My name is Janessa. I am a mom of 2 girls who lives in Kamloops BC.
When I graduated high school I decided I would never do another english class or write another paper again. I really disliked it. So I became an Electrician. I actually really enjoyed the schooling. It was fun to take a break from work and learn about something that I actually thought was interesting and enjoyable. Note, that is not the feeling I get when writing papers. But alas, I ended up getting a job at TRU. They needed somebody with a trades ticket and a teachers degree. Obviously that’s a unicorn that they could not easily find so my trades ticket was the route they decided to settle on. I found myself teaching not in the trades building, but in a really cool program for students with diverse abilities. I was originally teaching them how to find jobs in trades related fields, and supporting them in building their resumes and general trades knowledge. I loved it. I really do believe that the trades have a spot for everybody. Even if you couldn’t get an actual trades ticket, there is still so much value these students could bring to a job site. Although that course was only a one hit wonder, I still found myself working with the same program in other aspects. It is a truly wonderful program that gives students a chance to go to university that wouldn’t normally get to go. As well as I can see so many large changes happening for the students. I had always wanted to be a teacher but the schooling stopped me. I thought a high school shop teacher would be rad. I just love working with tools, making wood projects, and learning what I find applicable. But here I am, getting my teacher diploma, so I can keep teaching in a field that I find enjoyable, and to be honest, not enjoying the adult education I am getting at all. But I like to think that just because I am a passionate teacher, the fact that I have found every instructor course I have done unenjoyable, doesn’t make me a bad teacher. If anything, maybe I can crack the code on how to make school just that much more enjoyable for others like myself.
As far as a my professional identity and values that guide me, the list is small. I do understand that the instructor in the book had a comprehensive list, but I think it takes years to build that up. I can tell you I added something this year that seems to be super important to me that I didn’t realize at the start of this teaching term. My truths of teaching.
1.Students should bring a water bottle to class or the job site each day.
(I know weird right. I do a lot of on site workdays with the students and the amount of times they are choking from popcorn, or coughing up a lung and do not have a water bottle (or any fountain nearby) became such a problem it’s a new rule.
2. You can never underestimate the need to have regular team building whether through games or show and tells etc…
3. Find time to have private moments with each student (there are only 8). That is where good connection comes from.
4. Believing my students are capable of doing more than they have been held to. I find there are basic skills that could have definitely been learned that just haven’t been. I do understand they have disabilities but so many things are definitely in their wheelhouse.
5. I am not trying to whip these students into shape (a coworker helped me figure out that one this year). Although I want them to do well. It’s a slow process.
6. An end of the year video is a really special thing I like to give to the students to sum up their year. I don’t get paid to make it, but to me it’s important to show them the journey of how far they have came with awesome music to it as well.
Bibliography
Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the Classr. John Wiley & Sons.
This work by Janessa Boomhour is marked with CC0 1.0. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0
