My Teaching and Learning Portfolio
As a teacher and artist-educator, I am focused on presence, building resiliency, and social-emotional learning. I specialize in the dramatic arts, mindfulness, nature and outdoor education.
I'm interested in helping people of all ages become more present. I believe that while the goal of a teacher should include helping students develop literacy, numeracy, and knowledge development, the overarching goal of education should be to nurture well-rounded humans; people who are resilient, passionate, kind, and mindful.
Below I will post a series of works-in-progress that feature my graduate studies work at OISE (University of Toronto) and highlight my teaching identity.
My Teaching Philosophy
"Intelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence."
-Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are
I decided to pursue a formal teaching degree relatively late in life. I had an English teacher in high school who had a decade-long career as a journalist before becoming a teacher. She told our class that she believed teachers should leave school, enter the workforce, have another career, and then become teachers later in life when they have enough life experience and knowledge to share. Those words have stayed with my throughout the years, and I've come to feel strongly that I wouldn't be the educator I am today without the past experiences I've had as an actor and outdoor trip leader. These experiences have led me to develop confidence in my drama and outdoor education teaching, as well as a growth mindset across all subjects. I believe that teachers should be well-rounded citizens of the world, who care about people and who want to make the world a better place. The teachers I've had over the years have had a profound effect on my life, and I hope to pay this forward as much as I can.
Work and Work-in-Progress
Below are photos I've taken over the past couple of years that highlight my love for the outdoors and for extraordinary adventures. I've been lucky enough to work in the active travel industry for over 6 years, and I hope to inspire students to think "outside the box" when it comes to what a career can look like. I've been fortunate enough to have some incredible adventures for work; I want to push students to pursue their passions and talents in a way that makes them see that anything is possible.
Coding in the Classroom
As part of my work at OISE, I've been learning how to bring principles of computer programming and coding to students. The PDF below features a certificate that students would be given after completing an Hour of Code, and a great way to encourage engagement in young learners. I am still grappling with the ethics of using AI iin the classroom and the future of coding and software development, but I also believe that teachers who refuse to engage with changing technology risk losing relevance, and I believe that if we don't teach students critical media literacy, they are at risk of being influenced and controlled by technology, to their detriment. With that said, I believe the future of education lies not in teaching students how to be skillful with technology, but in the "soft skills" that technology and AI may have trouble teaching, like self-regulation, emotional intelligence, imagination, compassion, and risk-taking.
As part of my technology in education class at OISE, we looked at new ideas about deeper learning and I was struck by the ways we can leverage a common, age-old brainstorming tool, the mind map, and update it using technology. Coggle was a great tool to think deeply about wellness, and a great way to encourage deeper learning. Click the button above for a peek at my own mindmap, and feel free to make your own!
Thanks so much for your interest in my teaching career. A detailed CV, summative evaluations from practicum teaching at OISE, and professional references are all available upon request.
