To begin, to start, to commence, to set off, to embark… so many ways to begin.
I will begin with purpose, since that’s the reason I begin my blog – with a purpose. My purpose with this blog is to have an outlet for my ideas as I learn and grow in the teaching profession. I believe that processing my ideas through writing in this blog will help to ground me more firmly in my views and educational vision, and will also provide me with feedback (presuming I develop an audience! 🙂 ) on these ideas as an avenue for further growth.
My aim is not to be profound or verbose nor juvenile or unproductive or offensive. I invite any readers of this blog to constructively critique ideas they read if they feel the need to do so, or build on these ideas as the moment may strike you. My aim is to have a place to record my ideas and help me to trace their development, and hopefully grow into a better teacher due to my investment in this blog.
Some background: I have been teaching mathematics in middle school and high schools internationally since August 2003, and have taught in Antigua, Ghana, Vietnam, and Korea. This experience has afforded me a wonderful opportunity to learn in so many different ways.
In 2012-13, I attended the University of British Columbia full time to complete a Master of Education in Mathematics Education in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. I chose to take a break from my job to do this for one year on campus because I wanted to challenge myself and my convictions while interacting face-to-face with a cohort of talented professionals, and further ground my practice in educational research. I also continued to get some hiking and travelling in, and met some great people while living at Green College.
It was at this time that I began this blog to process the ideas I was learning and the thoughts I was having, and I hope to continue to use this blog to do so as my career progresses.
I don’t know where this journey will take me, but as long as I am going somewhere, I’m content. And if this journey is as exciting as my international travels have been, it’s going to be one heck of a ride!