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Profile of the future teacher

Personal, educational, and pedagogical philosophies: Views on teaching and learning

My mother is a retired English teacher who taught for 35 years and, it seems, loved almost everyminute of it. As I recall, one of her favourite films was

To Sir With Love

; I remember seeing this film as achild and, even then, being impressed with the impact a teacher can have on his/her students’ lives.Similarly, I remember shopping with my mother and meeting her former students, who genuinely seemedto appreciate the impact she had had in their lives. Now a mature student in her forties, I have had other careers, but finding myself in education feels, ultimately, like a good fit. I bring to this career a variety of life experiences, but throughout the variety there has been a constant: an ongoing love of education andrespect for the teachers who dedicate themselves to nurturing learning.Learning excites me. I never tire of embracing new challenges and learning the skills to succeed.Over the years I have completed a number of university degrees in different fields. While working on aMasters degree in English, I had the opportunity to teach writing skills to undergraduates. Based on mysuccess in this field, I was seen as a person with a facility for words, not for images; I felt, however, that Ihad untapped visual skills that I wanted to develop. I have always loved to work with my hands, to take a piece of cloth and sculpt it into clothing, but before I could create masterpieces, I needed to learn amyriad of sewing techniques, which I did as part of a four-year fashion design degree at RyersonUniversity.Demonstrating my excitement about learning to students helps them to become excited aboutlearning themselves. While a fashion student at Ryerson University, I had the opportunity one term to actas an educational assistant for a course demonstrating industrial sewing techniques. I shared with mystudents my enthusiasm for learning the techniques requisite to creativity, so that they could becomeexcited and then patiently acquaint themselves with various industrial sewing techniques to express their visions.

2With DuFour (2004), I view the school as a “professional learning community”; that is, I feel it ismost important to teach people how to learn – not to simply provide them with information. Such anapproach involves what DuFour calls a shift “from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning” (p. 6).In the fashion design classroom, for example, I helped students to become resourceful problem-solvers. I provided step-by-step demonstrations of sewing techniques, and then gave students the opportunity toreinforce what they had been shown by doing it themselves. Students learned according to their ownrhythm, but with each I supported the same goal: self-improvement, not competition with each other.They made mistakes, and they learned.I bring this same love of learning married with a passion for creativity to my work as a teacher of English as a Second Language, now as a student teacher from McGill University’s Faculty of Education,in the future as a full-time language teacher. Learning a language requires the same patience, the sameneed to become a resourceful problem solver. I model language learning, whether it be how to use adictionary, how to ask for assistance, how to keep a conversation going through circumlocution, or how,step-by-step, to research, write, and design a poster that describes a caring celebrity who works tirelesslyfor a charity. At all times, I emphasize that making errors is a natural part of learning and try to create aclassroom environment in which students feel comfortable to take risks with their language learning.Learning also requires a respectful environment. I support critical thinking, not criticism. That is,students should always feel free to ask questions if they don’t agree with or don’t understand what is being taught, but they should do so in a respectful manner. As a student teacher, I model such respect,asking and responding to questions patiently and attentively. I always show up on time, well-prepared for my lessons, to provide a good example of professionalism for students to emulate.I am also dedicated to developing strategies to promote equity and social justice in the classroom by respecting diversity – of race/ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and ability. While workingfor the Canadian Hearing Society many years ago, I learned that accessibility is a major issue for deaf,deafened, and hard of hearing people, particularly accessibility to communication. I was pleased duringmy third field experience to have the opportunity to use an FM system to make lessons accessible to onestudent with a hearing impairment. A teacher in an inclusive classroom must become aware of the

3significant accessibility issues of his/her students and the availability of resources to facilitate allstudents’ equity of access to education.As an education student at McGill University, I have enjoyed the opportunity to share resourceswith my peers through our online discussion boards, to share ideas in our classes, and to collaborate withmany in teamwork. We have not always agreed, but we have always listened to each other’s opinionswith respect. In my future career as a teacher, I hope to enjoy the same spirit of collegiality with mycolleagues and with them to express “values that support and encourage collaboration”, such as acceptingmy own errors and those of others, offering help where I can and asking for help when I need it,embracing the diversity represented by the teaching team, expressing commitment to meeting the team’sgoals, “accepting that differences lead to creativity and not conflict”, and trusting the efforts of allmembers of the team (Howden & Kopiec, 2003, p.3).* * *As a future teacher, then, I will build on this general philosophy of teaching and learning:

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Inspire students with the love of learning

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Develop an approach that marries teaching with self-learning; that is, help students learn how tolearn and enable them to be resourceful problem solvers

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Motivate creativity and self-expression

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Encourage self-improvement, not competition

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Stress that errors are a natural part of learning

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Create a respectful learning environment: encourage critical thinking, not criticism

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Model professionalism

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Respect diversity and maximize equity of access to education