Hi, I'm Sarah!
Welcome to Teaching Little Brains. Thank you for joining me.
Please allow me to introduce myself.
My little family consists of myself, my incredible husband, and our sweet spunky daughter. She brings us the most joy, teaches us about what is important in life every single day, and definitely keeps us on our toes! We love spending time together – whether out for an adventure, or enjoying some quality time at home (usually playing games – real or imaginary – having a dance party, or snuggling up with books). We are very fortunate.
My Teaching Path
Teaching is my calling. I have always known I wanted to be a teacher – ever since I was in kindergarten. It is in every fibre of my being.
For me, teaching has looked like many different things over the years, and the route I have followed to get to where I am now was full of twists and detours. After graduating from Univerysity, I moved to Japan to teach English (and some French) to students of all ages – from 3 months to 75+ years old. I ended up living there for 3 years. With the money I had saved there, I was able to travel for almost a year through South East Asia, New Zealand and Australia.
When I returned home to Canada, I continued teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) mainly to adult international students and Newcomers to Canada. Eventually, I began training other ESL teachers.
I finally decided to make a switch to the public education system in Primary and Junior grades (grades K-6), and began in Grade 1 French Immersion. Currently, and for the past 6 years, I have been working as a “Learning Resource Teacher” (LRT), a role that includes supporting grade 1 students who are struggling in reading through an intervention program, and collaborating with teachers in Math and Literacy to impact student achievement and build capacity in the classroom. To my rough estimation, in the past 5 years alone, I have been lucky enough to have worked directly with over 65 inspiring educators in more than 30 classrooms across the board and more than 1000 students.
Coaching and collaborating with other educators light my heart on fire! This is my passion, and I am so excited and honoured to get to live my dream every day!
My Educational Philosophy
I believe that our young learners are capable and competent – much more so than they are often given credit for, that they deserve our respect, and that they have a LOT to teach us, if we are willing to listen.
As much as possible, and in all weather conditions, I take students outside. I have seen first hand, the positive impact outdoor learning has on mental health, environmental consciousness, engagement, and achievement – of both students and educators.
I believe whole-heartedly that our job as educators is to foster a love of learning in our students, and to help them develop the skills they will need to navigate through life to become people they are proud to be. Empowering students to take on decision-making and leadership roles in the classroom not only teaches them these skills, but provides the opportunity for them to practice, resulting in increased confidence, resilience, and independence.
School should be a place that students (and teachers) look forward to coming to every day! I strive to make this so.