills to pursue anything, learn complicated ideas, entertain oneself, advocate for oneself, advocate for others, bridge language and knowledge gaps, and ultimately literacy can be a lifeline to a rich, successful, and significant life.
I believe that foundational learning must be inherently adaptive. In my classroom, trends in business and education, technological development, and shifting expectations of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood will be welcomed and engaged with. Part of establishing lifelong learners is recognizing that learning will look different, will include or exclude certain concepts, or may equip students for adulthood in a world that is wholly new from the one I encountered as a student; however, the aim for my classroom remains that the it will prepare students for life, encourage the perseverance and confidence to continue to engage long after school, and it equips students with the tools they need to navigate an ever-evolving workplace, family dynamic, governing body, and set of societal norms.