My Philosophy of Teaching
Nicole ‘Chinook’ McLean
University of British Columbia (Okanagan)
I believe the
differentiated learning that is so imperative for success in, and for, the
world today begins “with a sensitive, empathetic teacher who values the worth
of every learner” (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011, p. 12). Professor
Cherkowski’s Reflective Best Self (RBS) Exercise coupled with my Identity
Pie helped me appreciate that:
I want to be “that
special teacher” who “cares” enough to “make a difference” for my students by
being “passionate” about helping them “feel good about themselves”. As an
“enthusiastic, engaging and energetic role model” with “healthy confidence and
a rare positive outlook on life”, I want to make “an impact”. “Fearless in an
accessible, welcoming way” with a “natural ability to lead and inspire”, I
value my “unique ability to relate to people from all walks of life” and “see
the best in” everyone. (Various, Personal Communication - RBS, August
2016).[1]
I was brought up to
believe that I could do anything. I was tremendously fortunate to have been
born to parents who instilled this unshakeable belief. When my Dad, an educator
himself and the son of a widowed, strict schoolmistress, heard that I was
considering a career in education, he tried to dissuade me. I would find, what
I whimsically refer to as, assigned reading laid out on “my” bed when visiting
my parents’ home. These assignments would be full of evidence touting other
interesting vocational opportunities Dad figured I ought to consider. Full
disclosure: Dad-endorsed vocational prompts began in my early teens and, I
hope, shall continue ad infinitum. My Dad still believes I can be an astronaut,
a surgeon or a large-scale disaster manager. And my Mom would not be as
surprised as you might expect if one day I turned around and told her I was off
to Mercury to conduct experiments on alien-fauna: “Pack some sunscreen,” she
might suggest.
I have been a
barista, an aid worker, a raft guide, a field researcher, a taxi driver, an
all-American rugby player, a volunteer fire fighter (still), and a commercial
helicopter pilot, among other things. Dad somewhat mysteriously continues to
feel compelled to convince me that I can achieve anything even as I
persistently evolve, professionally and personally. He finally let up, and both
my parents firmly have my back – as they inevitably do – after I resolutely
explained that I knew I could become a surgeon or an astronaut one day but that
becoming an educator was what I felt called to do right now.
I did not feel ready
be a teacher in my early 20s when I invested all aspects of my soul into
adventuring in far-away places: in tiny sweltering villages rife with malaria;
at a refugee settlement for genocide survivors; with my Leatherman, beside a broken-down
scooter and a troop of raucous baboons; on the roaring Nile in equatorial
Africa; on stilts dressed as a 6-armed blue goddess cruising the high seas. Nor
did I want to teach in my late 20s when I threw all my hopes, time and
money-I-had-not-yet-made into my passion for flying. I saw beautiful scenery,
appreciated physics in an entirely imperative way, grew awareness and skills
that kept me and my clients safe while performing a pas-de-deux with the
machine to achieve the ends for which it was made. Family friend and medical
laboratory technician Dee McEnery iterated my reflective and timely motivation
in her own words: “You haven’t rushed into (teaching). You seem to have somehow
waited to do this – when you (were) ready rather than (hurrying) in years ago.
That, to me, is huge and very important” (PC - RBS, August 2016).
In my mid-thirties,
as I struggled to step away from the flying career into which I had poured 8
years of my essence, an astute advisor pointed me towards Parker Palmer’s “Let
your Life Speak” (2000). What opportune and life-affirming counsel! Will I miss
flying? Absolutely, but my soul was withering; exposed, as it was, to a level
of materialism and misogyny, both spoken and subversive, in the Canadian
helicopter industry that I had never otherwise experienced. [2]Palmer
reminded me: “When (you) follow only the oughts, (you) may find myself
doing work that is ethically laudable but that is not (yours) to do. A vocation
that is not (yours), no matter how externally valued, does violence to the
self—in the precise sense that it violates (your) identity and integrity on
behalf of some abstract norm” (2007, p. 31). I no longer feel able to be a cog
in a system that contravenes my values and my philosophy.
The revised BC
curriculum (2015) says: “It is our job to prepare all children for success in
whatever life path they choose” and this jibes well with who I am as a person
and how I envision my life as an educator. I bring energy, attention and
empathy to our profession of education. I value diversity, inclusion and
equity, positivity, self-worth, community, innovation and individuality.
Drawing inspiration from many sources, I plan to model these motivational
principles for my students and our extended community. Should all “my literary
peeps” come to dinner, I would have to organise a feast and rent some chairs so
I could include everyone. In addition to the sources mentioned already, over
the past 5 weeks, I have been literarily and personally mentored through the
teachings and readings of Professors Schnellert, Wetterstrand, Switzer and
Cherkowski, by my fellow Education Candidates, particularly the GLs, as
well as by Cajete, Draper and Siebert, Dumont, Istance and Benavides, Kessler,
Jensen, Nakkula and Toshalis, Neufeld, Noddings, Woolfolk, Winne and Perry,
Wormeli, Stengel and Shelly Moore.
Some kids do not
really need great teachers. Those kids will succeed in spite of, or perhaps
because of, the stacked odds in life. Those kids will end up at Princeton no
matter whom they had for 9th grade science. Those kids are rousing to watch as
they blitz vivaciously through life. I think the real rewards, and likely some
sleepless nights, come from working with the tough ones; the ones who enter
grade 9 (or 11 or 5) without any inkling of a post-secondary education, let
alone one dressed in ivy. While that kid may never “make it” to university and
may never even want to, that kid can indeed “make it” in life. All kids have
dreams of how they want to live, from their everyday existence to “when they
grow up”, and you can bet an adept teacher is going to give that kid a better
chance of realising and honing those aspirations than almost anyone else. Some
kids are not so lucky to have parents like mine, so they may be in desperate
need for a teacher role model to help them realise that they themselves hold
the key to their own magnificence.
I want my students to
inherit from me, as their teacher, the lesson I received during my
upbringing - the belief that we are all capable of achieving, and
deserving of, the kind of life about which we dream. We may not all end up as
the astronauts or movie-stars our 8- or 11- or 15-year old selves dreamed of
being, but as long as we have timely and insightful guidance as we develop our
self-awareness on why we may want to be that astronaut or movie star, then we
can more easily identify and incorporate the values and traits to ensure we are
the superstars of our own lives.
In our society all
kids have teachers, formal and otherwise. So if all kids need teachers, I had
better be the most effective teacher those kids could ever have. Three years or
three decades down the road I doubt my students will remember the results of a
particular titration experiment we did together but I hope they remember how
learning made them feel so they will become “self-regulated learners” (Butler,
Schnellert, & Perry, 2016) and seek out a life full of wonder through
the practice of “living inquiry” (Meyer, 2010). I want to have developed
enough of a connection with each of my students such that even if they can not
remember my name thirty years from now, they will remember how I made them feel
about themselves: that they were worthy; they were remarkable; they were loved
and they had something unique to offer our world.
[1] Content Note: Reflective Best Self
Exercise:
Asked by Professor Cherkowski to solicit feedback from
people in my life to help determine my Reflective
Best Self, I wrote to friends and family: “What do you think there
is about me that will make me an effective educator? Some of you already know
that I have returned to university for my Bachelor's of Education. Some of you
may be floored. Some of you will be unconcerned, unsurprised or uninterested.
Many will wonder if this means I am done with flying. I may return to
helicopters in the summers. Maybe I will never work as a high school science
teacher. Who knows what the future holds. Certainly not I! Right now though, is
incredible. For the past 3+ weeks I have been immersed in an engaging and
life-altering experience that should last through next June at least. I have
received such extraordinarily positive feedback from my mentors, professors and
colleagues: it feels like, for the first time in a desperately long time, I am
involved in something that truly appreciates and celebrates my talents and is
guiding me to better myself in all aspects. Can you tell me why you think I am
going to be a fantastic teacher? Tell me a story. Describe a strength or
characteristic of mine that speaks to teaching. How do you see me at my best?”
Reflective
Best Self Respondents / Contributors:
·
Sandra
Allen (Greater Vancouver Board of Trade Events VP; Former cruise ship
supervisor)
·
Lana
al-Kaznachi (International educator)
·
Liz
Bernier (UCLA Outdoor Adventure bike shop manager; Princeton roommate)
·
Joseph
Boyes (Retired mill worker; In-law in waiting)
·
Dr
Kai Chan (UBC Professor: Institute for Resources,
Environment and Sustainability; Father of two)
·
Brian
Critchley (Yogi / Masseur; Fellow Princeton Pride (LGBTQA) educator)
·
Mary
Darling (Retired CRA administrator; Aunt)
·
Blanca Gonzalez
(Educator, BC; MEd; Fellow
Right-to-Player)
·
Susan
and Peter Hassall (International educators)
·
Maria
Teresa Hervosa Gonzeira McLean (Accountant / Retail; Mother of two;
Sister-in-law)
·
David
Himmelman (International educator)
·
Ingrid
Himmelman (International educator)
·
Lorraine
Martens (Grandmother of 6; Former mother-in-law to former chief pilot)
·
Jeanette
Merrick (Arborist)
·
Christin
McDowall (Auditory Technician; Traveller)
·
Dee McEnery (Medical laboratory
technician, UAE)
·
Katie
McGinty-Botha (Special Olympics Virginia VP; mother of two; Fellow
Right-to-Player)
·
Dr
Amy McLean (Western Carolina University Professor: Clinical Psychology; Mother
of three; Sister-in-law)
·
Neil
Mueller (Fixed-wing bush pilot)
·
Gerry
Nel (International helicopter pilot; Greenpeace activist)
·
Ultan
Peters (Fellow rugby coach)
·
Selwyn Price (International
educator)
·
Jiordana
Robinson (International Woman of Mystery; elementary school classmate)
·
Samar
Shera (Women’s empowerment advocate; writer; high school classmate)
·
Markus
Schramm (Farmer; father of three; 100-hour helicopter pilot)
·
Cathy
Stang (International educator)
·
Suzanne
Turell (Innovative designer / architect; Rugby teammate)
·
Emily
Wood (Lawyer; Mother of two; Rugby teammate)
·
Ross
& Irene Walker (Business owners; In-laws in waiting)
·
Dr
Jenny West (Retired RN / midwife; PhD; Aunt)
[2] Content note: This
misogyny may seem surprising, given all my time in blatantly patriarchal
countries, like the United Arab Emirates and Uganda, but it unfortunately
proved true for me, albeit verboten for a female in the “old boys” rotary
(wing) club
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