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I would like to acknowledge that this portfolio is a cumulation of experiences learned on the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo, Katzie, Kwikwetlem, Kwantlen, Qayqayt and Tsawwassen First Nations. Going forward, I hope to use these experiences as an opportunity for allyship towards the Indigenous peoples and to further my own education when it comes to the injustices they still continue to face. 

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It’s the first day of school. My mom drops me off and I am left with a room full of children and the teacher. We start an activity. I turn to the girl beside me and ask her what we are doing — you see, I didn’t understand what the teacher said. But when the girl says something back to me, I don’t understand her either. Is it me? Am I the one who isn’t like them?

As an immigrant child of Canada, my very first memory of school here was one of confusion and displacement. The language was new to me, the school was new to me, the faces were new to me. Thankfully, being young, I picked up English as a second language easily. Nowadays, Canada is my home. 

But when I work with students who are learning English as a second language, I always see a little bit of myself in them. I remember the teachers, support staff, and countless others who have worked with me to teach me not only the language, but so much more, with kindness and understanding. I believe that now, more than ever, we are in dire need of not only education, but educators who are empathetic, understanding, and inspiring. With that in mind, I continue to work towards a future where I can be someone like that.

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Advice from Teachers

Nothing will go quite like you planned. Be flexible and be open to having to scrap all of your work. 

Your colleagues are there for you. Build a sense of community with them, because you will not find a more welcoming group of people than teachers.

Make sure to set boundaries with your students while building rapport. You are not their friend, however friendly you may be.

Being a TOC will help give you a sense of where you would like to teach and what grades you enjoy.

Teaching in a classroom is the best way to learn how to teach.

During Exploration C, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak to many teachers about their experience in the school system and beyond. As someone who has taught mostly in private settings, I found their advice invaluable. It also showed me that there is a great community out there of teachers who are willing to help each other out, whether it be through resources like lesson plans, teaching strategies, or general camaraderie. Coming into the program and even still, I am at times daunted by the fact that eventually, I will be in charge of a classroom full of students. In comparison to some jobs out there, teaching is highly involved and leaves you responsible for the physical and emotional wellbeing of many. But the warmth and honesty with which these teachers (and one woman that I met at a rink by chance who had been a teacher for some twenty years!) spoke to me, I was reassured. 

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Diversity and Inclusion

One thing I always look for when going somewhere new is diversity. 

As a woman of colour living in a predominantly white male space, I do feel a sense of comfort when I see people from different ethnicities and genders be it in a school setting or just every day life as passersby on the street. Canada loves to tout its multiculturalism, but when you look at the majority of positions of power, they remain dominated by white men. Though that is changing — Simon Fraser University’s newest president, after a long line of men, is a woman. 

A few other members in the program that I met during Exploration C discussed the diversity not in the classroom among the students, but among staff at schools as well. We noticed that the Langley virtual session comprised mostly of men. One PDP student told us that she heard from a friend who works in the district it is something of a “boys’ club” there. Another PDP student and I discussed how most of the teachers in one of the elementary schools we visited were predominantly white and what it might mean.

Why does it matter? 

Well, it matters to me because it dictates the kind of environment that I would be working in, and it might give some indicator as to the school’s overall stance on diversity and inclusion. I would be uncomfortable bringing up issues of discrimination to someone who may have never experienced it personally. For example, Lori Driussi speaks of her experience versus her partner’s experience when pulled aside for a random inspection at the airport. She did not immediately understand her partner’s feelings on the issue because she has had the privilege of being white her entire life. It is difficult for someone who has not gone through a lifetime of discrimination to empathize. 

Of course, I understand that discrimination can come from anyone and is not limited to a specific race or ethnicity, but I think it also reflects on a school when there is a lack of diversity among staff in a country like Canada that prides itself on the different identities that it houses. 

I also wonder if it would have any effect on students to only see a certain demographic represented in their teachers. One of the optional articles I read during this course talked about the danger of heteronormativity and argued that “lesbian and gay parents, their partners and their children should be represented in the school curriculum and that lesbian and gay youth should not be stigmatized through silence or exclusion about their sexuality” (Smith, 2004). Visibility is needed when it comes to making inclusion and diversity possible. I would have loved to have a teacher who was Asian like me when I was younger, especially because of the cultural pressure to enter fields that tend to make a lot of capital. It would have helped me understand earlier that even though teaching is not necessarily the highest paying profession out there, it is rewarding work, and it is valuable work. 

That being said, I did see a lot of inclusion in the schools I visited during Exploration C. I went to almost every school library, as I am an avid reader and that was one of my favourite places to be when I was in school, to see what kind of books were being read. Most of the libraries had books on Indigenous culture and LGBTQ+ on display. When I was in school, these topics were seldom highlighted. Or if they were, it would be for a short period rather than something more permanent. Seeing the shift in visibility for these two topics was great and really gave me something to look out for or to push for in the future at wherever I may end up teaching.

I also spoke with the librarian at Hillcrest Elementary and asked her what books she found the students gravitating towards (I thought it was still the Warriors series), but she said that a lot of them enjoyed a category that she called “real life fiction”. There was a series about gender identity that she said was popular, along with several more coming of age stories and stories that were about real life issues students might face. I thought her knowledge showed that there is support for students to explore various ideas and a space where there can be dialogue as well as understanding.

In Indigenous Writes (2018), Disability Visibility (2023), and the various other scholarly works that I read this semester, all of the authors discussed ways to promote these sometimes difficult topics — difficult in the sense that there is so much stigma still around them, or ongoing issues of racism and discrimination, or even just plain old understanding. I learned so much about the importance of being seen. I believe and agree with the authors of these texts that the first step towards dismantling some of these misconceptions is to have them brought to the forefront. After all, it worked on me! 

Therefore, I want to have an inclusion based classroom. It could look like displaying books on different topics like SOGI, Indigenous stories, or stories about people with disability. It could be having a map marked with places that my students’ families came. It could be a zero tolerance policy for any kind of hate speech. It could be starting multicultural clubs and/or alliances at school. I would be interested in researching different ways different cultures learn — for example, differences in learning how to count across countries — and demonstrating them. 

There are an abundance of ways to show inclusion. However, inclusion takes effort. First, I have to realise where someone is being left out too. Then it has to be done appropriately and without negative consequences like singling out an individual. I think it will be a trial and error challenge at first, but I have hope that it is possible.

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East Kengsinton's "controversial" school signage. The principle told us about how the controversy stemmed largely from the lack of diversity in the image. I think it is also a very Western Colonial representation of education, with the traditional schoolhouse as a place of learning. Funny, because East Kensington is an outdoor learning school.

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Inclusive Learning

Remembrance Day was right around the corner during Exploration C. The two most common activities I saw were colouring poppies and reciting poetry. Even though every student had the same goal, they all met it at different rates — something I have seen before and expect. No two students are entirely the same and a single classroom can have great variances in ability. Most of the teachers I talked to during Exploration C spoke to this and I see it as well in my job as a tutor. 

What is different and daunting for me is that as a tutor, the majority of my teaching is done one on one and accommodations and modifications can be made easily because of the small scale. But how does it work in a classroom setting where every individual has different needs and prowess? The poppy activity I have asked my presentation group to do was my attempt to create an activity that would contain elements the Big 5.

I gave them the same assignment, which was to create a poppy for a small Remembrance Day wreath.

I gave different materials that can be used — markers, crayons, tissue paper and scissors, and a template. 

But is it enough? My assignment is simple and low stakes yet made me realise that even something that seems straightforward can present challenges to certain students. What about students with low motor function? Will they be able to colour in a poppy? Will it be fun and challenging for students who are adept at colouring? How can I scale an assignment to do all of these things at once? 

Even though I have been given a definition of the Big 5 and a general understanding of it, the term is very new to me. I feel like I am only beginning to understand how to create a lesson plan that contains UDL. I have tried to here, by giving different methods and materials that can be used to reach the same goal, 

Then again, I am not alone in my confusion over what UDL is. Edyburn’s 2010 article talks about misunderstanding UDL as solely architecture based or conflating the use of technology as implementation of UDL or even dismissing UDL as being inherently good teaching. He claims that UDL is a skill which must be taught. Whether or not there is basis in that claim, I would seize further opportunities to learn about implementing UDL in the classroom.

I think the first step in practicing UDL in the classroom will vary from class to class, student to student. Every student is different, which means I will have times when I need to be flexible and accommodate where needed, or watch out for patterns in behaviour and study. Basically, things like student interviews, parent interviews, and working with IEPS as well as support staff will be necessary to make sure that all students have a way to demonstrate their learning. 

I work part time as a tutor at Kumon, an after school program that helps students with their math and reading. My primary focus is with what we call the Early Learner group. They range anywhere from ages 4 to 7. Some of them have undiagnosed learning disabilities or behavioural issues while some of them have been diagnosed. The program itself has a strict curriculum and set of expectations for the kids. There is a poster in the classroom that shows what the correct posture should be when seated at a desk. It is a both feet on the ground, no slouching or rocking the chair, type of deal.

A good amount of my students have trouble with this arrangement. They like to wriggle and squirm and move around. Since learning about the Big 5, I wonder if it is more beneficial to let them move more rather than enforcing a strict seating style, especially in the students with ADHD designations. I find myself being more lax in the arrangement as long as they still manage to finish their assignment and it is not detrimental to the task at hand. 

The program is definitely limited in terms of the Big 5. The most that I can do in terms of accommodations is giving a student more time or less pages. Since it is in a worksheet format, it does not offer different ways for them to show their knowledge. I have a younger student who has attention issues and enjoys reading but fails to demonstrate her grasp on math through the program. As a result, we have reduce most of her math work to a minimal amount. However, I wonder all the time if there is some way for her to show how much she does know about math that does not necessarily follow the standard quantified form Western education asks for. She has a lot of personality and is bright, just very stubborn when it comes to doing her math. 

Kumon does work for a lot of students. I have seen great progression in terms of math and reading skills throughout the time I have been here. However, now more than ever, I can see that just because one thing works for the majority, there will always be some for whom it does not. 

I also wrote a reflection on disability earlier in the semester where I talked about growing up in a culture that either pitied people with disabilities or designations or outcast them. I continue to work on unlearning these perceptions. When I work with students with disability, one thing becomes clear to me: they are capable of so much.

During Exploraction C, the IEP director at Salish Secondary also spoke to me about how they try to keep students with designations in the classrooms, even though it sometimes places greater demand on teachers, because the students end up helping them too. It builds a sense of community. 

What I would love to be able to do as an educator is create that type of environment where there is not only diversity, but diversity of all kinds thriving. I want for my students to be able to succeed and give them the tools to do so within this society while also making them feel like they belong regardless of how they learn or what their differences may be.

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Map of Canada at Hillcrest Elementary

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Indigenous Studies

One memory I still remember vividly from elementary school is making bannock and weaving cedar baskets. Unfortunately, I cannot recall who taught us how to do it or whether it was framed as an Indigenous experience. When I think back on it, I only think of the flesh and blood senses of it; the flaky heat of the bannock and the bready taste of it.  The sharp greenness of the cedar and what it felt like when wet between my fingers.

Now, as an adult, the Indigenous Education presentation I was lucky to have seen, I wonder if it was appropriated or if my elementary school invited someone from the Indigenous community to come and teach us. This happened back in the early 2000s. Truth and Reconciliation was not yet a thing. 

Things got better in high school. My art teacher collaborated with our school’s Aboriginal center to teach us how to create button blankets. I still have it somewhere in the back of my closet. I learned a little about Indigenous history, but not much. This continued all the way into post secondary, these scattered little bits and pieces of knowledge. I was not averse to learning it, but neither did I actively seek to educate myself on the injustices that happened to the Indigenous people. I was privileged. 

However, I am working to learn more about the Indigenous people whose land we currently reside on. Chelsea Vowel’s book Indigenous Writes (2018) had a great impact on me this semester. She wrote candidly and without reservation about the issues that Indigenous people continue to face. I found the Chapter 31 especially interesting. Vowel talks about the lack of funding provided for Indigenous schooling and how in our society, a good education is necessary to live well (319). The only conclusion I could draw from this, and Vowel too, is that the Canadian government is still trying to hinder Indigenous people from success.

You can see it in the numbers. Vowel draws on the statistics and points out that there is a “sizeable gap in student performance between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous students[]” and the disparity in graduation rates from high school and post-secondary education (Indigenous Writes, 319). She also lists some of the reasons why this might be happening, including and not limited to: schools not being directly in the community, funding and facilities, and lack of stable support from the government. How can these students succeed within a structure that is against them? It seems impossible. 

There has been some attempt to integrate Indigenous learning into schools across B.C. One example is the L.E.A.P program, which is founded on the First Peoples Principles of Learning and leans towards land-based learning. It also aims to include more Indigenous curriculum. I had the opportunity to speak to a teacher at Salish Secondary who co-teaches the program. She spoke mostly positively about it, but did note that the program has become something of a “dumping ground” for students with behavioural issues and/or disabilities, citing that 9 of the students within the class of roughly 20-30 had designations. Not all of the students participating in the program are Indigenous, but they are present. 

Is it a good or bad sign that a program with an experimental, alternative, and more holistic contains an overwhelming number of students with designations? Does it show that this method of learning is what works for them compared to the typical Western education system? Or is it a dismissal of a program based off of the First Peoples Principles of Learning as being “lesser” and therefore more accessible to these students? 

I don’t have an answer for this question, and I am not sure anyone does. I do feel a lot of things about it. Hopeless, for one. Angry. Sad that even to this day, there are still people out there who are living under the myths Vowel talks about in Indigenous Writes (2018) -- of Indigenous people getting tax breaks or being alcoholics, along with various other harmful stereotypes.

What I do want to do as a future educator is try to instill a sense of respect and understanding for Indigenous culture. One way I can incorporate that is by inviting guest speakers to either share their stories and experiences or teach my students an activity. I think for younger age groups, activities tend to have a more lasting impression whereas a long talk might test their focus. While there can and should be serious talks about what it means to be Indigenous, I think students can also benefit from a positive, less heavy experience with the culture — like I did when I learned how to make bannock and weave cedar. 

I would also be interested in inviting someone of Indigenous descent to teach my future classes on something they might teach their own children. Then our students can experience what Indigenous learning is like firsthand and a piece of Indigenous culture lives on and may even become a more widespread practice. 

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An art installation at Willowbrook Mall in Langley that talked about the history of the Fraser River. I thought it was interesting because it does not include the Indigenous history of it (from these two plaques that I read) but rather the Western colonialism view.

A missed opportunity!

I also think that prior to this course, I would have thought very little of it. However, Michelle's presentation of her portfolio during the conferences touched heavily on the Indigenous history of the Fraser River and how important it was for the people living along it.

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Land based learning

I am incredibly lucky to be living in British Columbia where there is so much natural beauty to enjoy. At the same time, I am also aware of my privileges. Despite the Indigenous people being on the land first, they now struggle from the effects of colonization. Their natural resources are either exploited or in ecological fraught. For example, in Susan Nerberg’s Canadian Geographic article “I am Mutehekau Shipu: A river’s journey to personhood in eastern Quebec”, the Innu people lobbied for the personhood of the river in order to protect it and maintain its ecological integrity (2022). Closer to home, the Trans Mountain pipeline continues to bring concern to the Indigenous people in the area. 

I should clarify that I am privileged because when events such as a pipeline spill or forest fire occur, I feel the effects of it less keenly than the people who live near Jacko Lake. They face the threat of an important cultural site’s destruction. However, the lack of direct consequence on my well-being should not be an excuse to remain ignorant. In fact, because I have that privilege, I should be more proactive in learning and teaching about the importance of protecting our natural habitat. But it is difficult. David Chang points out the importance of eco-based education. The 2010 documentary Schooling the World does as well. They take two different, but similar stances on it: Chang on how education is the key to eco-justice, and Schooling the World on how our Western style education system lacks in land based learning. In Schooling the World, the Ladhaki women talk about how their children no longer know how to survive off of the land. Helena Norberg-Hodge echoes the sentiment that “traditional forms of knowledge fostered sustainability” (12:54). 

To cut to the heart of it, I agree with Chang. Eco-based education could be the key to getting more people to care about the land while also incorporating more traditional practices from not only our Indigenous cultures here in British Columbia, but from cultures around the world like the Ladhaki and the Khasi people. Then it not only becomes a way for me, as an educator, to include land-based learning, but also diversity and decolonisation. 

It requires a shift to practicing being outdoors as well. During Exploration C, I visited East Kensington. It is an outdoor learning choice school. The students go outside regardless of the weather. Furthermore, I also joined two classes on their outdoors afternoon walk, where they learned about trees through touch and play. Some people might question what the purpose of the activity was. I argue that it fosters a sense of connection with the land while also fulfilling a possible science requirement (the interaction with the forest trees, seeing the different types and growths present). A sense of connection with a person, place, or thing is invaluable in creating empathy and feeling of responsibility for it. 

I would also love to incorporate something like Exploration A in the classroom and invite students to visit a favourite outdoor spot and do activities in it. Exploration A was one of my favourite things to do throughout the semester because it further strengthened my relationship with the land while also teaching me. 

Then there are the usual things: field trips to the aquarium, to salmon hatcheries, to the biodome in Queen Elizabeth Park. They are equally valuable learning opportunities, but require more planning and are less every day. I want to be able to incorporate some form of outdoor learning at least once a week. Chang talks about how “most North Americans spends over 90 percent of their lives indoors” and it results in “a kind of estrangement and alienation from the more-than-human-world”. How can we being to care about something we rarely see? When I was younger, I loved playing outside. My friends and I would ride our bikes everywhere and catch frogs in the pond by our houses. I would be perpetually tan all the way from spring to summer to fall. I still love nature and being outdoors today, but find myself more inclined to stay indoors. Modern technology and the rainy Pacific Northwest climate means there are often less incentives for me to go outside.  Kids nowadays still like going outside, but there is definitely more of a disconnect as technology prevails. I wonder if there is a way to reconcile technology and the outdoors. Is it by watching nature documentaries? Or creating games that become a hybrid of using technology normally implemented indoors with the outdoors? Whatever the method is, I want to be able to impart some of that same childhood love of nature I had in my future students.

Yukon Path’s podcast Episode 7 about land-based learning was eye-opening too. The land-based learning they are doing works well for the Indigenous students where they have previously been unsuccessful in a classroom. Much of it is experiential learning, like the application of levers to lift up a wall tent is physics in action, but not framed as such. It is a departure from the more traditional study of theory that happens in Western style classrooms. It has practical application while fulfilling requirements, something which I would love to be able to do more of. 

I am hopeful that the current shift towards land-based learning will lead towards a decolonization of our current world view in future generations. At the heart of it everything is our Earth. Even if land-based learning is happening because of the impending climate change crisis and our natural resources slowly depleting, at least that (hopefully) means we will start a trend towards sustainability. Even better if it means more cooperation with the Indigenous people, who have been caring for this land for centuries before the advent of Western civilization. I hope that by bringing more land-based learning into the classroom, I can also integrate things like the First Peoples Principles of Learning at the same time and finding a method of learning that can be beneficial to students who have had less luck with other ways of learning.

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In today’s world, I see so much misunderstanding and strife, particularly on social media. When I really, really think on it, I believe that a lack of proper understanding, education, and empathy is where it stems from. Learning is not only about facts and statistics, grades and essays. For me, it also means learning to accept different world views. It means understanding why certain people choose to live how they do, or what is the actual underlying cause for conflict brings us one step closer to solutions and acceptance. I also think that things like critical thinking skills along with media literacy and understanding what a credible source are more important to learn than ever with the growing influence of social media. 

I see such a difference in the school environment of today compared to what it was like when I attended. There is more emphasis on inclusion, steps being taken towards Truth and Reconciliation, and implementation of land-based learning. As a future educator, I want to help shape our schools into something even better. While the students that I will teach in the future will only be a tiny drop in the grand scale of the world, isn’t that how change always starts? With just one person at a time. 

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It’s the end of the semester.

I’m finishing up my portfolio for EDUC 400. Checking loose ends, the rubric, and the actual checklist for things I need to include. Here, in this last section, I should talk about what my strengths and weaknesses are. Here goes! 

Reflection is one of my strong suits, to the point where I find myself thinking back on things I did years ago sometimes. I am also comfortable with accepting and acting on feedback. I realise that I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to my own learning and should take the initiative to do learning on my own beyond this course. There have been wonderful resources given in the citations, particularly from Chelsea Vowel. Alice Wong has kindly included an entire section in Disability Visibility (2023) on further readings. I’ll have to remember to read those over the break!

My biggest ongoing challenge is with my organization and time management. I never leave myself enough time when it comes to the bigger deadlines because the pressure renders me incapable of getting started. It has a lot to do with being a perfectionist, but I’m trying to be kinder to myself and understand that it doesn’t have to be perfect. I need to set out small chunks of my day to work on things at a moderate pace so that I don’t burn myself out.

That should be enough, I think. I’m already looking forward to next semester. Now that I have a whole set of things I want to include when teaching in the future, I have to learn how to make it happen. Maybe January is when the practical side of teaching starts. 

Until then, at least I’m done with my portfolio!

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References

Lost People Films. (2010). Schooling the World. Retrieved November 26, 2023, from https://carolblack.org/schooling-the-world. 

Simon Fraser University. (2022). Land-Based Eco-Justice by David Chang and Cher Hill. Retrieved 2023, from https://canvas.sfu.ca/courses/77211/pages/thursday-exploration-a-land-based-eco-justice-by-david-chang-and-cher-hill?module_item_id=2937471. 

Smith, M. (2004). Questioning heteronormativity: Lesbian and gay challenges to education practice in British Columbia, Canada. Social Movement Studies, 3(2), 131–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/1474283042000266092 

Vowel, C. (2018). Indigenous writes: A guide to first nations, métis, and Inuit issues in Canada. W. Ross MacDonald School Resource Services Library. 

Wong, A. (2023). Disability visibility: 17 first-person stories for today: Adapted for young adults. Ember, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books.