Chris Allen

Frame of Reference

20 October 2016

My idea of education has been influenced by a comfortable cultural, economic, and

geographic background. Growing up in Powell River, a small town on the upper Sunshine
Coast, I have had the benefit of spending my elementary and secondary education with a
relatively small group of people. Having one high school in the town allowed each student to
have an equal opportunity to apply for and attend various programs that were not based on
geographic location or quotas. Economically, I have been fortunate. Both of my parents
worked hard to provide for my family. I have not had to do without, and any tough financial
situations did not hinder my ability to learn. Culturally, too, my family has what I consider to
be a stereotypical background with my father working in the forestry industry, like most of his
family before him, and my mother working in the sales industry. These three factors,
geography, economics, and cultural history, have greatly influenced my ideas on education.
I believe every student should be treated as an individual, with individual recognition
for challenges they face, and praise for accomplishments they achieve. In addition, there
should be no reason for an underprivileged person to be excluded simply because their family
cannot provide the same resources as another. A successful education system will function to
eliminate differences between individuals and work to build an atmosphere where all persons
can come together as equals to continue their quest for knowledge. Schools should be a
socially just area where everyone can expect to be treated fairly. My private school experience
allowed me to build interpersonal relationships with faculty who truly understood how each
individual student learned. When I moved to a public institution, I realized how it was much
more difficult given the larger student body. Nonetheless, some teachers who were dedicated
to their trade worked hard to ensure that individual needs were met as often as possible. This
experience has influenced me to ensure that I give each student individual attention and treat
the students in my classroom as independent learners who are working together with me to
achieve a common goal. This is what education is about: mutual achievement Finally, it is
important that I acknowledge the different opinions of education that people of different social
and cultural backgrounds may bring forward. In todays world, it is important to recognize that
students come from a variety of local, regional, and international places of origin, sometimes
with stories and experiences that dont relate to the stereotypical western upbringing. Despite
these differences, everyone is at school to learn. Therefore, it is important that I work hard to
recognize differences in opinion and use them as a personal learning opportunity to recognize
the difference in my experience in education in order to be the most effective educator I can
be.
The purpose of education is to develop the critical thinking and problem solving skills
of individual learners. As well, education provides an opportunity for students to learn and
understand the cultural, social, and scientific processes that make up the world around them.
My vision for learning, like the new BC Ed Plan, is to ensure that students use the critical
thinking and problem solving skills to understand how the forces of the world interact around
them. I want students to understand their individual roles in society and to be able to identify
with and learn from the challenges they face. Most importantly, I dont want students to be
confined by the parameters of a specific topic, but rather to think about how a question or
problem can have an effect issues surrounding the question. Finally, students should draw on
their own cultural knowledge and experience to contribute to their classs understanding of
multiculturalism in a variety of subject areas and to foster an interest in global citizenship
which will hopefully promote a more cohesive school community. In an assignment that I
designed, students have to examine Canadian identity from a twenty first century perspective.
What problems face society and what benefits do we have? How has history brought us here?
What are ways that we can implement changes so our society becomes a more inclusive entity

where each individual can flourish? By understanding these questions, and from hearing
varying perspectives and approaches, students can actively pursue positive social change
together rather than trying to initiate change as an individual. This project reflects my hopes
for education.
The updated BC curriculum reflects the above statement well. With the core
competencies, the intellectual, personal, and social skills required to develop successfully,
students will be able to effectively communicate, think rationally, and competently relate with
themselves as well as with others socially. The curriculum allows educators to address
different skill and comprehension levels by allowing students to develop socially alongside
their development as intellectually. I believe students learn best through guided discovery
where the teacher not only facilitates the learning process by ensuring the students have all
available resources to achieve understanding, but also allows them to reach for a better
understanding through their own means. Individual learning has its benefits, however, when
students work together towards a common goal, it prepares them socially and at the same time,
gives them valuable knowledge to apply to future scenarios.
I believe teachers work best with students in a collaborative process where each person
(both student and teacher) can put forward ideas to be discussed and debated. With a better
understanding of the processes at play, the teacher will be able to guide the discussion so the
students explore all possible options and achieve the greatest understanding. I also think that
teachers should allow individual students the chance to make a mistake before correction an
action, thus allowing for the greatest comprehension of the material being studied. Moreover,
it is important to emphasize the requirement for teachers to work cooperatively with one
another to develop cross-curricular assignments that allow students to make concrete
connections with their work. In this regard, it opens the possibility of engaging further with
the local community by encouraging students to take an interest in their world around them
through collaborative exercises. In this process, differentiated learning practices can encourage
student to take an interest through inquiry.
As an educator, I believe that I am a constructivist. I like to provide a space where
students can experience authentic activities while collaborating with one another to achieve a
greater understanding, I think students need to use their experiences to develop their
understanding, not only of the subject, but of how different areas of society operate. As a
teacher, it is my job to coach the students through the learning process and to also collaborate
with them to explore different ideas and beliefs. It is important for students in the Social
Studies and English subjects to articulate their opinions by using fact gathered through the
learning process. The activities that the students experience in class will translate to real-world
problem solving both on small and large scales. Rather than simply communicating fact, it is
important to build a base of understanding of overarching themes that have affected society
throughout the modern era.
Allowing students to make mistakes when they are working towards their goals is a
method through which teachers can guarantee that the students understand different
components of a problem. Posing open-ended questions that provoke thought rather than a
definitive answer also challenges students to think beyond the question and consider other
factors at play. In this way, educators can better prepare students to learn a variety of
information, rather than confining them to specific topic areas.
It is necessary to have an assessment strategy that makes the assessment process
assessment for learning and assessment as learning rather than assessment of learning.
Particularly in the Social Studies and English classes, formative assessment is key to building
skill and understanding. Specifically, in writing assignments, students should be given ample
feedback in order to succeed. Formative feedback should always outweigh summative
feedback. Students must be able to demonstrate the significance of events or issues as well as
the facts that make those issues prominent. Moreover, it is important for relationships to be

built to support assessment strategies that allow students to seek improvement. It is necessary
to build a sense of community between parents, students, and teachers in your classroom to
ensure that the student has the greatest number of resources and support networks to succeed.
Vancouver Island Universitys Faculty of Education has a vision that is easily
transferable to classrooms throughout the province. Building relationships with students, being
a dynamic and interactive learning community, embracing the uniqueness of individuals
within a community, and creating life-long learners are all values that I can take with me into
my practice. The process of building a socially just community relies heavily on these values.
Within this community, applying different ways of knowing and learning can contribute to the
success of students both inside and outside of the classroom. Acknowledging that learning
involves patience and time, involves understanding consequences, and ultimately supports the
well-being of the self will allow students to continue as life-long learners.
My ideal classroom environment is a supportive atmosphere where students can work
collaboratively to understand challenging topics. It is a place where people can openly ask
questions without having a fear of being wrong, and where people accept challenges about
their ideas or thoughts with careful consideration and openness to achieving a better
understanding. I would like to use the typical classroom structure as part of my learning
environment (i.e. students in desks and the teacher facilitating discussion from different places
in the room) because I believe it will create an atmosphere where students will be used to
learning.
I believe there should be a set of rules and expectations in place, both from my point of
view and from the students point of view. With these agreed upon guidelines in place, the
classroom will function to be a supportive place of learning. Because the students had the
opportunity to voice their opinion on classroom processes, especially through their
expectations on my performance, it is my hope that students will be willing to openly discuss
topics with their classmates. What is more, there needs to be an understanding that the
classroom is a place to challenge and question not only the topics posed by the teacher, but
also the topics posed by each other. I will ensure that students understand how to comment on
another students opinion, but more importantly, I would work to ensure that students
understand how to research and make informed decisions on topics. Students need to
understand that valuing opinions and ideas, even if they do not agree, will contribute to a more
socially just classroom environment. The classroom rules would have to contain procedures,
say for initiating a debate, and it would by the teachers job to ensure no student is being
ganged up on because of their opinion. One example that comes to mind when thinking of
the classroom considerations
I want to create a professional relationship with my students, their parents, and the
community we would work to support. It is important to note that I do not want to be a friend
to the students, but rather, I want to be a role model and guide for them while they are working
towards their educational goals. As well, I want to build a professional relationship with those
parents who want to be involved in their childs education. By doing this, I can properly
explain the techniques I will use in my classroom.