“Educators engage in professional learning and reflective practice to support their professional growth. Educators recognize and meet their individual professional needs through various learning opportunities. Educators develop and refine personal philosophies of education, teaching and learning that are informed by research, practice and the Professional Standards for BC Educators.” -BCT
This is the fox I won at the Early Learning Conference. It’s a very cute puppet with an attached trickster story and a connected story book. I’m still really excited about it and it lives on the rear parcel shelf of my car. The most valuable thing I got from the Early Learning Conference was a reminder of why I chose this profession in the first place. If you’ve seen some of my other posts you may have noticed a theme with me. I like things I can get better at and I get bored of things I can figure out. So while I’m in the Education Program and obviously learning lots, seeing the many seasoned teachers engaged in professional development gave me a sense of safety in the fact that I still have an incredible amount to learn. I took part in a presentation from Adrienne Gear and learned so much about developing young readers and writers in such a short period. I love the idea of referring to young writers as writers. Acknowledging that learning is also doing. Math students are also mathematicians doing math, Students learning to read are readers doing reading. The keynote presentation insisted people move around the room and get to know each other. It contained a facilitated process of making connections. This was met with mixed expectations, but it was a great opportunity for myself as a new educator about to go out on practicum. I ended up meeting several people, including a table of teachers that all worked at my placement school. I also had a great opportunity to speak with another queer teacher. It’s reassuring and rewarding to learn and discuss things with people who have already navigated the currently complex climate of queer existence in SD57, especially since SOGI wasn’t really part of the intended learning for the first 2 blocks of the UNBC Education Program. Conferences are cool. There’s lunch, experts, educators with a variety of experience levels, options to align your learning to your own goals, and even prizes. The value in professional development is clear.
