Modified Philosophy of Ed. (2017)

See the following as my most recent philosophy, 

Carmelo S.J. Bono’s Statement to Philosophy of Education and Pedagogy (c. 2022)

To Whom it May Concern,

              Being a person of faith (Catholic), my values strongly surround the beatitudes and principles that are reflected in the ten commandments. Law is law, no matter where in the world one may be, and to say one does not know, is bliss. As a teacher, I take a stand in the things I do and say to/for my students as an advocate. The responsibility to act as a care provider during a field trip or class time is not a responsibility I take lightly.

              Students are the future of the world; they are going to be the doctors who we go to when sick; the policy makers who decide whether or not taxes go up or down; our students are some of the most important people in society. I do not believe in handing out answers, but building opportunities for learning through supporting students through their signature strengths.

              While studying to become a teacher, a document “Growing Success” was considered the most sacred educational document in Ontario as it offered guidance through a crucial shift in assessment and evaluation of Ontario’s practices in education. Students are not eligible to score a zero, unless the course ends and nothing is handed in, but every student deserves an opportunity to succeed and surpass their expectations of their abilities. Ontario asks teachers to focus their practices on assessments for learning rather than of learning in order to support growth mindsets in classrooms. Students are not expected to be held back. If a student is “held back”, it means the teacher failed somewhere along the line, or the supports are not in place at a school to offer the accommodation needed to support that student’s learning difficulties. I spent so many years teaching abroad with the British Columbia Curriculum because of the adjustments it made on a provincial level to accommodate learners who come from different cultures. I wanted to be apart of that change witness first hand how far that change could branch out. The high stakes provincial exams were disheartening to overseas students (to say the least) because of the disconnect of cultural references students would be exposed to on an exam.

              As a classroom teacher I teach to success. Working with students to build writing skills, critical thinking competencies and reading abilities are some the ways I know I can help them achieve their goals in an academic English classroom. In some cases though a teacher needs to be able to work with students by listening to them and acknowledging their concerns. My strategies to enhance critical thinking apply to active learning models such as cooking with students in kitchens (using English as well as comprehension skills); participating in school showcase events with materials that are specific to the engagement of the student body in a related topic/subject area; as well as classroom communal learning in say “murder mystery”.

              A teacher is not only a teacher though, I where many hats. I offer post-secondary education advice to my students (as a portion of rapport), when discussing progress and or goals of their learning; coaching advice on sports teams (Ball Hockey and Volleyball most notably); as well as support in areas of interest such as comic book clubs and charity fundraisers. I offer my evenings to school events while trying to balance my family life. I sacrifice my body and spirit for the sake of my student’s education continual participation in “Teacher Pi Day”, “Movember’s Shave a Teacher Day” and “Three Time Champion of the Charity Show’s Eating Contest” (That has been Jiaozi and Baozi-no hot dogs fortunately).

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The Differences Made (c. 2017)

Students are just as much teachers as teachers are themselves; there is a lot to learn from them as they have a lot to learn from us. A teacher needs to be more than just experienced, well read, and well mannered. There is a  need to be motivated, is very important for teachers because even though a teacher may want to make progress and see the difference made, they may not see the progress. “The burden of learning falls on the shoulders of the teacher just as much as it does on the student”, is what we would like to think. The reality is that we need to differentiate to the learning styles of our students. As a teacher you learn there are two types of progress, internal and external. Growth refers to more than just intellectual advancement but also refers to social growth. I want to experience the same sense of pride about my future students as my family, friends and teachers have felt about me.

Learning includes more than just students who can remember endless amounts of information; there will be students who need more elaboration and engagement on topics. As a teacher I want to provide my students with the learning styles that are most suitable for them based on their needs. Differentiated instruction and assessment as, of, and for are two important tools that a prepared teacher always has in their toolbox. Rote learning fails to drive the expectation that the lesson is trying to foster into the long term memory of students. Establishing a working routine of respect, care and communal learning in the classroom is essential to a successful classroom. The biggest reason for this is that it is usually not engaging enough to simply have an impersonal classroom in which students feel they are isolated based on their learning needs; developing a love of knowledge as a teacher and sharing that with your students in various ways is important.

As a student, learning at times is dry. Other times learning keeps me believing (in the time of my education) that if  not for the purpose of my own success in life, I can share my experiences and knowledge to enrich the lives of others. Everyone experiences this apathy in learning at one point or another while a student; people understand it as a norm. I honestly think there are ways to minimize this. I intend to put everything that I can into my lessons to ensure that I have done all I can to inspire the fullest ambitions of my students. I vow to engage my students in every aspect of the lesson to ensure that they are not shown anything less than exactly what they need to succeed and beyond.

Students respond to engaged and passionate behaviours because they crave that feeling of approval. A teacher who can inspire youth to engage themselves and become an active learner, is a teacher who has discovered the difference between a good and a great teacher. They are trying to find their calling; as teachers it is our job to give them a map of every possible route. Our lessons should be making them take their pencil to their life map and sketching out their possible journeys ahead after each word spoken to them.

My philosophy in regards to teaching and learning is based on respect, similarly to what the “Leadereship in Learning Communities” section of OCT’s Foundations of Professional Practice (Aug. 2016) in which it describes of understanding their responsibility to the students and a healthy learning community. In my classroom I try my absolute best to keep these simple expectations alive and well, “respect the rules of the classroom, respect me, respect your peers but most of all, yourself”. The classroom is a place where more than just academic learning occurs. A great deal of things  taught, are social skills and societal expectations. I remember when I was in grade seven, I had a teacher who had all the boys out of the class (including myself) going home and sharing with their parents an interesting fact that they were taught by him that day. I did not realize I did this until one day I was on the bus heading home from school when one other student from a different class was insulting the teacher I had. Another student in my class was a brother to this boy and began agreeing with him. The older boy turned to his brother and said to him “Ya right! You love that teacher! Guys, this kid comes home and tells my mom, Mr… says this, and says that. Don’t lie.” I was nervous to say anything to these older boys until I knew that I was not the only one who felt this way about the teacher. I stood up and declared myself as a fan of this teacher as well. The other student and I were ridiculed but the fact that a teacher could make a “cool student” feel like a student in grade 3 coming home with such fascination for  knowledge again; speaks a lot to their ability to inspire wonder and awe.

This is the type of teacher I strive to be; the teacher who has students that want to be given assignments that requires them to research and inquire more. Students who want to learn more, are students who are successful students. An individual’s success does not reflect the teacher themselves but the environment that teacher was able to create that inspired the student to do so well.

The Power of "Now" (Not the New Age Spiritual Stuff)

I agree that yes, students need to be encouraged but at what point are we denying the students the necessity of NOW. I understand that the curriculum and the pedagogy we develop in teacher’s college as well as at the beginning of our careers that students can be given an equal opportunity to study, learn and practice at a pace needed for them.

The students don’t decide whether their abilities can be developed over time knowingly. The brain makes the decision for them. Reward systems in the brain make it possible for individuals to develop their own learning, Carol Dweck understands this. The way that students evaluate an activity is based on the rewards received and students do generally do well when they are given the “not yet” grade because they do know eventually they will get it. But what negative mentalities might this foster. The evidence given along with the TED video is very convincing but the reality is, what are we trying to teach the students? What happens when these students get into the workplace? This is a classic devil’s advocate point to this idea.

Speaking to native reserves, yes many students academically struggle. When these students are given the “now” maybe they don’t succeed as quickly native students given the “yet” mentality because, yes, they need more time to mature and make mistakes. Most students are like this I would believe, because the fact is that these are adolescence and students we are talking about. Maturity is a huge factor, home is a huge factor in how students will learn.

A native classroom that has a student focused on improving and making data work, will surely do better than a native based classroom with a teacher who is simply living out there because the money is good or there were no jobs where they were locally from.

Not all the data is clear to me when I am listening and watching this TED talk, although it is nice, it is a lot of idea with not a lot of practicum.

To teach the “not yet” is to basically say to the student, “look, you didn’t pass grade three yet, but maybe next time.”

I teach at an international boarding school in China. Realistically we see 30 students or so flunk out of the BC program each year, possibly more (I am speaking to the averages I have seen/experienced in the last three years). These students were growing up with the “not yet” mentality, or at least a broken hybrid of the “not yet” and the “now”. Chinese Education is very much rote, while at the same time being very forgiving on a social behavioural level. In our school, it is not common for a student to get suspended for an ambiguous reason or even academic reasons; however it is common for students to decide that they can’t continue on in the BC program because the English is too difficult. What I am trying to say is, given all the chances and “not yets” given to students throughout the year, a chunk still see it as not enough to move forward. Granted, these students will still graduate with a chinese high school diploma , but where is the line? What are the restrictions on this philosophy? I think it should be more clearly stated. I mean, what would happen if you have a student who just gives up, says “not yet, maybe in a year or two, I’ll try to graduate high school”? Then what? Yes, its their life, their decision but as a teacher you don’t want to see a student drop out, you don’t want to also go against what you have been promoting through classroom management all year when saying “not yet,”…so what then?

I think for Elementary its not a bad philosophy to an extent but a certainly level of accountability needs to be upheld. This is a great starter for students who may lack motivation but it feels more of a philosophy one might see used in a student resource room or guidance counselor’s office. 

Integrating Aboriginal Culture into the Rest of ON

Background: As apart of the Trent U ABQ course, we are looking at the possibilities and implications of adapting the Aboriginal Studies into the rest of ON, WHY NOT!?


Why not learning about another culture, language or peoples? Really? I mean, without saying that its quite the same as when a teacher takes it upon themselves to become a member of a Catholic School Community or non-native french speaker integrates themselves into a French Immersion School Community. On some level I feel there is a moment where education needs ensure that teachers have the training they need to meet the needs of their students.

To be frank, I thought it was a mandatory course through my concurrent education year. I must say that it was extremely helpful with experiences after during teacher's college.

Students in public schools and Catholic schools of ON are living in a bubble when it comes to the foundations and history of Canada. The Social Studies curriculum begins preparing them for what is to come in the high school history education but by that time the students have already developed a conception that Canada is and always was a culture mosaic. To extent “Canada” itself has always been, but it was what came before that which is important.

The curriculum that is offered now begins to tie up the loose ends of the past educational curriculum but needs to offer more than a bit of knowledge to help students truly understand where Canada came from. The native people lived by a simple philosophy in life and once the Europeans arrived, things became complicated. A modern world mingling with a world that didn’t want to remove itself from what had always been. Not unlike today, there are many traditions that these cultures (we call the First Nations) have many beliefs that offer more than animism and theism in general. Their teachings offer a fundamental respect for all living things and that is what kept their cultures alive for the amount of time it has.

This fundamental belief of respect for one another (including the earth itself) is a crucial teaching that applies further than simple religion and language but also into the basic science elementary school students learn. Biodiversity, food chains, etc.

The reading of culture and tradition is poetry in itself. The Ojicree practice chanting that offers teachings and stories in many different respects. The students we teach in our schools are indeed learning English but why can’t they also be observing another language’s translated chants or scripts of dialogue, etc. This allows students to view a text from a different viewpoint. The teachings of cultures are applicable to language arts on most levels. Yes, they would most likely need to be translated but its not as if they are not already.

Overall, the idea of learning about indigenous studies is a matter of developing understanding of the world around us, and respect for not just fellow Canadians, but other humans. This is not just an English world, or a French World, is multi-cultural and just as we show willingness to work closely with one culture, we certainly should for all.

J/I ABQ: A Small Bit on Supporting ELL in a Classroom

Background: I am completing an online J/I ABQ course through Trent University, Module questions and discussion points I am coming up with will be posted here...Why not?

Educators can support ELL learners through a number of ways. I am no expert but I have been doing this for the last two years, a lot of what I had read are things that we practice on a regular basis and need to continually practice and harness as students are becoming privy to language dodging technology.

There are apps out in the app stores that allows people to take pictures and translate specifically highlighted words with their fingers at which point the app will translate the words in the picture into whatever language asked for. This is helpful as well as damaging. The pros to technology like this are the ease of access of materials and that could be important in serious situations or scenarios. With that being said though, there will be a dependency on technology like this if students cannot first learn how to differentiate between a “must have translated for me”, and a “learning point”. There are situations in the classroom or reading tasks with students that they will innately grab at their cellphone for without practicing or appraoching the word verbally first. In these highschool students, we can see a crutch already present in students who are less familiar with English speaking or reading.

As teachers we can offer assistance and support in a number of ways. Just as the French immersion schools work to teach French with a strict rule of French speaking only in the schools, our international school strives for that using English as the immersion language. In this environment students usually revert to native tongue when speaking with different individuals around the school but they know that most of their teachers do not speak Chinese. Classroom norms of tem building and cooperation between students is important because they will continually rely on one another in class throughout classroom activities and further understanding of the work.

Teachers offer tutorials which is an hour or so after school in which students can receive 1:1 assistance with homework or areas of challenge assisted by the teacher, students with more familiarity in the subject.

Personally, strategies in reading is where I am working on assisting my students the most. The BC curriculum pushes to have students complete “cold writes” which is something we know students struggle with, they need to be able to read a prompt and/or text and respond accordingly depending on the type of essay asked they write.

Grammar help through technology, websites, apps, things I can introduce them to 1:1 that they can use at home to assist them is one way I choose to support my language learners. These students do not have WIFI in their dorms and usually travel long distances to go home for weekends and holidays. Technology offers them chances to complete work and realize that their technology is not merely for game playing and messaging friends. It has been a struggle but I have also been teaching the students how to work on technology to complete essays and other assignments, offering small skill testing tasks in English to help them improve their abilities to read and comprehend instruction as well as communicate with other students using the Edmodo.com classroom I setup for the class.

For ELL students their fall back is usually websites, resources, and research that stems from their mother tongue. The students should be completing the work in English, they often times are unsure where to find or even how to start research in the second language (especially when Google is blocked). Baidu and Navier are examples of search engines in other languages that the students fall back on. As a teacher, one can offer a list of places to a) find resources in English; and b) a few beginning resources to use.

In Math students are introduced to vocabulary and not only number solving problems but also word problems. In class the best cases are when students find themselves confused by Canadian iconic names, and cultural references such as “The top of a medium Tim Hortons cup has a height of 6cm and a radius of…” Students will not only be learning the basics of math conception but the cultural knowledge of Canadian (former Canadian at least) brands and concepts. These are class learning points that when divided up throughout a unit can be empowering and enlightening or students emigrating to Canada or planning to study in Canada at the very least.