CHERYL MADLIGER

Discipline. Craft. Art. Science. Calling. These are all words we use when referring to teaching. For me, teaching is a combination of many things, and no one word can sum up what I hope to do and be in my career as an educator. Rather than think of myself in one way, I see my role as an educator as one responsible for creating opportunities for learning in everything I do--whether that is my students’ learning, my own professional or personal learning, or learning in any other context of my life.

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I did not go through my education knowing that I wanted to be a teacher. While I applaud those who know the career for them early on, taking time to explore my career options played a large role in opening my mind to the possibility of teaching as a rewarding career. Once I had explored other avenues--working in chiropractic offices or retail settings in administrative roles, at gyms as a personal trainer and fitness instructor, freelance writing--I came to realize just how much I missed the environment of school. I have always valued my education, and as I began to realize that I might be interested in a career in the field, I started to seek out opportunities to work with youth.

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The experiences I ended up having were not confined to the classroom. I began to volunteer regularly with Growing Chefs! Ontario, a local charity that works with students to help them connect with their food. This approach does not forefront a single subject, but is instead cross-curricular in its approach. I vividly remember Andrew Fleet, the director, speaking about the power of such education. He said something to the effect of, “Through food and cooking, students learn about geography and biology--where their food comes from and how it grows. To cook up a recipe, they have to do math and read. We can talk about history and different cultures when we talk about food traditions.” He said this much more eloquently than I can do it justice, but in him I saw not only a passion for education and his work, but also an alternative approach to education which has inspired me to this day. Volunteering with and eventually working for Growing Chefs! Ontario was a huge part of why I enrolled in teacher’s college.  

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Part of what I gleaned from my time at Growing Chefs! was an appreciation for the way in which students are inherently curious. Kindergarten students, for instance, are awe-inspired when you explain that a seed will grow into food on our plates. Kids of all ages are amazed when they see something they’ve planted grow into a garden on their classroom windowsill. I saw the same kind of wonder and awe when I completed my alternative placement at Jaffa Environmental Education Centre, where I assisted with the delivery of diverse programming to students ranging in age from kindergarten to grade 10. I saw the power of taking students beyond the classroom and the traditional ideas of learning that I remembered from being in school, and giving them the opportunity to learn authentically and outside of the classroom. In both of the exercises, I began to appreciate the way in which marks are not the be-all end-all of our roles as educators. It was the “aha!” moments in the students, or the inquisitive questions they’d ask that really mean we’d facilitated learning!

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My training at Althouse included a large element of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) instruction, which deepened my appreciation for context-driven teaching and learning. Luckily, it also prepared me with teaching strategies and practical ways to bring the kind of transformative learning I am so passionate about to my future students. I had the opportunity to work with some of these strategies--like case studies, for instance--both in my practicum and in my time at Althouse, where I was able to generate a case study of my own that I hope to use at the first opportunity!

 

Creating a case study was an enjoyable experience for me, likely because I thrive when I have a chance to create anything that I feel has relevance. As a freelance writer, a hobby I keep up on the side, I am totally in the zone when I am writing something that I know will matter to a reader--the articles I am most excited to share in my online writing portfolio. While I know that what I am passionate about will not always resonate with my students, I also know that just as I thrive when I am doing work I feel is meaningful, my students will thrive when they are doing work that feels important--work that goes beyond the classroom. My driving question when I am doing any kind of lesson planning or development is, How is this meaningful? If I am struggling for answers, I know I have to do some rehashing before moving forward.

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I may be passionate about writing, but I know that my students may not share that passion. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity in my time at Althouse to have been exposed to the ideas of universal design for learning (UDL) and to multiliteracies theory, both of which have led me to rethink the ways in which I present material and the types of opportunities I provide students to represent their learning. Incorporating an appreciation for UDL helped me to be more flexible with both my delivery and assessment strategies, and exploring multiliteracies has only strengthened my resolution to do more than give tests and assign essays. Instead, I hope to allow students to express themselves in a multitude of ways. This commitment came to life first in a lesson plan I put together with three of my classmates from Althouse, but as since permeated into all of the work I do. Thanks to multiliteracies, I have started to look for opportunities to develop my students’ literacy skills beyond reading and writing and even traditional scientific literacy. I completed a discourse analysis as my Masters thesis, so I am excited to bring some of the critical thinking skills I developed myself then into my classroom instruction to prepare my students to best navigate today’s world. I wrote about more of my thoughts on the importance of multiliteracies in one of my earliest blog posts, and over time, my dedication to living the principles in my pedagogy has only been reinforced.

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Following my graduation from Althouse, I was eager to dive into my career. I applied for both supply teaching positions and for teaching in college and university settings, and was extremely grateful to receive a position teaching in the Kinesiology faculty at Western University. The process of building a course--the syllabus, learning objectives, readings, assessments, and lectures--and delivering it to a classroom of 200 students on a weekly basis has been transformative, to say the least. I have realized how important our teaching and pedagogy is, and have come to appreciate just how useful my time in teacher's college really was. Many of the classroom management, instructional design, and classroom engagement strategies I developed during my placements have facilitated my ability to teach in higher education. It has been in this setting, too, where I have really begun to challenge myself to live up to my teaching philosophy. Rather than "lecturing" my students as they passively receive knowledge to be regurgitated, something I am afraid too many university courses involve, I have tried to invite curiosity, discussion, and critical thinking in my classroom. My teaching must involve an appreciation for the way in which information is all around us--it's not more of the information that students need, but rather the tools and examples to help them navigate today's world. 

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My work supply teaching in the Thames Valley and Avon Maitland District School Boards has exposed me to so many different classrooms --something I know is an invaluable gift as a budding educator. I've had the chance to work with students of all persuasions and to explore teaching in a wide variety of settings and subjects. Over the course of the past year, I've really come to appreciate the privilege of teaching and being able to work with young people on a daily basis. 

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In short, I believe that my role as an educator--regardless of the setting--is to invite curiosity and to create the conditions ripe for learning for my students. I have seen learning happen in the classroom and beyond--and look forward to all of the ways in which I can truly make my mark as an educator.

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Updated June 22, 2018