Learning is a Team Sport
I never saw myself as a teacher. All I knew was that I wanted to be able to do something I enjoyed and help people. It was not until I began to take on roles as a coach during my university volleyball career that I realized that I had a strong desire to share knowledge with others and loved sharing my experiences with those who were hungry to absorb it all. My love of sport took me to places and gave me experiences I never could have imagined, and it still shapes much of my life today. It certainly shapes how I envision my classroom.
There are several key defining qualities of a person that will lead them to success in sport as well as in education: the ability to receive feedback and apply it, the ability to work towards goals with all types of people, the ability to motivate and govern yourself, and the ability to work with and thrive in discomfort. Some of these qualities are innate, but many can be taught if the desire to improve is there. In the classroom, I encourage the development of these skills by facilitating activities that rely on group and teamwork, especially games and competitions, and providing ample individual feedback on skills. In creating my lessons, I look to have clear goals and objectives defined so that students always know what they are supposed to be working on during a task and they can focus on developing specific language skills.
I see the role of a teacher in a classroom as that of a coach, but also the team captain. The coach sets the expectations for the team, they share their expertise, and they create the conditions that allow for growth. The team captain, on the other hand, sets the bar for effort. In my classroom, like in my gym, I would never ask a student to do anything that I would not do myself. I also hold myself to the same standards of being ok with discomfort and using it for growth; pushing myself personally to explore controversial topics in a lesson, to have hard conversations with students, and to teach subjects and students that I am unfamiliar with. Personal and professional development opportunities are integral to my evolution as an educator, as well as actively seeking out and engaging with mentors who can provide direction to my growth.
As a teacher, I strive to create a classroom environment that is safe and inclusive for all unique learners, is collaborative and allows for feedback in both directions, and is a non-judgemental space where effort and risk-taking is rewarded. In sport, practice is where you are able to try things and fail in a controlled environment so that you can perform well on game day. I want my classroom to be a space where students can experiment with language and have fun trying new things so that when they are faced with novel language situations in the real world, they can confidently apply what they know and face the things they don’t with a curious mind.
The biggest thing I hope to achieve with my students is to instil a sense of agency and confidence in using what they have learned, but also pride in their unique dialect and how their experiences have shaped who they have become. I hope that my students will be able to use what they learn to feel included in a community, to cross intercultural bridges, and to share their experiences with others. Most of all, I strive to make the language learning experience fun and engaging so that a desire to learn will guide them forward in their futures.