This version of my pedagogical philosophy statement was developed throughout my first term as a teacher candidate, and completed on the 18th of November 2021. I will continue to explore and develop my pedagogical philosophy as my education and career grow.
How Deeply They Matter
I believe all children want to learn and grow. I believe that each child who enters a classroom, brings with them the expanse of experiences they have lived. I believe all children have something unique to teach those of us who are lucky enough to be part of their lives as educators. These three statements broadly describe my pedagogical philosophy as an educator. I believe equally that with, and only with, the foundational work of abolitionists, liberationists, decolonial thinkers, those involved in disability justice and neurodiversity advocacy, as well those who have taught me about the concept of choosing love above all else (Thom, 2019) we have the opportunity as educators to support our students in building a more just and loving world.
Children want to learn and grow. I believe all children have an innate curiosity about the world around them and that as educators we have the privilege of helping them to explore that curiosity. As Sarah Florence Davis describes in Potlatch as Pedagogy, “Learning emerges from curiosity.” (2019) When we foster the curiosity and passions of the children we teach, they grow as learners and as people. As an educator with a particular interest in inclusive education, this belief strongly informs my view of behaviouralism, which seems to me to assume that children, and particularly neurodivergent children, need to be trained to learn. It is my hope to teach without training, by respecting and believing in the inherent desire and ability to learn possessed by all children.
I believe that in allowing students to explore their beliefs and test their understanding, taking a largely progressivist approach to learning, students further their innate potential as lifelong learners. One possible approach to fostering a belief in the learning and growth of each child, is in examining one of the Lil’wat Principles of Learning, Celhcelh, which offers that each person is responsible for their learning and the learning of others, and responsible for seeking out opportunities for learning. (Williams, 2008) I believe that when we foster an environment that allows students to embody that responsibility for their learning, and that fosters their curiosity, all children respond with a desire and ability to learn.
I believe also that learners come through our doors carrying the wide expanse of experiences they have lived and are currently living. This includes their cultural world, their relationships with the people who love them, their passions, learning disabilities, the places they’ve travelled, their relationship to the land they’re on and the land they come from, their traumas, what they ate (or didn’t eat) for breakfast, who reads with them at home, what languages they speak, and every other big, small, and even seemingly inconsequential detail imaginable. As educators I believe this knowledge offers us both responsibility and privilege. We have a responsibility to understand what challenges our students are facing that might limit or shift their ability to learn. We cannot ask students to leave things like trauma, hunger, or disability at the door. These things enter the learning space with them, and as teachers we have to find space for those realities along with the students who carry them. This belief is based on my understanding of the Blackfoot nation’s philosophies which Maslow extracted to create the theoretical framework we recognize as “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” (Blood & Heavy Head, 2007)
Equally, we are offered the privilege of the beautiful diversity of cultures, languages, passions, and creativities that students bring into our room, and I hope that as an educator I always create a space that celebrates everything a student brings. I believe honouring the stories of the students in my classroom is essential to supporting them in their learning. This is informed by two tenets of Davidson’s Potlatch as Pedagogy, the first being “Learning emerges from authentic experiences,” and the second being, “Learning honours history and story.” (2019) It is my philosophy that when we frame the knowledge and histories our students carry into the room with them within the lenses of social reconstructionism and critical theory we offer an opportunity to build a more just world wherein the diversity of human experience is cherished and valued.
Because I believe students bring with them their unique experiences, I also believe that every learner we encounter as educators has something unique to teach us as well. As educators, it is our privilege to welcome those teachings into the space we have created, by recognizing and encouraging the strengths of our students. (Davidson & Davidson, 2019) It is also essential as teachers that we build fundamental skills so that our students are able to share the lessons they have learnt and make themselves heard. I am reminded of a line from Bettina L. Love’s 2019 book, We Want to Do More than Survive, in which she writes about struggling with the fundamentals and says, “My voice could not be heard from so far behind.” I believe that in order to truly honour what our students have to teach us, it is our responsibility to support them in developing the skills to make their thoughts understood. In this sense, there are aspects of essentialism that feel important to me in building the basic skills students deserve to have as groundwork for their learning.
When we help our students to recognise and express the knowledge, stories, and lessons that they carry with them, it is my hope that they feel motivated to value their own expertise and use it to better their communities as described in the Lil’wat principle of learning A7xekcal. (Williams, 2008). I cannot help but be informed in this philosophy as I write today, by the unprecedented times in which we are living. As I consider my beliefs about teaching, I am cognizant that all roads in and out of the lower mainland have been cut off by landslides, that last week BC experienced a tornado, and that over the summer an entire town burnt to the ground. I sit with the reality of the covid epidemic, and the toxic drug supply, and the losses we have all faced as a result. I see the world in which I am raising my own child, and have to believe that the young people we are raising and teaching can be supported in knowing the value of their knowledge, skills, and beliefs so that we might see genuinely transformative justice in the years to come as a result of their contributions to their communities.
These pillars of my pedagogical philosophy rely on a foundation and rich soil that has been built and tended to by scholars, community activists, and grass roots thinkers in the worlds of disability justice, decolonization, Black liberation, abolition, queer and trans liberation, and neurodiversity. I am grateful as I write this to have learnt from incredible thinkers and doers and believe that every single one of the students I have the honour of teaching in my career has the potential to bring their experiences, knowledge, and stories into a world of radical love and justice. It is my philosophy as an educator that my role is to support them in learning, growing, and knowing how deeply they matter so that they can see the mattering of others and create a more just world in which we might all have the privilege of learning and growing together.
References
Blood, N & Heavy Head, Ryan. (Presentors). (2007). Blackfoot Influence on Abraham Maslow [Filmed Lecture]. University of Montana. https://www.blackfootdigitallibrary.com/digital/collection/bdl/id/1284/rec/1
Davidson, S. F. & Davidson, R. (2019). Potlatch as pedagogy: Learning through ceremony. Langara College.
Love, B. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.
Williams, L. (2008). Lil’wat Principles of Learning (did you know). Strong Nations. Retrieved October 8, 2021, from https://www.strongnations.com/gs/show.php?gs=4&gsd=3910.Â
Thom, K. C. (2019). I hope we choose Love: A trans girl’s notes from the end of the world. Arsenal Pulp Press.