Now more than ever before, education has become reliant on technology for accessing, sharing, and storing educational tools and resources. As a teacher candidate, I have become familiar with many website and online documents. Below are some of the online resources I access frequently, along with a brief description about their significance and/or purpose.
- First Peoples Principles of Learning (2014) Site, created by Jo-Anne L. Chrona: https://firstpeoplesprinciplesoflearning.wordpress.com/
This website was designed for teachers living in British Columbia (BC), with the objective of explaining what the First Peoples Principles of Learning are, their importance, and how teachers can implement them within the classroom. When designing lessons and thinking about education as a holistic entity, this website is an extremely helpful resource. There are some content areas of the BC curriculum that might not be Indigenously inspired, but they should all consider and include one or more of the First Peoples Principles of Learning. As a teacher in BC, it is important to acknowledge the land that we live on, the people and cultures that lived on this land prior to settler arrival, and the beliefs and ways of knowing and being that First Peoples practiced in the past and continue to practice in the present – the First Peoples Principles of Learning can help us achieve this.
2. The BC Curriculum: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/
The BC Curriculum provides the curriculum and competency requirements for teachers in BC for grades K-12. The website is easy to navigate and has plenty of detailed information. The curriculum is broken down into core competencies (communication, thinking, and personal and social), big ideas, curricular competencies, and content. Everything that is practiced in the classroom should be based on the curriculum in one or more of these areas. This website is a great starting point for teachers who may feel stuck during their planning, or who may need to reflect on what they have covered during the year and what still needs to be implemented in the classroom.
3. Professional Standards for BC Educators: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/kindergarten-to-grade-12/teach/teacher-regulation/standards-for-educators/edu_standards_poster-11×17.pdf
Before I even started the Elementary Education program at TRU, I had searched the professional standards for BC educators. I figured that if I wanted to be a teacher in the future, I’d best start thinking and acting like one from that point on. But what did that really mean? What does it really mean to enter the teaching profession? Well, this link encompasses the nine set standards in which teachers in BC are expected to follow and uphold. Once I found this list of standards, I even wrote them out in my phone so I that I could try to memorize them and have them stuck in the back of my head at all time (I have not successfully memorized them, but I continue to review them on a regular basis). Whether I’m at work, in the community, or at home, these standards are part of who I will be as a teacher, and are standards that will continue to shape who I am for the rest of my professional career.