Teaching Metaphor

The most influential teacher that I have met would have been my sister, Ms McNeil. Growing up I have always looked up to my older sister, and watching her complete both her bachelors degree and her masters is what persuaded me to apply to the teaching program. I had the opportunity to observe her in her school setting and volunteer within an after school program she ran and her ability to help students learn and understand concepts that they did not before was exciting to witness. The joy that came onto her students faces when they completed a math problem correctly and knowing that she was proud of them made me want to be able to give that feeling to children as well. Her ability to communicate with a vast amount of students throughout her teaching career is what inspired me, as well as her determination to continue on with her own education. Have that relationship with my sister then gave me the opportunity to see not only her work life but a personal one too, and the balance that she worked to have between being a teacher and being a partner and mother. Long days at work though sometimes exhausting never seemed to change her enthusiasm for returning to her students and educating them. Working with different levels of understanding, and yet her drive to teach all students is what I strive to be like as an educator myself. While teaching her students, but also attending her master class to further her own abilities to educate showed me how, even though we are considered to be educated and then to educate young minds ourself, there is no degree at which we ourselves should stop learning. My sister in her years of being a teacher has never stopped that drive to push her own learning abilities further while still being an educator herself. The two go hand in hand while being a teacher, the ability to educate and share knowledge while still adapting and learning personally, and my sister has shown that over her teaching experience. I am forever grateful for being able to have an amazing role model and sister in my life to have shown me how amazing and fulfilling working with young minds can be, while still learning ourselves.

This photo was taken on one of my hiking trips in Jasper, Alberta. Im using it as my teaching metaphor during this time because I believe that the natural world plays a key role in how we as educators teach. Sometimes there are mountains that have to be climbed in order to reach the top, but in the end it will be worth it to admire the view knowing all the hard work that was put in to achieve that victory.