Holistic Vision of the Whole Child

Informed by progressivist philosophies, my teaching philosophy centers around prioritizing students and embracing a holistic approach to education. This perspective comes from my personal experiences surrounding a challenging diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 13. Going through skepticism from doctors and teachers, I felt unsupported and misunderstood in school. During this time, my family was grappling with my brother's substance addiction, creating a tumultuous home environment for myself and family. With these experiences, school and academics were not the most important aspect of my life. Therefore, as a pre-service teacher and in my future practice, I have a belief that academic success should not overshadow a student's well-being. One way I use this in my current practice is by using trauma-informed theories of education, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging and addressing students' diverse life experiences. 

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Providing Multiple Means of Representation, Expression, and Engagement

In addition, I believe in the importance of providing multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement to accurately assess students’ knowledge for learning and growth. I recognize that success varies for each student and believe in fostering a safe, supportive space within the classroom, even if it means adjusting traditional grading expectations. This belief is grounded within my own accommodations in school. In high school, once I finally got diagnosed with Arthritis, I was given accommodations for learning and exams of extra time, speech-to-text, breaks, and test taking in a secluded room. Because of my own experiences with receiving accommodations, I apply this to my own practicum students and will in the future. 

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Using multiple means of representation, interventions, and other accommodations does not imply that I don’t hold students to high standards. Instead, it signifies that I hold students to high expectations but also acknowledge that everyone has different needs that require different expectations. This is something I struggled with understanding at the beginning of my education at Ambrose. Being a competitive figure skater for twelve years, I have always held myself and others to high standards and emphasized hard work to achieve success. However, since the start of my education at Ambrose I have had many opportunities to work with a variety of children in different jobs, volunteer, and practicum experiences. In these settings, working with students from different backgrounds and of different social-economic status, I noticed how narrow-minded my view on inclusivity was. While for myself, growing up with privilege, entering these settings was quite eye-opening to the reality that most students are not like me and that there is a need to emphasize equity over equality in the classroom. My commitment to understanding and meeting the individual needs of students reflects a broader philosophy centered on inclusivity and holistic growth. 

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Cultural Diversity, Inclusion, & Indigenous Ways of Knowing

As well, my philosophy also includes cultural diversity within my practice and classroom environment. I am a fifth generation Calgarian who is from Welsh, English, Scottish, and Ukrainian decent. My grandfather was born in the Ukraine and moved to Canada at the age of 7; completely assimilating when coming to Canada. Growing up, my siblings, cousin, and I were not taught the language and we did not practice any Ukrainian traditions. Growing up, I felt a gap in my culture identity because I knew I had a diverse cultural heritage but was not taught or allowed to practice it. I believe that as a teacher it is extremely important to value and foster each child’s cultural identity. This means helping students form their cultural identity and including their culture in classroom through visuals, lessons about holidays students in the class celebrate, and other cultural representations that make the students feel seen and heard. In Makarova et al (2019), they concluded how "schools where diversity is valued and discussed experience an increase in the well-being of all students, in their motivation to learn and their self-esteem" (p. 465). Therefore, I believe it is extremely important to be culturally inclusive. In my own practice, I have attempted to do this by adding cultural elements that make students unique and naturally connecting culture to curriculum. One example of this, is when creating a centre in my practicum where students connect body parts to create a unique person, I included elements such as a Patka (a head covering worn by Sikh boys as a symbol of their faith and identity), different skin, hair, and eye colours, and different styles of dress that match the students I teach. However, I do need to be careful when doing this to not point out or single students out because they may not feel comfortable sharing. As well, it is important to be considerate and sensitive of the cultural context when using including culturally responsive teaching within the classroom (Harding, 2023). 

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Based on my experiences with my own cultural identity struggles, I value diversity and celebrate it. During my SCMP IDI test through the Jaffrey Centre, it ranked me as acceptance, someone who “is curious about and seeks out differences between one’s own culture and diverse cultural values and practices.” (Jaffrey Centre, 2023, p. 5). This makes sense due to my own struggle with cultural identity as a child. However, with this, the test noted that I struggle knowing how to react in certain situations regarding other individual’s cultures. While my intentions are to make everyone feel welcome, I do struggle to engage with the complexities of other cultures and am unsure of how it is appropriate to act or react to each culture. Because of this, I am trying to grow in awareness of where culture is at play and work on increasing my knowledge to know what is appropriate to say. As a teacher this will be crucial in ensuring that my students feel like their cultural identity is valued and I can celebrate students’ culture in an appropriate and informed way. 

 

One example of my reflexive attempt at increasing my cultural awareness, is through educating myself and including Indigenous education within my practice. I have a strong commitment to the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing within my classroom due to Canada’s deep history with Indigenous people. I think it is important to learn about other cultures through researching and attempting to submerge yourself within cultures. An example of this is I am currently trying to expand my knowledge of different Indigenous cultures through reading. The book I am currently reading is “The Power of Story: On Truth, The Trickster, and New Fictions For A New Era” by Harold R. Johnson to gain a stronger understanding of a key aspect of many Indigenous cultures, and storytelling. As well, I am also trying to learn more about Indigenous cultures through application. In my work with the City of Calgary, I requested to be a part of a new pilot project called Connecting to Mother Earth. In this month-long program, participants learn about Indigenous ways of knowing created by Elders and Knowledge Keepers from different Indigenous communities. This program has allowed me to have more interaction with Indigenous people and ask questions that help me grow my own cultural awareness and knowledge. 
 

References

Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory. (2023). All About Butterflies. Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory. https://www.cambridgebutterfly.com/all-about-butterflies/. 

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Gajaria, D. (2021, November 14). Adulting - Butterfly to Catepillar. Medium. https://medium.com/@dhaval.gajaria07/adulting-butterfly-to- caterpillar-af22478ea945. 

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Harding, C. (2023, October 4). SCMP 700 [PowerPoint slides]. Education Department, Amrbose University. https://moodle.ambrose.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=141795. 

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Makarova, E., Gilde, J. t., Birman, D. (2019). Teachers as risk and resource factors in minority students’ school adjustment: an integrative review of qualitative research on acculturation. Intercultural Education, 30(5), 448- 477. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1586212.