My name is Lauryn Young and I was raised on the Sunshine Coast, BC. I am currently in my 2nd year of the Elementary Bachelor of Education program at the University of Victoria. Currently, I am completing various teacher education courses such as drama, literacy, and physical and health education. I am a very outdoorsy person, so any activities or lessons that can be taught outside of the classroom are my favourite. Inside the classroom, I enjoy art and physical and health education. I am very interested in learning difficulties and am using this as a focus for most class assignments. I believe that learning more about students with learning difficulties will help me create an inclusive classroom in my future career. During my practicum with you, I hope to gain more knowledge about learning difficulties and how creating an inclusive classroom benefits these struggling children.
In the fall, I was placed at an elementary school in SD63 for my field experience. I was in a grade three class and really connected with my students. During my time there, I learned how adaptive teachers need to be. Because of the covid shutdown of schools in March, so many children in my class were at different learning stages, and some shouldn’t have even been in the grade they were placed in. But, my mentor teacher completely adapted to the needs of each child and did a phenomenal job at accommodating them. In my high school years, I devoted much of my time to volunteering with my local girl guide group and elementary school. Through volunteering with the girl guides, I learned how important it is for girls to have an older role model to follow. I also saw the importance of the safe space that this group created for girls with unstable homes. This experience opened my eyes to schools also being this supportive environment and made me want to be a part of it for as many children as possible. I believe that it is so important to always keep this thought in mind throughout a teaching career.
With that being said, my philosophy on teaching is that all children are unique and it is my job to create an environment that supports every students’ individual needs. I feel this should be an environment where students feel comfortable to take risks, share their opinions, and grow from this.