My Educational Inspiration

Timeline

Neesha Rai

 Timeline Overview

Mrs. Kenny YWCA Big Sisters Sociology

2006 2016 2019 2020 2021 2022

Mr. Solari Soccer

Anil Gender

Shots Studies
 2006
I attended an elementary Montessori school therefore my teacher for grades 1, 2,

and 3 was Mrs. Kenny. While I never “loved” school I did love my teacher. I was

unaware of the impact she would have on my life, how she made my

educational journey a safe and happy experience. As I got older, volunteering

and working with young kids made me notice that I could see myself teaching

as a full-time job. When thinking about teaching as a career, initially I thought “I

do not want to do this”, “I don’t want to be working in a classroom with kids”

because I don’t like school. But then I thought about all the teachers who made

my academic journey and my time in a classroom a positive experience.

Reflecting on it, Mrs. Kenny was an amazing teacher, it wasn’t just that she was

prepared for class, or that she had all the answers, she was just nice. She

genuinely cared for her students and made class a positive experience. Thinking

back on this, I want to be that positive experience for a kid, the reason why they

have a good day, and be a support for them.

 2016
Mr. Solari was my grade 12 geography

teacher, he was what you would define as a

“chill” teacher. Looking back, this class was

probably the first time I thought about

teaching as a career, however, it was so brief,

I disregarded it. It appeared like he was an

easy grader and didn’t give a lot of

assignments, but that wasn’t the case. He

was a good teacher, he did give us

assignments and grade us appropriately; he

just made it clear that school was not only

about grades, and that there was more to life

outside of class. Along with going over

material, he talked to us about university,

about making sure that we had rounded

educations and educational experiences. He

taught us in a way that was more than just

memorizing information from a textbook,

rather it pushed us to broaden our mindsets

and critically think about what we were

learning. I genuinely had fun in his class and

appreciated that along with teaching us the

curriculum he focused on teaching us about

social, racial and environmental issues.

 2019
In 2019, I began a job with the YWCA as a program leader helping to

prepare grade 7 girls and boys for the transition to high school. When I was

first hired, I was nervous because I am not a strong public speaker and do

have anxiety, however I was working with several other leaders in this job,

so I was not alone. The program was an after-school program for 10 weeks,

and each week we would discuss a different topic relevant to high school

such as peer pressure, mental stress, healthy eating etc. As I continued

working with the grade sevens each week, I realized I genuinely enjoyed

my job. I liked helping relieve school anxieties, teaching the kids important

techniques for success, and working with them. The grade 7’s in the

program came from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and social

experiences meaning that I had to adapt the lessons covered slightly in

order to make sure the program was meaningful for everyone. After the

program was over, I came to the realization that I wanted to continue this

type of work, therefore I began looking for more jobs in this field.

 2020
In 2020 I got a job as a soccer coach with

Soccer Shots, coaching kids from 2.5 to 8

years old. At first, I was quite nervous as I

had not played soccer since I was 14 and

was unsure how much soccer knowledge

and skills I would need. Once I started

coaching, I began to appreciate what an

amazing opportunity this was. I was

getting firsthand experience with the kids

and learning how to deliver a curriculum.

While teaching the kiddos it began to

dawn on me that they were teaching me

as well. The group of kids was so diverse, I

reflected on the curriculum provided and

recognized that I would need to adapt it to

my group of kiddos. After each season with

the kids I had the opportunity to sit back

and reflect on what I did well, and what I

could practice in order to become better. It

dawned on me that I loved teaching and

learning, I was always talking to other

coaches about their classes and

techniques they found that worked.

2021
After applying to be a Big sister, in 2021 I was

approved and matched with an 11-year-old

girl in my area, and we began to spend 2-3

hours once a week together watching

YouTube videos, going to the park etc. She

has a brother and dad; however, her mom is

not in her life due to addictive reasons.

Honestly, it was so eye-opening to spend

time with her, to see her home life, and talk

to her. She is someone who deals with

exceptionalities and therefore spending time

with her forced me to expand my

communication skills and learn to be

patient. It really made me reflect on how first

impressions or judgements about people

can be wrong. At first it did not seem as

though our meetings together were

impactful for her, however I realized that just

because someone doesn’t say that it is

meaningful does not mean it isn’t. After a

few months with her, I noticed her open up

to me and talk to me about her school and

any difficulties she was having. It was after

this when I began to realize how a couple of

hours in a day can really impact a young

child’s life.

2021
For the first 3 years of my post secondary

career at Simon Fraser University I was

working towards earning my degree in

Bachelor of Arts with a major in criminology.

My boyfriend at the time kept telling me

that I would be a good teacher, however, I

thought he was just teasing me because I

was always correcting his grammar and

spelling. Fast forward 1.5 years I was nearing

the end of my degree and he kept telling me

the same thing. Finally one day I asked his

why he thought I would be a good teacher,

he said because he had seen me around

kids, he thought I was empathetic,

compassionate, full of energy, kind hearted,

and genuinely cared about the kids in my

care. At first I thought he was just trying to

be cute, but then I thought back to

experiences with kids, working at Soccer

Shots and being a leader with the YWCA. It

was as though a light bulb went off, I

discovered he was right, I did enjoy working

with kids, I loved bringing energy to room.

And I truly cared for the kids in my care,

whether it was physical, educational or

emotional.

 2022
This past summer I was in a sociology course which examined the history of Indigenous

peoples in Canada. We examined the culture, rituals and diversity of different

Indigenous communities. I was not the professor who made me want to be a teacher,

rather it was the course content. Thinking back, when I was in elementary school, all I

really learned about Indigenous peoples was that many (if not all) of the children were

ripped from their homes and forced into residential schools; beyond this I didn’t learn

much else. In the sociology course I was able to learn about the rich history and culture

of Indigenous communities. We moved from a perspective of Indigenous peoples being

the victim, to a perspective of learning about and respecting their way of life. This course

changed my thinking about these communities and made me want to incorporate

Indigenous teaching and ways of learning into a classroom. To teach children from a
young age to acknowledge and respect the history and culture of First Nations, to

celebrate their way of life.

 2022 During this past summer I had a gender

studies course that focused on environmental

DEVELOPMENT FOR WHOM? DISPOSSESION OF

issues and how they disproportionately affect
INDIGENOUS TRIBES IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

RAINFOREST
minority groups. Initially I was nervous as

NEESHA RAI
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
everyone else seemed to have some familiarity

Racial capitalistic practices have left

Amazonian Indigenous tribes victims
Causes
The demand for natural resources

Impacts with environmental injustice, and I was new to

the course content. My professor helped to

Government data has shown

of livestock loss, disease introduction, resulting from increasing population

deforestation of the rainforest

and invasion of their native lands. and urbanization (Ortiz-Prado et al.,

rose by 43% in April compared to

eliminate my fears, she was so supportive, she

2021). April of 2020 (BBC, 2021).

History of Indigenous tribes
Resource extraction from legal and

made us all feel at ease about the course. She

Indigenous settlement in the illegal businesses on “undiscovered”

Amazon can be traced back territories where IIP's reside (Ortiz-
thousands of years. In the last 40 Prado et al., 2021).

created assessments and lessons in order to

years the rainforest has

experienced drastic changes in land
area and usage (Ometto et al., 2011).

The majority of Isolated Indigenous

Peoples (IIP) reside in the Amazon
Fig. 5 The Amazon Rainforest today

(BBC, 2021) further develop our understanding of

rainforests of Brazil, Columbia,

Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and
Long-term survival rates of IIP’s
are precarious given the threats
to their peoples and livelihoods,
environmental injustice. After getting a few

assignments graded I thought “oh this

Venezuela (Ortiz-Prado et al., 2021).

i.e., disease, displacement and
Fig. 3 Mining companies encroaching
deforestation (Kesler & Walker,
The existence of IIP's have been onto Indigenous territories in Brazil for
2015).

professor is so easy”, partly because I didn’t

repeatedly denied depending on the resource extraction (Surma, 2022). Increased pressure on natural
interested stakeholder (Boekhout
ecosystems, a decrease in the
van Solinge, 2010).
Money above all! local biodiversity and loss of
Peru’s president Alan Garcia stated
‘‘isolated Indians were a creation in
The Brazilian government created

indigenous lands (IL) to “guarantee the

vegetation (Paiva et al., 2019).

think that I deserved these grades. After talking

to some of my friends in the class, and

the imagination of environmentalists rights of traditional and indigenous

and anthropologists’’ (Boekhout van populations, to maintain animals, plants

Solinge, 2010). and environmental services” (Paiva et

al., 2019, p. 20).

Business administrations have “tried to

reflecting on the professor, we realized that she

deny (IIP) existence or minimize the

impact of their contact” (Ortiz-Prado et wasn’t just an “easy professor” she was just

more concerned about us understanding and

al., 2021, p.130).

There are several draft bills in the Indigenous protest against 'Ecocide'

learning concepts around environmental

Brazilian Congress threatening (Surma, 2021)

protected areas (Paiva et al., 2019).

This is one example of how certain

injustice than wanting us to memorize facts

Fig. 1 In 2008, images of

New policies favor infrastructure work,
uncontacted Indigenous tribes
and are in direct conflict with previously humans lives are regarded as less

created ripples on the international

established policies (Paiva et al., 2019). important than money and

out of a textbook. This was my last semester in

level (Mongabay, 2014). "advancement". Indigenous peoples in

the Amazon are considered to be less

on

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RFig 2. The

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university, and this was the first time I had such

est intrusion impacts their way of life,

food and culture. We need to

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Fig.

understand how climate change and

an experience with a professor. I loved her

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I wanted to practice in my classroom with my

kids.