Professional Portfolio: Linking my Teaching Philosophy and Classroom Practice
Inspired by the format of my presentation, I decided to structure my Professional Portfolio to resonate with my stories put forth during the evening of December 7, 2017, rather than an essay structure. Below are three artifacts that each represents a different area of passion that I kept coming back to time and time again. These areas of passion are sources from which I draw courage and motivation to teach.
Fork/Chopsticks/Spoon – Passion for social issuesOne of the reasons I stand behind the implementation of the Core Competencies is because it makes mandatory to develop Personal Awareness and Social Responsibility in students. Humans are designed to live in harmony with each other, finding strength in numbers rather than alone. In a fast-paced society with complex issues, it is imperative that we find peace within ourselves and others, so to create that harmony, while banishing hate and negativity. Teachers find themselves in a unique position to help mold the thoughts and opinions of the next generation of adults— people who go on to hold positions of power in all fields of work, including politics, medicine, finance, education, construction, and more. As they say, with power comes responsibility, and as teachers we feel the responsibility to make sure that students will too be responsible members of society that we may one day work with.
The image of a fork, a spoon, and a pair of chopsticks relates to a lesson I taught my Junior Foods classes. Inspired by the Ted Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi, I showed this to my class and related the Single Story to Foods. I talked about how students should not let what we learn in our own Foods class be the single story of what food and cooking is. In class, we end up doing a lot of baking and western foods—simply because ingredients are more affordable and therefore easy on our small budget in Home Economics. However, I discussed how there is no “normal” food for anyone in our class. I emphasized that, “Whether you eat congee for breakfast or halo-halo for dessert, or use fork and knives or chopsticks for your meals, that is YOUR ‘normal’. No one should tell you otherwise.”
In this lesson I also opened up and shared my own troubles with my identity during my high school years. When I was a teenager I had a difficult time accepting my Korean heritage—I wanted to fit in with the western cultural norm that I only spoke English, or refused to eat Korean food for lunch. I think students were inspired by my honesty and my willingness to step out of my comfort zone and be vulnerable. They were able to understand because they could relate to what I was sharing. I ended the lesson by saying that students should never be ashamed of their heritage—it some something to be proud of and they should hold onto it.
This story, I believe, shows that I am an ethical and caring practitioner. One thing I mentioned in my personal portfolio was my inclination to teach from the heart and to the heart, also inspired by the phrase of teaching to the “hand, head, and heart” in Home Economics (source to be found). I place a high value on my students’ socio-emotional learning that I strive them to learn not only cooking skills (hand), or knowledge about food (head), but to connect to food on a deeper level (heart) as it can be a way to connect humans together as we were meant to. I want Foods and other Home Economics courses to be the platform on which students can view social issues, both personal and global, and to make informed decisions about them. This is an area of practice that I am looking forward to growing. I want to learn how to better educate students about social issues; how can I make it relevant and personal? How can I make it resonate with teenagers? How can I be more of an inspiration?
iPad – Curiosity about technology
The iPad represents my struggle with technology. It was only last year, during my first year of teaching, when I entered into my first position with grand hopes and dreams about using technology in the classroom to its fullest. Besides, it was teachers’ responsibilities to teach students about safe internet usage. We were to model professionalism on our devices, from only using it during appropriate times, to showing proper online communication skills. Furthermore, being a young teacher, I thought I was in the perfect situation to relate to and show students how to use technology in the classroom—I assumed I knew it all since I considered myself hip and in-the-know about the latest apps and websites.
My first year was a let down in this regard because I did not realize to what extent technology, namely smartphones, would be a distracting detriment to students in the classroom. No amount of reasoning and negotiating could take students off their devices. I also realized that for many of them, this was a true addiction, with several negative withdrawal symptoms. This is when I decided that I would minimize technology use in Home Economics. I decided that there were other methods of satisfying our curriculum and teaching the Core Competencies without it.
However, September of 2017, my second year of teaching, showed a very different story. I started off the year with the “Fanny Pack Rule”—if students took out their phone during class, it was to go in my “Fanny Pack of Shame” (idea credit to Michelle Nelson at Semiahmoo Secondary). This humorous rule fared well with students and phones were no longer a huge problem. I started to notice then, some aspects of my teaching were a hassle or even difficult to carry out because of this decision. For example, my assessment of Foods is no longer a mark per lab—instead, I look at the overall growth of a student through a collection of their reflections and portfolio work, based off a rubric. My attempt to keep a portfolio of each student with paper reflections was (and is) a tiring disaster. I have piles of papers piling up in a box. Since I have no time to organize them all, if I were to look for one specific student’s lab, I would have to spend a long time digging through the sheets. In this instance, I wish I used an online portfolio platform such as FreshGrade.
I feel that one of my strengths in my teaching practice is being this reflective and strategic practitioner. As of this moment, I am thinking of re-introducing technology again into my classes for second semester, but I will change rules on how much, or when during a class it can be used. I am also keen on doing research on other forms of technology that could turn into a project. I have mentioned in my personal portfolio that I am interested in project based learning (sort of an inquiry project for students), critical media literacy (navigating the internet and avoiding fake news) and food literacy (having general knowledge about food and preparation techniques). I am hoping to do an inquiry project with my students in the near future that incorporates all of these learning outcomes.
Video of my classroom – Advocate for inclusiveness
Being at my current secondary school for a second consecutive year, I have developed a trusting relationship with many of its students and staff. As someone who also deeply values inclusiveness in a high school setting, I have naturally created an ‘open-door policy’ in my classroom simply by keeping my door open as much as possible and inviting guests inside to watch or join in on classroom activities. I think the classroom is an extension of my personality and teaching philosophy. By helping students to feel comfortable and belonging in a space, it allows for a safe space to make mistakes, take risks, and maximize growthI have learned, however, that maintaining this safe space does not happen organically. As a teacher I am responsible for having to guide and intervene students during moments that may not be conducive to that feeling of safety. For example, a student constantly bothering others for ‘fun’ may not realize it is a form of harassment, and only after a chat will that student realize his or her mistake and no longer continue it. This requires me to be a flexible, strategic and responsive, and reflective practitioner. There were a lot of lessons, project ideas, and seating plans that I had to re-evaluate and work around because I wanted to address issues to students, or have them practice skills such as effective communication or team work. Sometimes, my plan does not work the way I intended and students are still left feeling or seemingly excluded. These are the times I look back and reflect on not only my own actions, but how students responded to the actions. Once I am able to maintain this safe space, I wish to have this openness benefit not just my own students, but those I’ve taught in the past, and those I am not familiar with. Schools should be a place where students should feel comfortable and safe in, since they are required to be present for a majority of their waking hours in a day. To be able to ensure that as a teacher, through classroom lessons, modelling, or by offering up a safe physical space, I hope that students will all find a way to maximize their learning and find a passion for life-long learning.
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