Educators act ethically and maintain the integrity, credibility and reputation of the profession.
Not only is it important to design and provide learning experiences that are meaningful and purposeful as a teacher educator, there is also a responsibility to model what it means to be a professional in the teaching profession. In my classes, we talk about the professional standards, Parker Palmer’s (1984) heart of a teacher and you teach who you are, and BC’s Curriculum. The images in this webpage are from a land based experience as Westlake Provincial Park.
This school year, I was committed to learn more about the land and local area. I lived most of my live on the west coast and I wanted to learn more about the land of the Lheidli T’enneh Peoples and “land as teacher” through a walking curriculum. The teacher candidates I was working with this term was the Elementary cohort and I was teaching EDUC 394 (Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Teaching – Theory in Practice) and EDUC 405 (Reflective Practice and Inquiry Through Portfolios).
The week before, we had a decision to make… online learning to watch a presenter provided by the school district or go outside and learn on the land. We met as a circle (only a few weeks together as a class) to make a decision and we decided to meet at Westlake Provincial Park. I’ve been there once before with a friend to preview the area before the fall term started. When we arrived, it was a beautiful foggy morning and we spent our first moments connecting to the water.
If land is teacher, the professional relationships we have are not only with others but also with the land. We took a moment to understand our relationship with the water and then with the land using Gillian Judson’s (2017) A Walking Curriculum. We met in circle and worked in triads… imagining, wondering, and experiencing. The Westlake experience was memorable for me and the teacher candidates. It was the day after my birthday and the cohort gifted me with a stick with words that described me (based on our 2-word check in inspired by Brené Brown).
You can see the fog lifting in the last photo as the morning progressed and we started to develop collegial relationships with the land and each other. Westlake was the beginning of Week 4 of the teacher education program and our class together. The day was filled with the Core Competencies, the walking curriculum, and what it means to be a professional and a good friend to the land and others. In the teaching profession, I believe “we teach who we are.” Understanding self, our intentions, and in the service of learners, you will proud to “be a professional.”
