As an educator, one of my values is to allow student their own voice and choice in assignments, activities and assessments. The more students feel a sense of autonomy the more engaged they are in learning and their retention of taught content is far greater! I regularly use choice options in all subjects and keep my students' interests and opinions in mind when designing lessons.

My students with exceptionalities and IEPs benefit from supports such as visual schedules and organizers such as these I used during my grade 6 placement. The ability to feel in control of what is expected, and what is coming up, is one way I accommodate and support students with self-regulation needs - as they take ownership of their day and routine, they more actively participate in classroom learning.

I taught a unit in global citizenship and refugees in a grade 6 placement. Together, we used the text The Paper Boat (by Thao Lam) which tells the story of a family's escape from Vietnam using only images and without words. We used this rich text to begin a dialogue about deeply meaningful issues such as empathy, identity, immigration, refugees, political and climate considerations, as well as human rights (eg. the work of Amnesty International). Although this unit was introduced to students in junior division the students were extremely engaged and impacted, due to intentional scaffolding and considerations made to age appropriate content. The unit was cross-curricular in nature, weaving in curriculum expectations from literacy, visual arts, science and social science.