Hi, Im Hannah. I grew up and attended elementary and secondary school here in Prince George.
I attended Quinson Elementary and was lucky to have some great teachers during my time there. My teachers were supportive and fostered many of my interests, helping build confidence in myself as I was quite shy growing up (and still am).
The teacher that was most influential to me was my grade six teacher, Ms. G. She took the time to know me as an individual, and learned my strenghts and weaknesses. Ms. G discovered that I really struggled in math, and that this had been swept under the rug by all my previous teachers. In grade six I was struggling to add, subtract, and multiply three digit numbers. I also struggled to read clocks and understand time. Ms. G took the time to work with me independently, and help grow my math skills. She also donated textbooks, workbooks, and flashcards to me from her personal collection to support the continuation of my learning.
While noticing my academic struggles, Ms. G also fostered my interests. We both enjoyed crafting and specifically, making jewelry. After learning this, Ms. G donated some of her Jewelry making supplies to me. This was such a touching gift and 11yr old me felt so seen. She helped me grow not only as a student, but as an individual. I hope to be like Ms. G and support my students in their struggles and in their strengths / interests.
Metaphor for Teaching & Learning: Knitting
For my Metaphor I chose Knitting! Knitting is a skill that was taught to me at a very young age by my grandmother. I stopped knitting and picked it back up about 10 yrs later, having to relearn the skill. Since re-learning, I’ve been hooked! I love being able to see or think of an idea and bring it to life. Knitting has helped my mental health a lot. I worked a very stressful job the last two years, and knitting gave me something to look forward to at the end of the day. Knitting is also very relaxing and provides a huge sense of accomplishment when you finish a project!
Knitting is a great metaphor for teaching and learning. Casting on, or starting your work can be thought of as building your foundation for any skill or subject you are about to teach or learn. You need this to be successful in whatever you are about to pursue.
Knitting is a stitch-by-stitch process. You cannot just jump to the end or skip steps, otherwise your project falls apart or ends up a little wonky. You must knit all your stitches, pick up any if they fall, and persevere to the end. This could be applied to any new skill you are learning or teaching!
In the knitting world, the term “frogging” means to undo or take apart your work. This is something you do when you missed a step, dropped a stitch or need to revise something. We do this all the time when learning. If we skip a step or miss something, we must go back and fix it. This can be applied to teaching as well. You may try something new with the class and if it doesn’t work out as hoped, you will revise it or cut it out all together.
Last but not least, casting off. Casting off is when you secure all your stitches so they don’t unravel when taken off the needles. This provides you with your final product. In Teaching and Learning, we can think of this as accumulating all our knowledge for an assessment or project.
Every pattern you use in knitting will allow you to learn a new skill or build on old ones. We do this constantly in teaching and learning. You cannot multiply in math if you do not have the foundational skills that allow you to do so. One must also practice these skills to keep them sharp!
As we can see, knitting is a great metaphor for teaching and learning. A strong foundation is vital for life long learning, every stitch matters, and mistakes allow us opportunities to revise and grow our knowledge.