VALUES
Relevance
Learning is always relevant, but making students realize this can be a challenge. It 
is my goal as an educator to help students make clear connections between the skills and content learned in the classroom and their lives outside of it. When I taught shop I focused on practical skills relevant to life in the small, isolated town the students lived in. In the French Revolution unit I had planned for my second practicum, the overarching theme around which all learning was be centred would have been the contemporary significance of the events students are learning about. The final project would have required students to evaluate the merits of the French Revolution based on its legacies and lessons for our own society. After the UNBC strike was suspended, I ended up teaching the rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada, which made for a good launch point for learning about Canadian democracy. Connections to the recent federal election were also introduced by students.
Reconciliation
I believe that educators’ responsibilities with regard to Reconciliation, as enumerated by the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, should form a central part of every Canadian teacher’s professional philosophy.
Far from only addressing and helping to right past wrongs, Reconciliation offers the possibility of a new national vision and promotes tolerant modes of thought that can benefit non-Indigenous racialized minorities. My committment to reconciliation in the classroom entails emphasizing First Peoples perspectives and knowledge whenever possible, as well as a committment to furthering my own learning with respect to these topics.
Inclusion
There is no such thing as an average student, and effective learning does not come from a one-size-fits-all model. I am committed to adjusting delivery methods and performance tasks to the needs of individual students, while upholding suitably high expectations for progress. In my teaching practice thus far, I have sought to design every lesson with an easily reachable access point in mind. More recently and with the benefit of formal teacher education, I have worked to design assessment vehicles that combine deep thinking with maximum customizability for differing student strengths and preferences.
GOALS
Community
Part of making learning relevant is breaking down the artificial divide between school and so-called “real life”. Making community members part of the school environment and the educational process is one way of breaking down this barrier. Involving families, other educational institutions, local business, and local First Nations are just some possible avenues of community involvement. Making these connections will require a fair amount of work and networking skill on my part, but the dividends will be well worth the investment. What does this picture of a spoon have to do with any of that? It’s the trophy I made for the chili cook-off that was part of a community grad fundraising event I helped organize. It’s hard to find pictures of “community” that I own and have formal consent from all involved to post publicly. The gym teacher won the trophy by paying people to vote for his chili.
Place-Based Knowledge
I currently do not know where I will wind up teaching on a permanent basis. Wherever it is, I view it as essential to build-up my knowledge of this place in order 
to meet my goal of Relevance. Whether this knowledge will stem from formal education, independent research, long-walks around town, or interaction with longtime residents (probably some variation on “all of the above”), it is something I will need to be conscious of going forward. Currently I live and occasionally work in Prince George, and I have tried to increase my understanding of the area through conversation with colleagues who grew up there, by studying local history, by exploring, and by studying the history and culture of the local Lheidli T’enneh.
Teach
Perhaps this one is obvious, but I look forward to having my own classroom one 
day. This is the only known picture of me teaching; I’d like the opportunity for more to be taken. My ideal teaching location would be somewhere in the North, in a community that is not too big and not too small, but I will work most anywhere. Young folk are full of potential and energy and wisdom wherever you go, and I’d feel privileged to work with any group of learners.