Introduction: Pathway of Learning

Welcome to my portfolio from EDUC 400: Foundations of Education and Schooling as the foundational pathway into learning and the start of my semester in the Professional Development Program. Through this journey, I have experienced many learning opportunities, areas of growth, and different pathways of learning and re-learning that will bridge my transition from being a student into the teaching profession. Through readings, in-class and book club discussions, outdoor learning at Mundy Park and Miller Park, explorations for advocacy, and school districts have allowed my roots to grow and experience continuous networks of entanglements that call for deeper connections and engagements with others and the more-than-human entities to situate myself in this time and place as an educator. 

What brought me to teaching is my deep love of reading and learning. I was encouraged to read every day as I started in ESL (English as a Second Language), and I began to thrive and flourish with the help of my teachers, peers, and family. Throughout my educational journey, books have been a great comfort to me. What I’ve learned through books has cultivated my imagination, creativity, and understanding to connect with others. I appreciated it when the teachers brought us to the library to look at and choose books. They fostered a safe and nurturing environment where we shared books and ideas. 

I am beginning to develop my teaching profession from my background in early childhood education and my experiences as a teaching assistant, where I worked with young children for seven years. I can reflect and build on these experiences to develop new skills and ideas for my future practice. It has instilled in me an image of the child as strong, capable, and full of possibilities, and now I am confronted with the image of the teacher that will inform my pedagogy for my future classroom.

As you can see from the picture above, the roots at Mundy Park are how I see the connections forming in my teaching practice. I am rooted in my foundation. However, I am still developing and evolving my practice, leading me to different pathways of entanglements and weaving Indigenous knowledge, inclusivity, and intersections of identities and communities into my practice.

 

My image of the teacher includes a responsibility to bring authenticity into my teachings and instill a deeper awareness and engagement with the world through mind, body, heart, and spirit. I want to provoke curiosity and wonder that will lead to a spark of passion within my students to take up this work with me. In working together, we form connections through our roots in our classroom and the world around us. As roots form, I can slowly integrate different ways of knowing, including indigenous knowledge of what it means to take care of the land and how the land cares for us. This reciprocal relationship is harmonious in how we can promote inclusivity and kindness to different perspectives and knowledge systems.

Through my reflections, I am developing this awareness of becoming a culturally responsive teacher to include all forms of diversity in the classroom and embrace a multitude of representations. To give voice to those identities, bring forth the diversity of my students, and welcome the roots of those students to be represented and celebrated within my classrooms. I want to share my identity so that when students walk into my classroom, they are in a safe and inclusive environment where they feel comfortable to be who they are.