Adaptability:A pivot is not just a dance or basketball move, but it encompasses the same meaning. It is when we are going in one direction and then have to do a 180 degree turn. This change in direction can be quite difficult; just when you think you see things a certain way or have things lined up to your liking, situations or opportunities can come up that change the direction you thought you were going. Change is hard and change is uncomfortable, but we do not grow and learn without it.
There have been many times in my life where change has had to occur that I didn’t foresee happening or that needed to happen for me to grow. While some changes were easier than others, it was those difficult ones that really tested my strength and adaptability. Personally or professionally, they each shaped who I am now and my ability to adapt.
Just when I thought I had my schooling, job, and personal life all lined up for the next few years as I complete my degree, an unexpected tragedy happened that resulted in me leaving one position and starting another. Although, my title and hours didn’t change, the location, the student, the co-workers, the schedule, and everything I was comfortable with did change. This change was hard, but I wasn’t going to let it affect my momentum in moving forward. I chose to adapt to my environment and realized that this change, although emotional and hard, was a way for me to grow. I have learned so much in this position, and have been able to transfer skills learned in my previous position to the one I am in now.
Change is hard, but we have to choose to either fight it or embrace it. Choice is a powerful word that can give us control over how we are going to react to changes in our environments. For students, simple things (to us) such as a schedule change, or a substitute teacher can cause meltdowns or shut downs. As educators, if we can give some control back to students who are struggling, and prepare them and provide some choice, we are teaching them, over time, how to adapt to situations.
Below is a link to a YouTube video titled “Power of Choice” that I wrote and performed for a class in university. Enjoy!
Creativity: Combing my love of dance, skills as a choreographer, and my passion for inclusivity, I have been successful in creating ways for learners of all abilities to participate in their school communities. An example is when I was working with a young girl who had many diverse needs, including deafblindness and physical restrictions. She inspired me to hone my creativity even more. I choreographed dance routines for her and her friends and for her whole class to perform in our annual school talent shows for three years in a row. I also used my love of music and dance to establish routine, anticipation, relationship, and to encourage movement, response, and joy. During her physio session we would dance by moving her legs in a choreographed routined fashion to the same music each morning. The repetition gave her the opportunity to learn how to communicate with me through vocalizations, facial expressions, and slight arm movements. She looked forward to this and would start giggling when we entered the health room, because she knew it was going to be dance time.
Another example of my creativity was with a student who has non-verbal autism. One of his classes required the production of a scene from a play in small groups. As it was sometimes difficult to attend this class, and therefore join a group, we spent months practicing a solo, without verbal lines, whenever time would allow. I narrated and he used a felt board with felt characters and objects to tell the story visually to his class. He did an amazing job! Working with students requires creativity when adapting and modifying curriculum and assignments and especially when creating inclusive environments for all learners.
Enjoy this video of the first talent show! Permission was granted to film and share this video.
Problem Solving:I love a good challenge. If there is a will, there is a way. I have been quite determined throughout my life to find ways to make things work. This ranges from budgeting tight finances, figuring out how I was going to go back to university and balance being a single mom who works full-time, researching different ways to understand and connect with students who have diverse needs, learning how to fix things around my house and in my car, arranging schedules, and being a full-time mediator/referee (a parent).
I think that research is one of the key elements in being a problem solver. If I don’t know the answer to something or need more information the internet is very helpful. YouTube for fix-it-yourself videos or to explain concepts in different ways than a professor might have explained it have contrubuted to some of my successes. Researching different budgeting tips and other financial aides while I have been in school have kept my children and I afloat. Finally, using platforms such as pinterest (or google) to get more information on children’s behaviour and development, classroom ideas and adaptations, and understanding neurodiversities has been key in my success as an educational assistant.
Being able to reflect on situations and interactions and to assess what went well, and what needs more work will help me as I move forward in my educational career. Being a problem solver, to me, means looking for other ways to do things and to never give up or stop learning.
As an educator who is passionate about inclusive practive, I have seen some areas that could use some improvement and am dedicated to find ways to promote change. For example, peer leadership roles can be given to students with ‘challenging’ behaviours to give them a sense of community and belonging, as a way to eleviate these students from ‘falling through the cracks’. Although the paper I wrote below doesn’t address all of the ways which I believe change in inclusive practice can occur, it is a start. Enjoy, and feel free to comment with any input, feedback, or ideas!
Communication:Communication requires an exchange of information between two or more people. How we receive this information is receptive, and how we give information is expressive. It is not only talking. There are a multitude of ways in which human beings communicate.
I have studied non-verbal communication forms for close to 7 years, through the students that I have had the pleasure of working with. This education has enabled me to be able to look past what words are or are not being said, and to understand that we all have preferred ways of communication that are all equally valid and deserve respect.
I have been able to use this knowledge not only to better understand my own children and students, but to communicate with my co-workers on a more understanding and empathetic level. When we learn that not everyone thinks and communicates the same way, we are more open to listening to what is actually being “said”, and we create more trusting and respectful relationships.
Through one of my communication courses, I created a powerpoint that helped me understand my own communication philosophy. This was also a case study on a student. I edited the slide show to remove the case study section to protect privacy. Below is a sample of my communication philosophy.
Collaboration: Working with a team is something that being an educator and a student both entail. I have to admit, it is not something that I was practicing in all aspects of my life. As a mom and in past occupations, I was a ‘get it done myself’ type person, a natural leader who typically delegates. As a performer and an educator, I realized, this skill is a must have for success.
Working in education, dance and theatre requires an incredible amount of team work and I have been fortunate enough to learn that it is quite an amazing and necessary skill to acquire. Productivty goes up…but so does relationship building, listening skills, patience, and being part of something bigger than yourself.
My team when I worked with one particular student was made up of 10 or more people. Together, we created IEP’s, set up appointments, trouble shooted, shared accomplishments, monitored health, taught each other new skills, laughed and cried, and so much more. It was quite the team, and it is an experience that I will always hold on to. If it wasn’t for the team, it would have been a very lonely and overwhelming position. It definitely takes a village, and I am so grateful that I learned the importance of being part of one.
As a theatre minor, I was also tasked with the opportunity to create and perform devised theatre pieces with classmates. The first one we did was quite the learning curve for me. I was used to working with teams of professionals on local musicals when I used to do freelance choreography, and I expected the experience of writing a show to be similar. It was not. While personality traits and ideas differed, we were able to pull together and put on quite a funny and entertaining show, something we were proud of. This experience taught me that collaboration isn’t always easy, but when a team decides to put their differences aside, magic happens! The second show was quite a bit easier, as it was a different group of people who all happened to be on the same page (rare, I know!) We put on 3 amazing shows that was part of a festival and had the addition of a full technical crew, and advertising.
I am very proud of the collaboration that it took to see a show take form from the early stages of writing it to the last time the curtain closed. It wouldn’t have happened without a team!
Below are a series of billfolds from theatre and dance shows that I had to opportunity to perform in, write, or choreograph…all of which required teamwork to ‘set the stage’.
-Choroegraphing Beauty and the Beast for Robert Bateman Secondary School (2014) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Gallery 7 (2019).
-Lead actor/dancer in “Coming Home” with GrooveForce Productions (2018).
-Co-writer for “Sound of Mind” in the Devised Theatre Showcase with UFV (2023).
