April 20, 2025 – end of the term

The last possible day to submit grades for the Winter 2025 term is April 23rd. I’m glad that I met the due date with some time to spare. That said, I took some liberty with the final due date and last assignment submission. I was open to flexing the final due date for those who needed it, but I needed some flex too. For the last few years, I’ve been challenging myself and my pedagogy in terms of how to teach at the university that would be authentic and true to my values but also model what I was teaching and still being compliant to the university.

I started with my pedagogy… in teacher education and graduate studies. I think I have a strong hold of my approach to teaching in these classes. Students were helpful in providing me with feedback and helping how to I could approach teaching in higher education. Admittedly, I was driven by perceived expectations and stereotypes of what makes a “good professor.” I could not live up to those expectations, nor did I want to. It wasn’t like imposter syndrome. It was worse. I was being someone who I was not, and I was losing myself in the practice.

With each class, I wanted to do something different. Not being different for the same of being different, but rather being more like myself and aligning my practice to who I really was. The process was rather messy. Lots of mistakes or missteps were taken, but that’s where the learning really happens. The more vulnerable I was with my practice, the more aligned my assessment practices could be. Sadly, I was often in a cognitive struggle with who I wanted to be with whom I thought I should be. It wasn’t until Winter 2025 when it came together.

In brief, students in my teacher education classes offered unsolicited moral support and I received affirmation that was unexpected. They noticed my efforts and shared their appreciation with me. I wanted to hold that space for them but also accept those compliments at face value. In past, I would have shrugged them off and not believe them because I thought I had to always fix myself to be a better self. My graduate class was always fun. It’s amazing that they were able to recognize and call my class a “sharing circle” which I will not take for granted. Finally, my undergraduate class helped to turn a corner I thought I was unable.

Now, I approach my end of term marking period as a LEARNING opportunity for me. Instead of grading and evaluation… which involved lots of judgement and scrutiny… I took this marking season as a learning one. I was learning about what they learned. Did they meet the criteria? Did they personalize their learning? Did they complete the assignments? Did their work reflect who they are as a learner? Did they meet the expectation of the assignment? These questions regarding assessment made sense to me. The students completed the work, personalized their assignments, and met or exceeded expectations.