My name is Tanya Winship. I was born in New Westminster and grew up in the Chilliwack area of British Columbia. I am the second child of a family of six, with only one brother amongst a myriad of sisters. My education throughout elementary and secondary school was in the independent school system.
I am currently a Teacher Candidate approaching the end of my Bachelor of Education program at the University of British Columbia.
With the future within my grasp, this is my journey to become a teacher…
When I was a young girl, I often thought about what I’d be when I “grew up.” I had whims where I thought I’d like to be a doctor or a singer or an author. The word “teacher” got tossed around, but it was never a permanent fixture in my plans for life. I always believed that I would have time to make decisions later, that there would be a time in my life where I would suddenly evolve into an adult and my life would begin. Now that I am 26 years old, I’m still waiting, wondering if this age of discovery is upon me, if I am finally a grown-up, realizing rapidly that there is no magical time in your life where you just are an adult, that life began a long time ago and that every decision I have ever made has led me to this moment, who I am today. This is my journey to become a teacher candidate at UBC, my journey to become me, who I am today.
By the time I was seventeen, I thought I had settled on a career path: I was going to be a doctor. I had prepared myself for the long years of school, taken advanced placement courses in mathematics and sciences, even applied and been accepted pre-med at a good university. My “life” was planned. Then one day, one comment from one good-hearted teacher rocked me to the core. After receiving another ‘A’ in the English course required by the province, my teacher simply said, “You could write anything. You have a career here.” And then another teacher commented on my ability to teach other students comprehension in difficult subject areas. I couldn’t get the word “teach” out of my mind. Hadn’t I wanted to be a teacher once upon a time? I needed direction, guidance, so I visited my academic counsellor who sat me down with an aptitude test. The results were shocking. I had hoped this test would give me some insight into my personality, some proof that I should go into one field or another. What I got instead was confusion: the aptitude test showed proficiency in each area with a haunting equality. I had scored almost identical in each category, I was literally “qualified” to do any job. The good news was I had options, the bad news was there was no simple answer.
I don’t remember how and when it happened, when I decided I wanted to be a teacher and not a doctor. Both were certainly noble professions, so how did one decide? For me, I looked at what I enjoyed more and what I was doing better at in school. I liked English and History far more than Physics and I did better in them than in Biology. I also looked at what I wanted to do with my life in other aspects: I wanted to have a family and being a teacher was far more conducive to that than being a doctor. And finally, I looked at the people I most admired, the people who had changed my life the most and they were all teachers. I wanted to do that: I wanted to impact the hearts and minds of young ones, I wanted to make a difference. The day I made that decision I dropped the science courses and enrolled myself in literature and arts courses.
It was in my undergrad that I began to develop a sense of identity. I knew very little of what would be required of me to get into the Education program, but I learned quickly and was hungry for knowledge. I knew teaching was the right choice when I was actually in the classroom with students. I didn’t feel shy or awkward as I most often do in life, but was able to really connect to individual students and become part of the community. I was eager to return to the schools each time I volunteered and looked forward to not only what I would teach, but more importantly, what I would learn that day. It was then that I felt at home and I knew.
In my program at UBC, I had to complete an auto-geography. I chose to share a lesson I taught my students about community. To read my reflection, click here: Auto-Geography Reflection Paper