Well here goes the first submission for my EDCI 302 class blog! I will start by introducing myself. I was born and raised in Victoria and completed my BSc in Kinesiology at UVic. Rugby was my passion for a very long time and I was lucky enough to play with the Senior Men’s National Rugby Teams for six years. After hanging up my boots in 2007, I worked in Northern BC as a Forest Firefighter for two summers. I travelled a lot with rugby but had not done any backpacking prior to a six-month solo trip through Fiji, NZ and Australia at the end of 2007. It was an amazing experience and upon return I moved to Calgary where I worked as a personal trainer for two years and then an Executive Search Recruiter (Headhunter) for a Calgary-based firm for a year an a half. I decided that Calgary was not for me and was feeling the pull back to the coast, so moved back to Victoria the day before starting UVic’s Middle Years BEd PDP Program.
In 2009, I started an initiative to raise money and awareness for mental health, specifically, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). The event is called “1 Day for the CMHA” and the idea is that participants attempt to complete a significant physical challenge in one day and raise money for the CMHA along the way. The first year I was the only participant and I summited four mountains in Banff; last year me and two others ran the West Coast Trail; and this past year, me and four others ran the Grand Canyon. For more details feel free to have a look at my other blog at: http://www.1dayforthecmha.blogspot.com. This has become a huge passion for me and the need to increase the awareness and understanding of mental health issues in society is the message.
Although this blog is a compulsory component for EDCI302, I hope to use it as a personal tool to reflect and grow as a teacher. I look forward to seeing my expectations and impressions change and grow with my new experiences in teaching. Furthermore, I expect an ELA middle years classroom to be not unlike any other class where there will be students of varying abilities and competencies. I think it will be important to encourage and foster creativity within a non-judgmental environment to ensure a positive learning experience. Insecurity is highly prominent within the middle years cohort and the development of an arena that allows students the opportunity to freely share their work and general thoughts will be paramount in the ELA classroom.
