Category: EDUC 346

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My Teaching Philosophy

EDUC 346: Indigenous and Aboriginal Education
Sara McManus
February 7, 2022
UNBC School of Education
Instructor: Charity Peal

“The World is Better because YOU are in it!” is what I want every student to understand when they are done their time with me. They should know they are seen, heard and valued in this world, that their presence matters, and that they can make a positive difference. As an emerging practitioner, I am developing the foundations of my pedagogy. Life is in constant motion, and experience has taught me that learning something new tomorrow may change my perspectives from today, and therefore, I am committed to the process of life-long learning as an educator.

I am a relationship-based practitioner. I believe in seeing each learner as an individual human first. A unique person who has a history, needs, and can learn. As practiced in the Circle of Courage, inclusivity through a sense of belonging aligns with my instinctual teaching methods. As an inclusive teacher, I want to engage all my students in the classroom by making them feel safe first. Students under toxic stress do not learn, and I understand that stressors can come from many sources, especially invisible ones like intergenerational trauma—the climate and culture of my teaching value a social curriculum equal to that of an academic one. Students of different learning needs, ethnicities, religions, cultures, languages, socio-economic factors, LBGTQ2S+, and physical and mental health will find community in my classrooms through my use of Universal Design for Learning and whole-class approaches to social-emotional learning.

I ask my students to “do their best” and believe that everyone is good at something; similarly, to the fair is not equal, mastery is flexible in its definition by the holder. I allow formative assessment to guide my lessons and consider collecting evidence over time to be the truest form of assessment for learning. I promote leadership among my learners with increasing self-governance by age and find a democratic classroom generally an effective engagement strategy.

Reciprocity is why I am a teacher. With every moment I give to a learner, I am returned it ten-fold. I have always felt an incredible sense of duty as a Canadian citizen. When I began teaching in May 2019, I did not know about BC Educator’s Standard #9; however, I am very honoured to be entrusted with its responsibility. I am beginning to clearly understand how I can move forward to create a classroom where I am not teaching Indigenous epistemologies like a foreign culture but instead integrate it fully as our own First People’s cultures, which exist nowhere else on earth.