Developing children into deep conceptual learners has been an ongoing passion since I began my international career. Instead of teaching the way I have been taught, my professional development experiences have helped mold my philosophies and practices to have a greater impact on student growth.

Learners should be able to understand where they are at within their educational journey, adequately reflect on their current level of performance, and then set realistic personal goals to move forward in their next steps of learning. Working collaboratively, learners determine this pathway. Through this protocol, learners develop the resilience and perspective to know themselves as learners and make their understanding meaningful. Additionally, this practice ensures that ALL learners have an opportunity to improve and learn. Learners work on the skills they need to improve while also receiving affirmation for skills they have mastered.

I now know that students learn best in an inquiry-based teaching/learning classroom allowing students to explore in depth to allow students to develop rich understandings and meaningful skills. Students should be able to reason and communicate well using mathematical language.