Nolan's Professional E Portfolio

Through out my elementary years and even high school years I have came across the Tyler Rationale many times in my learnings. Teachers were always so straight forward on the lessons we took in as it was almost the same pattern over and over and over. We would get taught a concept through the smartboard, then us students would do some practice questions on the topic and a few days later have a test or quiz. I always hated the practical set out ways of being taught because everyone learns different. Personally I am a very strong math student but somwtimes found myself struggling on tests because my ways of learning are more hands on. Another example would be writting a essay, we always got so much time for pre writing, the then rough copy etc.

Tylers Rationale limits students personally, this is the case because every student should feel diverse. Every student shouldn’t be judged on the grade they get at the end of the class, every student should be able to learn in the way that they are able to suceed. I feel that is the huge point of education to help students for the real world and to prepare them not to have them not being able to succeed. A example of this is typical high school class is a huge you take notes go home do a assignment. Well I know many people who can’t focus on somehting for that long so they are constanly finding themselves behind or stressed out which I don’t think is fair cause everyone is different.

The benefit of this is plans are organized already, it’s easy to teach. it is straight forward and as teachers makes sense. It makes education a lot smoother as the plans and objectives can be used over and over and it keeps education moving.

She defines common sense as school being typically Monday through Friday, students get a 2 month summer break. Students engage in the 4 core subjects of learning, classes are usually between one to two hours long. Students are grouped by age or even gender sometimes where a teacher helps around 20 to 30 students learn. Also that students sit in a classroom surrounded by 4 walls as they learn from their teacher, the teacher always should know more than the students. Finally students are supposed to follow instructions and stay on task and on top of their homework and studies to succeed.

It’s very important to pay attention to common sense because every student is different, every student learns differently. As well as their should be guidelines and rules to a classroom so that a class can run smoothly. Could you imagine if there was no rules or common sense in a class? It would be hectic that’s why it’s super important that teachers and students follow the basic rules and procedures to a classroom so that everyone has a chance to succeed and grow as not only a student or teacher but as a person. So the common sense to a classroom and the guildines thag come with it are critical.

I would like to say I’m a very intelligent student. I always am on task and most of the time am on top of things. I pay attention to the lectures in order for my success as a student. I ask questions when I need help and I feel like I follow the typical rules in being a successful students. I always try and be the hardest worker in the class in order to accomplish my own successes. I believe tremendously in common sense so I try to follow those stereotypes.

Week 12 (March 31): (Dis)ability

In this article, the authors address the prefix “dis” as it is used in terms like “disability.” Disability is commonly viewed as a problem that exists in a person’s body and requires medical treatment. The social model of disability,  distinguishes between impairment and disability, identifying disability as a disadvantage that seems to lack between a body and its social environment. I have been privileged in my course to education to have had the opportunity to become close with someone who had a disability in my high school. In reading this article I connected a lot to the person I had become close with in highschool mainly because of that word ‘dis’. Dis is seen as a negative aspect to society, whether it’s being dishonest, or disrespectful, the word dis is seen as a negative word in society. In this article I found that there are positives to look at within disability. Intellectual disability disses the human, but also desires this group of people. Before reading this article I truly didn’t know how much of an impact the word dis had on society. I constantly found myself rereading points over and over in disbelief on how the word dis could shape a person, from causing hurt, fear, depression to someone. I think one way to eliminate this is with dis/ability. This would be a positive tool for the future and taking out that dis could make a huge difference to many people. I believe engaging with myself in this article I believe disabled people are no different from people who are not disabled, both groups of people have the ability to accomplish life skills. “Intellectual disability is always profound because it enlarges, disrupts, pauses, questions and clarifies what it means to be human. Intellectual disability ‘disses’ (or disrespects) the human but it also desires the human.” (Goodley, 2014)

My perspective on disability has changed tremendously after reading this article, I always seen disability as a bad trait and mainly because of the dis. I always seen disability as people who don’t belong or fit in but after reading this article I realized I was wrong.  People with disabilities are especially influential, as our hardships in life aren’t easily forgotten. Having a disability can be a good thing as it could teach people many lifelong messages, such as it can happen to anyone, patience is key, people with disabilities aren’t different they have to be mentally stronger. That Indeed, people with labels of profound intellectual disabilities offer us exciting new ways of thinking about our humanness in relation to interdependence, mutuality and interconnection (Goodley, 2014) I found that many interpretations on disability are caused because of that word dis, and as a society if we took out the word dis or it wasn’t always associated with being a bad trait then we could improve dis/abilities. In going to be a educator  these negative words dehumanize not only my future students but also everyone else. I am determined to be an equal teacher where everyone will feel welcome and I believe after reading this article a big factor of that will be teaching my students about disability and intellectual disability. I believe we as humans, we do not have the authority to define someone’s ability. 

Troubling the norm is shown in the article Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies: Disability and Queerness by Eli Clare. It talks of how they raise money for a cure to repair bodies that are seen as in need of fixing. The money raised does not go to funding for things in need like wheelchairs. What is seen to happen is high unemployment rates, lack of access, gawking, substandard education, being forced to live in nursing homes and back rooms. How I seen this story was there are different parts to society, people need different things to be successful and everyone has different needs. I think society has to make it so everyone can be able, we don’t need to raise money to repair bodies, society just needs to try and make sure everyone is able to get the resources they need to be healthy and successful. As a society, recognizing the problems around disability is the first step to inclusivity. This articleis a great read because it does that and finds solutions to get around those.

i) Usually the term normative narratives refers to the phenomenon in human societies or designating actions or outcomes with certain stereotypes. Within reading classmates blogs on racism I saw plenty of similarities between Olivia’s blog, Madis blog, and my own blog. In similar ways we all expressed how living in Saskatchewan we were faced with seeing a child of a different skin colour and to all of us it was a very different occurrence. In a way we all felt uncomfortable because we weren’t used to the change in skin colour being child’s.
In Olivia’s blog she talks about how she was at the waterpark when she came across a child with a different skin colour. As Olivia stated she was alarmed by the situation as she felt very comfortable. As like myself I talked to my parents about it because I didn’t feel safe and that’s a similarity between all our blogs, for a instant we all felt uncomfortable. When we first encounter this situation we all have a million questions on why they look different, and if they are bad or why they don’t look like us. But as Olivia’s mom said “That’s what makes us all different”, and that is the truth nobody should be treated unequally because of their skin. Many people like us feel uncomfortable with their first encounters with different racial groups so they push them away or call them names, but once you give them a chance and don’t judge them like us we all realized how nice they are and how they are just like everyone else.
In madis blog, she expresses how her first experience was in a classroom. A common trait I saw from her story was that they made a big welcome sign for the new girl, was it because of her race? If it was another white person would they have made that sign? The answer is probably not, another normative narrative I saw within all our blogs is we all feel like we have to treat different racial groups special, we have to go extra for them because they are different. That is not right they deserve to be treated like normal human beings not get any more or any less because of their skin. We all have the same narratives because we all experience these situations outside of our own homes, we all recognize they all look different, are treated special, but after we get to know them and meet them we realize they are just like us and all of us are willing to be friendly to those kinds of people.

ii) Guman’s self story is able to disrupt this typical narrative that races other than the typical white race come from other places too. Her story explores a teacher coming from America to China and how the atmosphere around the teacher is a lot different now. It is a different experience for him and it is not the typical different racial group going to North America. Now it is a American teacher being put in the Asian culture. She explains that her thoughts were very confused on how their skin colours were so much different. Her mother told her that “This is our race and our country, this is how we are born”. In her situation the circumstances are flipped depending on where you live as now a teacher of a different colour is coming to their culture.Her story disrupts all of ours because it doesn’t illustrate the common white supremacy stereotype. In this situation the very common white person is being put in an uncomfortable situation, as the people in the Asian culture feel like it is weird to have a person of white skin colour there. So the stereotype is very dependent on the different atmosphere and culture different races are placed in. Dr. DiAngelo says “Socialized into a deeply internalized sense of superiority and entitlement that we are either not consciously aware of or can never admit to ourselves, we become highly fragile in conversations about race.” Gumans story expresses how different being in certain environments can bring different superiority. In the environment of white people any different races are talked highly about meanwhile in different places such as China to see a white person is very unique to them. Everyone will stand out in different places because of their race and that is not right, everyone deserves to be taken to help eliminate racism even today. Upon reading classmates blogs and past course work, it is important to acknowledge that racism is still present in our world today. People should recognize that avoiding those people, or not saying their opinions is not going to change anything, people need to learn to adapt with those people no matter the circumstances. 

The first time and memory of being categorized as a male was when my sister and I were out doing chores for our neighbors. We felt like being good civilians and helping our neighbors out, our neighbors had told us that we had to water the flowers and cut the grass. Being a young kid I wanted the easy job like anyone else would trying to get the easy way out of it, so I offered to water the flowers. Our neighbors said “that is a girls job, boys do hard work you can mow the lawn”, I thought that was very unfair and had no idea what he meant by anything. When I went home and talked to my parents they said don’t worry about it sometimes men are women are stereotyped to do certain things or tasks. For example my dad used the NHL. It is only stereotyped that only guys can play in the NHL and that most of professional sports are all men.

Being a young kid I didn’t really understand why that was, or why I had to mow the lawn still. Until I did some research on these stereotypes and came across my findings that most guys do the heavy lifting and all the jobs that involved tools. While I seen that most women do the cooking and cleaning. That is stereotyped in tv, movies, sports, social media as I continued to watch for these stereotypes. That has been how society has been created nobody knows how it was created or how men did the lifting and women did the cleaning. But the one day doing chores with my neighbors I knew I was being portrayed as a man and that’s the first time I learned about my gender and all the stereotypes behind it. As I got older I started to develop more manly feautures compared to the physical ones women encounter. Forever I will be stereotyped my gender as a male. I was born with a male name, with male feautures and with stereotypes that will recognize me as a male. After all the hours of research I finally came to a conclusion of boys do certain things like play with LEGO, and girls do certain things like play with dolls, nobody knew why this was but that’s how genders were stereotyped.

It was a hot summer day, as I just finished up a long football practice. My dad was the coach of the team but on our way home we had recognized one of the fellow players had been walking home. I asked my dad why don’t we give him a ride home? So we pulled over and asked this teammate for a ride, he decided to get in. This experience showed me how fortunate I was as a person, as we got near his house I saw all of these tiny tiny houses. Looking at one of my fellow teammates’ houses as we pulled up I was in disbelief, the windows were covered by tin foil, the drywall of the house was all destroyed and smashed in, multiple windows were broken as well as the front door. I was in shock and felt so bad, because he was someone I talked to and he was a teammate of mine. My dad picked up on the conversation first and said “now you know how lucky you are buddy, all those little things don’t matter.” I was about a 13 year old kid realizing I wasn’t probably the most fortunate kid but I had it very well compared to most people. 

For most people they won’t get an expensive Christmas or birthday gift as playing football was all they had. I know I am probably in the higher middle class because I am not the richest family but I do have it good and am very privileged to be doing all of the things I do, and having all of the things I have. I now know I live in a very nice house compared to others, I have great meals every night and have a great lifestyle. This experience made me realize you need to be fortunate for what you do have, as you never know how much a warm meal would mean to someone. This experience made me realize it isn’t about having a PlayStation 4 or the newest iPhone, it’s about realizing how lucky you are to have the opportunities you have and about putting yourself in the less fortunate shoes because you have no idea what they are going through right now, and being in the higher middle class most 13 year old kids are greedy. I want this, I want this but sometimes in life it’s not about that it’s about realizing how lucky you are to be in the position you are so to me that meant a lot and being in the status I am I am very fortunate to have a great lifestyle and recognizing other people’s status is heartbreaking.

My first experiences with racism when I was around the age of 10 years old. I was in grade 5 as I was attending a basketball camp in Saskatoon, trying to become a good basketball player. When I got to the camp I knew nobody there, and quite frankly there was a bunch of different age groups and ethnic groups represented within the camp. Thinking about my experience there was more African American and different cultures represented there then there was of my own. I remember being scared because I didn’t know anybody but I was always a friendly person and to me in didn’t matter what language you spoke in or what colour your skin was I went and immediately started making friends. The camp was going great until I started to see a bit of racism being shown, being so young I had no idea why this was happening but they started to split the kids into groups of racial colour. So the white kids were put in a group and then the other skin coloured groups were put into groups. Reflecting back on it, it’s truly amazing to see how racism is still represented in our world. On top of that the white kids were helped out more with their skills being helped by white instructors while the other ethnic group kids were barely helped out and weren’t reviewing the same treatment and were taught by one African American coach.

It is truly astonishing to see that only at the age of 10,11,12 years old we were already being influenced by racism. I never got to see those friends I made with the other racial grouped kids for the rest of the camp because we were always put in a new group and I had no idea why. I remember going back to my uncles house with my dad and asking him “why did all the different skin colour people get put in different groups?” My dads response I will never forget for the rest of my life, my dad responded back with “son there’s a thing called racism where skin coloured people aren’t treated the same as us and it is horrific, especially in a 11 year old basketball camp.” I remember at my uncles researching what racism was and being in disbelief on how it has effected the world and how it is changing kids lives when they are just born till the day they die.

Racism is a terrible aspect of the world and I think racism is one of those things that takes everyone in order to stop it, nobody being bystanders or too scared to make a change everyone has to come together in order to stop racism and it is unfair to be judged on the colour of your skin because nobody can control that. Since I was 11 years old I have been against racism as to this day I’m still in disbelief it was represented at my basketball camp.

My whole life has been based with skates on my feet and a stick in my hand. Since I was the age of 2 I had been skating or being involved in someway with hockey. Home for me is at the rink, the feeling of your face feeling numb and cold, or your feet being frozen. The moments of despair and defeat compared to the moments of victory, 2 completely different feelings but both bring out the true colours in people. The excitement of winning the game or when mom would always say, “the hot chocolate is ready.” Hockey is more than just a game, it brings out friendship, it brings out excitement and it brings out the best in people. It was minus 25, snow was drizzling down in the city of Regina, it was the 2019 Heritage Classic winter classic hockey game between the Flames and the Jets. I was a fan of neither of these teams but I was a Canadian and I knew this was a once in a lifetime experience to watch. Seeing how huge this was to Saskatchewan and how much this game impacted social media just made me feel so amped up for the game. The atmosphere in the stadium was something I had never experienced before, fans screaming cheering their teams on as they sat bundled up like a cacoon due to the freezing weather. The love and passion for the game was still there though it didn’t matter how cold it was to all these fans, they continued to show their love for the game and how hockey will always be Canada’s game. Everyone either had a beer or hot chocolate, typical Canadians, as everyone sat on the edge of their seats cheering like it was the Stanley Cup. Even though at the start of the game I didn’t feel like I had to cheer for anyone when the first period came I had to pick a team, I had hockey blood since I was a kid and I knew I had to jump on one side everyone in the crowd was screaming so I had to be a Canadian too and join in. In a sold out crowd watching two Canadian teams play a sport Canadians call as theirs, while the weather is typical freezing cold Canadian weather, drinking Tim Hortons hot chocolate, what is more Canadian than that? When a goal was scored getting up and giving high fives to random people that you will never see again in your life but the feeling of being best friends for 3 hours because you both were passionate about the game. This experience made me feel like I truly am a Canadian and it started since I was a little kid watching hockey, or skating or looking through hockey cards with the biggest smile on my face. Within my experience even though it wasn’t either of my favourite teams to watch I still had chills from head to toe watching the game and experiencing the stadium erupted after a goal. After the game I remember my whole body was numb I couldn’t feel my hands or feet as they were frozen, it was the worst feeling in the world, but I’m used to the cold and the hockey world I would do it again in a heartbeat. Personally I don’t think any sport will ever compare to the taste of hot chocolate, or rips that go down your back of skates on ice, or the thwack of a stick hitting the ice. Hockey has given me a true identity and it influences people from the day they were born until the day they die.

Have fun exploring my professional portfolio, make sure to look at all the pages and drop down menus, I hope you can connect and learn to the amazing experiences I have encountered. All of these components were crucial in me developing as a person but also as a professional!