My Journey

I would like to dedicate this post to my journey as a teacher, from the day I graduated from the B.A./B.Ed. program at Lakehead University to my current position, as the International Student Support Officer (ISSO) at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie.    

This post is not intended to be a reflection of my learning during this time. It is meant more as a general overview of the path that I have chosen which has led me to my current employment at a publicly funded university in Ontario.  I think this description will help you, as the reader, understand me better as I reflect on some of these experiences later in my blog and how they are connected to the context of my education, experience and current work practice.

The picture at the beginning of this post drew my eye because I think life in represents life.  We must always focus on the road ahead of us but be mindful of the present moment and the path traveled.

As I mentioned in my first post, I’m a registered teacher in Ontario. I graduated in 1996 but instead of joining the desperate masses of over-educated, underemployed teachers in Ontario, I decided to try my hand at teaching ESL overseas in South Korea for a couple of years. Well that was the plan anyways!

I ended up staying in South Korea for 15 years in total, happily living and working on this tiny Asian peninsula.  Like many other adventurous foreigners who first decide to travel and teach ESL overseas, I saw it as a great opportunity to pay off some student loans, gain some work experience, and learn about a different culture. Little did I know how interested I would become in the field of ESL or how this would lead me back to school to finish a Masters in TESOL in 2008 from Aston University in Birmingham, England. 

Since 2008, my professional interests have expanded to the field of educational technology and how to better integrate emerging technologies into the ESL classroom. As a result, I have become very invested in the areas of e learning, instructional design, CALL/MALL, web 2.0 tools, etc…(basically anything “techie”) and learning about them has quickly become one of my favorite pastimes.  This led me to the M.Ed program at UOIT.

In 2012, I made my eventual return to Sault Ste. Marie where I'm currently working as the International Student Support Officer at Algoma University.  As the ISSO, I'm mainly responsible for on campus support for International students.  However, part of my duties at AU involves curriculum development for the English for Academic Purposes Program (EAPP) which has allowed me to experience the administrative side of the fence in TESL. I recently was able to get my Level 3 certification through TESL Canada so I'm hoping to use all my experience and qualifications to improve the quality of our offering at AU.

Introduction to my Learning Log!

It's a cold, winter evening here in Sault Ste. Marie and I'm very excited to start my Learning Log for Dr. Lorayn Robinson's Critical and Reflective Practice in Education (5004 G).  Today's date is February 10th, 2016 and last night marked our 5th class of the winter term.  I've really enjoying this course so far and I would like to use this blog to reflect on my learning up to this point and throughout the rest of the semester. I hope you enjoy it.  

My original plan was to reflect on my learning after each class but as I sat down to write my first post five weeks ago, on January 5th, I quickly realized that I had little idea how to go about this properly. I suppose as, I'm reflecting back on this now, I can come to the conclusion that I had not learned very much about reflection up to that point to help guide me!  I understood what was meant by the concept of "critical reflection" but I didn't know much about how this process was to effectively lead to my own learning.  At the beginning of this course, I was not fully aware of different models of reflective practice or the difference between reflection, analysis and description.

While I was completing my B.Ed in the mid 90's, I was responsible for keeping several learning journals while but, like most beginner teachers, I simply jotted down some ideas on paper with little thought or reflection about how they were connected to my actual learning.  I'm sure the minimal amount of time and energy my colleagues and I devoted towards this practice was definitely not what our instructors had envisioned from the class!  I admit, at that time, I was not fully aware of the role of a reflective practitioner.  Perhaps our profs could have explained it a little better....

Now, after 5 weeks of classes, under the guidance of Dr. Robertson, I have been exposed to several strategies which I'm confident will ensure that my reflections support my learning and also my development in the field of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).  I'm starting to understand how to look critically at the contradictions and challenges I face at Algoma University, my place of work, and within this course, and how I can transfer what I learn to other new situations and/or contexts.   In this respect, I suppose I'm connecting the dots which have been there the whole time.  Maybe I just needed to focus the lens more on myself, which was Loryane's advice in Week 4 but I don't want to get a head of myself here!

For this blog, I will be posting my refections based on what was covered in class (Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, etc....).  These posts will be organized chronologically, which you, the viewer, can reference using the blog archive on the right side of the page.  I will also be using "labels" as I post my reflections so that you may search through them to find common themes (ex. Mindfulness).  Internal to the post themselves, I will be using links and embedded videos to identify resources that have helped me develop my skills as a reflective practitioner.  

Please feel free to leave comments under each post.

In my next post, I would like to give the reader, a brief history of who I am as a professional to provide much needed context to this Learning Log.