Rebranding and Re-envisioning

Here I am… walking side-by-side with my dad. I love this image. It makes me hopeful. We are walking forward together. It can’t get any better than this. 2018 has been a year of change… and anticipating more. Every moment is a learning experience. I am getting a lot of clarity, that leads to my alignment and my 2018 One-Word: CREATE. Last week, I engaged in a couple of learning experiences that fuelled my fire for education. First, I went to a parent meeting with Yong Zhao in School District No. 38 (Richmond) and second, I went to the BC Teacher Education Roundtable at Simon Fraser University (SFU).

Professional learning is both formal and informal. I appreciated how Yong Zhao catered his message about the paradigm shift in education and 21st century learning to parents. At the #SFUroundtable18, we discussed the DUTY TO ACCOMMODATE in the context of student teachers. My eyes were wide open to this topic and how we need to be inclusive to all students. Whereas, my informal learning included meeting new people, reconnecting to those in my PLN, and RE-meeting people. From these interactions, I was reminded of my why… TO ENHANCE THE LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS. There are many ways to fulfill my purpose. What feels right at one moment might change in another.

I’ve been thinking about this slide (see below) of Dr. Reiss’s 16 basic human motivators from Yong Zhao’s presentation. What motivator resonated with me the most was CURIOSITY. My object of desire is knowledge. This makes sense. I always thought that I wanted to influence, but I am not motivated by power. I have tried several times to be the #1 position… but failed. It’s not my role and I’m not sad about it. Now, I understand why. My role is to contribute knowledge. I am driven to learn something new. I felt that way at the #SFUroundtable18. I was having serendipitous conversations. I was meeting the right people at the right time. I loved listening to their stories and asking them questions.

What I am most proud about is asking for and receiving formative feedback from experts in the field. I will provide not context here, but accepting formative feedback from others and doing something about it is humbling, enlightening, and integral to my learning. Right now, I am in the midst of rebranding and re-envisioning. I am an educator at heart and I can’t wait to teach EDUC454: Quantitative Approaches to Environmental Education this summer at SFU. I am stoked about teaching this course again. Last year, I taught EDUC454 at Burnaby campus as a morning course. This year, I am at the Surrey campus as an evening course. I love the challenge and creativity required to make this course meaningful, purposeful, and fun. Look forward to weekly blogs starting this week.

I’m excited about what’s next. I create what I see. I look forward to continuing my post-doctoral experience as an affiliated scholar at the Centre for the Study of Educational Leadership and Policy. I am in the middle of publishing a couple of papers with my research partner (and former senior supervisor) Dan Laitsch, and I am in the middle of writing a book about my mom. I love that I stay connected with BC educators as one of the #bcedchat co-moderators on Twitter and I would love to pursue teaching and research at the university, but also pursue teaching and learning at the K-12 level if the opportunity arises. In the end, it’s all about student learning and finding ways to make their learning experiences better so they can thrive. I want to be part of that story.