One Word

OPPORTUNITY

On the surface, my formative experiences working in education portray a focus on second language teaching and environmental education. However, delving deeper into the diversity of my experiences uncovers my need to seek opportunity for all of my students. I believe that every student craves opportunity, and the opportunities that are pertinent to each and everyone are unique. From a high school in New Brunswick where a motivated grade 10 needs English to meet her career goals of working on MuchMusic, to an elementary student with low self-esteem in Surrey who needs to keep their grades up in order to remain on the track team, to a group of youths spoken to on the streets of Kibera who explicitly stated, “[they] wish for the opportunities that others are given”, students need to succeed in school in order to realize their dreams.

When I speak of opportunity it is as a huge, all encompassing idea. I speak from the level of giving a student a class job, the honour of carrying the wreath on Remembrance Day, encouraging them to join a sports team or club, or connecting them to an exchange program or a specialized summer institute.

Opportunities can be given and taken from within the classroom and from within the school. The confidence, pride, and motivation that come from these experiences can then be translated to outside of school and into the future. Alternatively, you can have students who lack confidence in school yet feel successful in their outside lives. In these cases, I take those other skills and try to adapt them into the class. A student who struggles in school but excels at soccer can help teach soccer skills in PE, for example.

In education, we talk a lot about making learning meaningful for students and about helping them make connections to their own lives. That is why I find it so important to know my students well, to know their strengths and weakness, to know their interests, and to know the things that greatly challenge them. I strive to take this thinking a step further and help my students seek opportunities that will allow them to grow, not only academically, but personally. As school is such a key element of students’ lives, I believe that being an active participant of opportunity can begin within the school. It is there where I strive to give them the motivation and confidence required to lead them into a lifetime of opportunities and successes.

Opportunity is also a word that is pertinent to my colleagues and myself. In order to continue personal and professional growth, we must seek out our own opportunities. I hope to be a model for my students and colleagues of having willingness to take risks and to try new things, encouraging them in turn to do the same.

What’s your one word?

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