I’ve always believed that how I spend my time volunteering and engaging in extra-curricular activities is both a reflection of who I am and also is part of what forms and shapes who I am. My volunteering started in my years as a teenager as I served as a softball coach, Jr. Leader for Sparks and Brownies, children and youth ministry volunteer and parish volunteer in our small community church. As I grew up I continued to volunteer in some of those areas as well as in local schools and for other cases. My time outside of work and school is filled with nature, the company of young friends and old friends, dance class, volunteering with the local Children’s Grief Program and visiting people in hospital. I balance my time between being with others and being alone. Alongside these “people focused” pieces I also enjoy journaling, reading, cooking, baking, knitting and of course the latest series on Netflix! I know that I need time alone in order to do all the pieces that I feel called to participate in that involve working alongside others. Each of these areas of volunteering and extra-curricular activities are helping me become an even stronger and more understanding teacher. I highlight few of these areas.
Extra-Curricular: Baking and Cooking
I love to cook and bake, and I enjoy it even more when I get to share my creations with others. As a teacher I will incorporate both these skills into practical and imaginary learning. I will also encourage students to find what hobbies they enjoy doing and how they might use those things to share with others in the world. I find that some of the most inspiring conversations take place when gathered around a table or when cooking together. How do we foster this in the classroom? How does the “typical lunch time” transfer into a time of being together as community, engaging in conversations and sharing with one another? I will also encourage families to spend time in the kitchen together, not only does this directly connect to what students are expected to learn within the BC Curriculum but it also promotes healthy relationship with food and experiences in creating food and making good choices.
Volunteering: Children’s Grief Group & Visiting
Being with people in their deepest time of need is important to me. Whether this is visiting someone in hospital, in their home, over coffee, while on a stroll through the park, or sitting on a bench while their children play. People need to know that they are not alone in the midst of their struggles, vulnerabilities, fears, and uncertainties. Noticing people during their times of grief is especially near and dear to my heart, especially children and youth. In the classroom I will bring with me these pieces of who I am and transfer them into the care I provide my students, colleagues and their families. Life happens, and each persons stories about their experiences outside of the classroom are just as important as what they are learning within the classroom. I believe that for some students they need to be heard in order to be able to learn. From the experience of my youngest siblings being in school during a time of unexpected and life changing death and grief in our family I also know first hand the importance of classroom teachers and school leadership to be present and aware of students needs and vulnerabilities coming back to school in the midst of grief. I believe that for some students how they are cared for in these moments of grief can make or break the rest of their educational experience. I bring with me a deep awareness of this and also a deep hope to help our school learn even strong ways of responding.
Extra-Curricular: Hiking
I love nature! When I am surrounded by nature I am nourished and renewed. I am inspired and I am grounded. While in nature I have planned lessons in my head, mapped out speeches, and reflected on the decisions that are before me. As a teacher I will get my students outside into nature as much as I can and I will also commit to spending time in nature outside of school so that I can be a grounded, inspired and energized teacher for my students as a result of my stepping away into the welcoming arms of the natural world.
Extra-Curricular: Ballet
In 2015, in the midst of my own grief story, I signed up for an adult ballet class. Having never danced before this was foreign, difficult, and new. But it was also refreshing as it moved my focus and energy to something else and gave me a goal to work towards. As a teacher I gained the perspective of what my students may be experiencing as they are beginning to learn something for the first time and also gives me the awareness that for some students, at maybe difficult points in their lives, they may benefit from taking on a new project or experience.
Volunteering: Anglican Church of Canada
I have had the honour to serve in varied roles within the Anglican Church of Canada at the many levels of the church since I was sixteen years of age. I have served on local, regional, provincial, national and international committees and councils. I have addressed and given presentations to both small groups of people and Synods gathering together 800+ people. I have created agendas and chaired committee meetings, I have written more reports than I’d like to recall, and I’ve taken even more sets of minutes! I have been mentored, guided, challenged and encouraged through all of this but adults who saw something deep within me and helped me to discover what I have to offer the world. I hope to be that adult for students: the adult of inspires and calls out all that is deep within and help them to find their passions and interests and what they have to offer the world. (photo: Anglican Journal)