ADVOCATE

Advocate for students and teachers, develop student self-advocacy and involve parents in educational support for students

I would say that advocating for students is part of my everyday job. As a resource teacher, it is my duty to make sure my students understand their learning needs and be able to voice their needs when they need to. Sometimes this can as be as simple as students having the courage to remind their teachers that they need more time to write a test, but other times it is a more complex process of helping students develop the skills to have a functioning relationship with their teachers (i.e. communication, trust, respect etc.), for example.

Self-advocacy requires self-awareness and that isn’t something that everyone inherently possess, it takes work to develop self-awareness. Though I would say that my strengths lay in an ability to communicate with students in a way that allows us to talk openly about their learning needs, I often feel kind of stuck when I try to think of ways to help them develop a sense of responsibility for advocating for their own learning. I believe that in order to advocate for change, you need to understand why that change matters and developing student’s propensity towards thinking that way can be challenging. I ask myself: how do we teach self-advocacy? How do we teach self-reflection, self-determination, motivation? Should it be taught explicitly, or is it learned through experiences in a boarder context?

I believe that parent involvement is instrumental in student success. Though there are many ways for parents to get involved, it isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Parents are busy, teachers are busy, and sometimes it can be difficult to have the level of communication to really work on supporting a student together. But that doesn’t mean we don’t try! Finding even small ways to work together can make a big difference for students. I look forward to continuing to find ways to work with parents in supporting their children’s learning.