I have gone back and found what I wrote in my application to the teaching program at UBC. I expected to see a lot of naivety. While there may be a lot of naivety, I was pleased to see that not much has changed. While I’ve learned a lot this year about strategies and planning, and done a lot of thinking and reflecting about my philosophy, my core values and beliefs when it comes to teaching and learning remain unchanged. I believe that learning and teaching are symbiotic, and that they should be done in the context of the real world, rather than for the exclusive bettering of classroom achievement. I’ve included my application essay here. The same themes can be seen again in my thinking through my inquiry project, and in my teaching philosophy.
Application Essay Katy Best, 2012 My experiences as an educator have been incredibly diverse. I have had the privilege of working in two schools and two classrooms as a volunteer. However, education is certainly not limited to the classroom, nor to “students” and “teachers” in the traditional sense. In both work environments and in social situations I have had the joy of both teaching and learning from those around me, and have come to believe quite strongly that while both teaching and learning can happen anywhere, not just in the classroom, neither can happen without the other. With this in mind, it is my goal as an educator to both share my understanding and enthusiasm for the topic at hand, as well as to keep an open enough mind to learn from the different perspectives that others bring. While working in the classroom setting, as well as in a tutoring capacity at my university, I spent a lot of time working with students who had particular learning challenges, from language processing, to memory, to specific and sometimes prohibitive learning styles. This work, with people from 9 to 30 introduced me to a wide variety of abilities, but more importantly of learning styles and techniques. I was able to observe how the students learned, and, reflecting on that, decide how to present the information or concepts in a way that they would be manageable. The younger students often were quite obvious in their preference for visual, auditory, or tactile, learning, while some of the older students were good at vocalizing what they needed. This work required patience, attention, consideration, creativity, and determination, as well as reflection and refinement, all qualities that I will bring to my role as a future educator. While observation is a crucial part of being a successful educator, so is an ability to lead. While one is not always aware when one is leader, there have certainly been some times when my role as one has become quite clear to me. One such instance has been through my work as a tree planter. As a “vet” and a forewoman for a tree-planting company, I am often given “rookies” to teach. This work not only requires patience and clarity of instruction, but also an ability to work hard, and be strong (both emotionally and physically) not just for the work itself, but to be a mentor. A mentor can be incredibly important in the season of a rookie who is new to isolation in the bush. It is impossible to detail here all the ways in which I am a life-long teacher and learner. Suffice to say, teaching and learning and every-day life do not ever exist in isolation for me. It is with great pleasure that I can share what I understand, and with greater pleasure still that I am constantly able to learn from those around me, be they 5 or 85. I will bring this enthusiasm, along with my patience, creativity, compassion, and thoughtfulness to the teaching profession.