Hello!

I am a student in the 2014/2015 Bachelor of Education program at UBC. I am also apart of the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) cohort.

You may be wondering why I wanted to become a teacher, let me tell you.

Becoming a teacher is more than just choosing a career for me; it’s a way of life. From a young age I have always had a passion for children and working closely with them in a variety of ways. When it came to thinking about my future, becoming a teacher seemed like the right choice. I want to be able to use my love for children to better them and the community around me. I think that educating children is they key to building a stronger community. I want to create an environment that all children feel safe in and are excited to come to and learn. Learning is a never-ending life skill and I want to make sure that children enjoy and are open to learning from a young age. When I went through elementary and part of high school I struggled with remembering the factual content I was being taught. In high school I was exposed to a fine art directed way of learning. This was the turning point for me in my education as I realized that through different mediums I was able to learn and absorb the factual information I was struggling with. This is when I learnt that there was so many various teaching strategies as well as learning strategies that many teachers are not utilizing. I want to be able to open up new possibilities to children and I believe that being a teacher is the best way to do this.

I believe that education is more than just learning academics, its preparing children to be productive members of society. To be that they need to have more than just ‘book smarts’, they also need to have the social and emotional education. I wanted to be apart of this cohort so that I can make sure that as a teacher I know how to implement my teaching on a social level and emotional level. I am also interested in Restorative Action in schools and the base of mediating and problem solving comes from social and emotional feelings. I believe that working through these two things will help children identify with themselves as well as the world around them better.