What inspired me to become an educator?
I was first inspired to pursue teaching during my volunteer experience in the Sunday School at my church 9 years ago. Leading activities, passing on my knowledge in art creatively and sharing life experience with children have been such a joy for me. Empowering and teaching youths to appreciate the beauty of the world and to help them develop fundamental life skills that they will use for the rest of their lives is a gift I would love to offer to today’s youth. Equally importantly, I want to help youth develop their character during their formative years, help them learn how to relate to one another properly and to work in teams as well as become aware of the importance of staying fit and healthy. Through my pastors’ modeling and mentoring, I realized that an educator is not only a teacher or companion to children but also a caregiver who provides students with deep cares and love, which are essential to transform a young person’s life into good and abundance.
Later, I volunteered in Art class and was mentored by Amie who included me in her work to help local and international students develop their art skills. The students were involved in their learning and practicing art in relax, non-judgmental and free self-expressing environment. I witnessed the academic and personal growth in students while they worked individually or worked collaboratively in groups.
What did I achieve before the education program?
In July 2014 I began to run my own art classes for young children and have gained additional experiences in teaching. I also learned a great deal about school and classroom management, student recruitment, curriculum development, and interacting with parents. To motive my students to learn and individually develop their artistic potential, I have extended my range of teaching pedagogy to include drama, film review, creative games, and storytelling. At the end of the term, I selected some student art works and incorporated them into desk calendars which have been widely distributed sent to schools, churches and families, integrating school learning into the community. These opportunities of working with children have been highly gratifying; they help me gain a broader and more comprehensive prospective on formal education in school and extra-curricular learning in the community.
What did I learn from the education program?
Education program in UBC has helped me further develop my teaching skills, and enhanced my confidence and competence in teaching. As an International Baccalaureate educator, I aim to transform students as they learn through dynamic cycles of inquiry, action and reflection. Inquiry-based learning fosters student’s curiosity, deep understanding, collaboration, critical thinking, as well as social skills. To nurture a culture of inquiry, I learned to encourage students to challenge themselves to get out of their comfort zone: To create a non-judgmental atmosphere in a diverse and multi-cultural school, and take leadership in merging international concept into classroom and providing a voice for minorities, like Aboriginal people and new immigrants. My multicultural background and international experiences would be an asset to my role as a teacher, helping me to understand students from diverse backgrounds.
What will I achieve as my personal professional goals?
Goal 1: Making learning meaningful and personal
Strategies:
- Encourage students to connect their experiences and interest to the content.
- Remind students to regularly test themselves.
- Let students figure out the problem. Have class identify and correct mistakes from anonymous student work.
- Students with a variety of needs and interests can find different ways to approach learning.
- Interdisciplinary learning promotes student engagement, motivation, and ultimately enhances the quality of the learning experience and improves classroom behaviour.
Goal 2: Increase student achievement in subject areas.
Sub-goal 1: Use results of student assessments to enhance curriculum
Strategies:
- Study and improve curriculum alignment between Program of Studies, teaching resources, student activities and evaluation.
- Attend the peer teacher meeting and Provincial activities.
- Network with other teachers and share classroom ideas.
- Redesign all units based on analysis of data and curriculum alignment decisions.
Sub-goal 2: Research, implement and evaluate the use of student portfolios for student assessment and evaluation.
Strategies:
- Research the use of student portfolios to develop student responsibility for learning and thereby increase student achievement.
- Implement student portfolios into subject areas.
- Use student portfolios for assessment, self-evaluation and evaluation.
Goal 3: Implement effective social-emotional learning.
Strategies:
- Explore literature around SEL.
- Attend professional learning about SEL.
- Team teaching with a staff/counsellor who is comfortable and already explicitly teaching SEL.
- Have class construct a “Getting to Know Me” book at the beginning of the school year. This book will help student identify and recognise their emotions and their identities.
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