Teacher Development

In September 2000, when I started my master's program at the University of Alberta, I was required to complete a teaching methodologies induction course in the fall semester. This course was for all in-coming graduate students who were teaching the 100-level language classes. This included student from across the whole department who were teaching various languages (German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, etc.).

Prior to this, I had been teaching for about a year after completing my TESL certification in Ireland. When I moved back to Canada, I had started volunteering in a funded-program for survivors of torture. I was eventually hired as a supply, and then, at a private high school for their summer program before I moved to Edmonton.

The required teaching methodologies course wasn't something that I relished although I was keen to improve and learn more about teaching. The course was twice a week at 8:00 a.m. and seemed to be more about instructing us on a particular way to teach rather than an exploratory journey of who we wanted to be as teachers. At this point, there were differing approaches, i.e., ideologies about best practices. Much of the department was focused solely on the communicative language approach which prioritizes oral communication over explicit instruction. In the Germanic branch, we were a little more old school in terms of grammar instruction.

I recently came across my teaching journal and portfolio from this course, and it was very interesting to look back on it with more than 23 years of teaching experience. This also coincided with the beginning of CEPD training through the College. In both situations, there are opportunities to learn, but I think the real value comes from taking stock of who you are/want to be as an educator, trying to reflect, and grow.

Since the COVID pandemic, I am, without a doubt, a different educator. I think this situation probably hastened a process that was already underway gradually. I've always tried to organize and share content in a mindful way, but COVID really made it clear how important it was to consider the social-emotional well-being of my students in every aspect of my course. I have become much more thoughtful about how I present information to make it more inclusive and accessible to all learners from the beginning. I have a ways to go yet, but I'm making progress in hardwiring UDL into my practices. This also includes being flexible and understanding about attendance and deadlines. I've started to think about how learning outcomes can be captured as I see/hear them wherever I may catch them. This may sound obvious, but it frequently means looking outside of the typical norms and looking for ways to spotlight students' strengths.