Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach.
Educators understand the curricular, conceptual and methodological foundations of education and of the subject areas they teach. Educators must be able to communicate effectively in English or French. Educators teach students to understand relevant curricula in a Canadian, Aboriginal, and global context. Educators convey the values, beliefs and knowledge of our democratic society.
Evidence 1: Undergraduate Degree & Reflection
For this evidence piece, I have chosen my undergraduate degree completed in 2017: a Bachelor of Arts with a major in French from the University of British Columbia. During my degree, I took numerous French courses focusing on grammar, linguistics, culture, and literature where I learned to and improved my skills in communicating effectively in French. Since I did a single major, it allowed room for me to take a wide range of other courses that helped contribute to a broad knowledge base in a variety of topics. Among the courses I took were Canadian Literature, Canadian History and First Nations and Indigenous Studies courses which focused on the contexts which inform the experiences of global and canadian Indigenous peoples; the learning I took away from these courses helps me now to understand relevant curricula in a Canadian, Aboriginal, and global context. I also took a student directed seminar on the topic of Educational Psychology where we looked at current perspectives on learning and teaching; this course focused on the study of learning processes from both cognitive and behavioural perspectives as well as different pedagogical approaches and their impact on learning. This course gave me insights into the conceptual and methodological foundations of education.
I believe that the learning I bring with my from my undergraduate degree has impacted my knowledge about my teaching and learning by giving me an understanding of the subject areas I teach through the background understanding and prior knowledge I have of the content located in the curriculum. I believe this evidence piece addresses Lev Vgotsky’s principle of the More Knowledgeable Other. “According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors and/or provide verbal instructions for the child. Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate their own performance.” (McLeod, 2014). The More Knowledgeable Other “refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept.” (McLeod, 2014) With the knowledge base that I have gained from this evidence piece, I am able to be the more knowledgeable other in the classroom and help the students understand the topics we are learning about.
With the knowledge from my degree that contributes to my understanding of the subject areas I teach, I am able to create a wider variety of delivery methods that can suit the needs of any learning style. Because of the prior knowledge I have from the courses I’ve taken, I am comfortable enough with the subject matter to create lessons and activities that may be less traditional, but have the ability to reach all types of learners. One strength of this evidence piece is the wide breadth of subject areas I was able to take throughout my degree. Because of the variety I was able to have, I believe I have a broad knowledge base on a variety of subjects that I will able to draw from to better understand and deliver the curriculum content at all grade levels and all learners. I also believe this is a strong evidence piece because my major was in French, giving me the ability to communicate effectively in French and giving me the oral and written skills necessary to teach Core French or Français Langue Seconde (Immersion). This standard is important to my practice because while I believe the teacher does not need to be an expert in all areas in the classroom, they still need to have a knowledge base and understanding wide enough to be able to effectively create and deliver lessons on the curricular content. I also believe that being able to effectively communicate is important when we are trying to explain concepts to our students in a way they will understand and that will help them learn.As I grow as a teacher I plan to continue to learn through professional development and inquiry. I believe in a growth mindset approach to learning and when it comes to the subject areas I teach, I plan to continue to learn more about the topics and deepen my understanding in order to develop lessons and activities that best facilitate learning in my classroom. This standard relates to improving my knowledge and attitude about my teaching and learning because learning is a life-long journey, and while I currently believe to have a broad knowledge base and understanding, I can and will always continue to learn more throughout my career and my life. I believe in having a growth mindset when it comes to teaching and learning and I believe this standard is about continually growing and deepening our knowledge base and understanding in order to help our students learn as much and as best they can.
Works Cited McLeod, S. (1970, January 01). Saul McLeod. Retrieved March 26, 2018, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
For this evidence piece I have chosen a unit that I planned and taught during my 6 week practicum. This unit was cross-curricular and focused on the theme of significance, one of the curricular competencies in the grade 3 social studies curriculum (“Explain why people, events, or places are significant to various individuals and groups”). This unit (link above) consisted of a variety of activities to get the students thinking about what makes something significant to different people and groups in a Canadian and Aboriginal context. When creating this unit, I wanted to make sure the abstract idea of significance was as concrete as possible. To do this, I felt a place-based approach would be most effective. While planning, I consulted with the staff at Strong Nations bookstore in Nanaimo to find local indigenous resources, as well as the local Department of Fisheries and Oceans Education Coordinator to get more information on the river we were visiting for our field trip at the end of the unit. Throughout this unit, I communicated the material and facilitated discussions effectively in French and used my broad knowledge base in the creation and delivery of the lessons. By creating this evidence piece, I learned about different resources in the community that can help me further understand and deliver the curricula in Canadian, Aboriginal, and global contexts. This evidence piece has impacted my knowledge about my teaching and learning by giving me the opportunity to incorporate Aboriginal perspectives into this unit. Moving forward, I am more confident in teaching students to understand the curricula in an Aboriginal context and have gained resources to help and support me in the process.
This evidence piece reflects the First Peoples Principles of Learning which relates to delivering curriculum in an Aboriginal context. It incorporates the following principles:
“Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place)
Learning requires exploration of one’s identity
Learning involves recognizing the cause of one’s actions
Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.”
(FNESC, 2014) In this unit, the students were asked to represent and explain through drawing and writing things that were significant to them (reflective learning and exploration of one’s identity). We also discussed our reciprocal relationship to the land and consequences of one’s actions through our discussions during our lesson featuring the book Nous habitons ici (Boreham & Mack, 2016), our “Who Polluted the River” Activity (adapted from Population Education), and our trip to the Millstone River in Bowen Park. The field trip portion of the unit also made the learning experiential. Finally, the principle that learning is embedded in memory, history, and story is reflected in the types of activities we did that featured First Peoples knowledge and stories of the land (Nous habitons ici) and the reflection activities that required students to refer to their own memories to express what was significant to them.
This evidence addressed many different learning styles due to the variety of activities included. I believe that one strength of my chosen evidence piece is that it aligns with the BC Government’s “Making Space” document that aims to promote “awareness and understanding of the diversity that exists within our society” (BC Ministry of Education, 2008) in all subject areas K-12. Through our discussions, we were able to explore what significance looked like and how it was diverse amongst individuals in our classroom as well as amongst communities, specifically local Indigenous communities. Significance is often reflective of the values of families and/or communities and therefore is a way in which we are diverse and I believe this unit did a good job in highlighting that. This aspect of individuality and diversity also conveys the values and beliefs of our democratic society. Another strength is the way in which First Peoples Principles of Learning were incorporated, as stated above.
This standard is important to my practice because while I believe the teacher does not need to be an expert in all areas in the classroom, they still need to have a knowledge base and understanding broad enough to be able to effectively create and deliver lessons on the curricular content. Being able to effectively communicate is important when we are trying to explain concepts to our students in a way they will understand and that will help them learn. I also believe that educators are positive role models (TRB 2) and in order to uphold that we need to positively reflect the values and beliefs of our society through our actions as well as our teaching. I also strongly believe that it is important to reflect the diverse values, histories, and ways of knowing present in this country in my teaching. What reconciliation looks like to me moving forward in my classroom is the incorporation of First Nations principles and perspectives throughout my classroom, not just in lessons and textbooks. As I grow as a teacher I plan to continue to learn through professional development and inquiry. This standard relates to improving my knowledge and attitude about my teaching and learning because learning is a life-long journey, and while I currently believe to have a broad knowledge base and understanding, I can and will always continue to learn more throughout my career and my life. I believe in having a growth mindset when it comes to teaching and learning and I believe this standard is about continually growing and deepening our knowledge base and understanding in order to help our students learn as much and as best they can.
WORKS CITED BC Ministry of Education. (2008). Making Space: teaching for diversity and social justice throughout the K-12 curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/making_space/makingSpace_full.pdf
Boreham, Brenda & Mack, Terri. (2016). Des montagnes à la mer: Nous habitons ici. Nanaimo: Strong Nations Publishing. FNESC (2014), First Peoples Principles of Learning. Retrieved from http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PUB-LFP-POSTER-Principles-of-Learning-First-Peoples-poster-11x17.pdf