Professional Competency 1
Professional competency 1 deals with acting as a cultural facilitator when carrying out duties as a teacher. It is expected that we work as interpreters, facilitators, and critics of culture by introducing a variety of heritages and aiding in the continual development of cultural awareness of our students as citizens of the world.
My development
When I started out in the program, I can honestly say that I was not prepared to be a cultural facilitator as I had grown up in a very white French Quebecois neighborhood and schools. I had travelled to various countries which gave me some insight into various cultures, but I knew that this was something that I would need to develop. In my FE2 and 3 I was placed in a very culturally diverse school. This gave me the opportunity to develop this competency and become culturally aware. I developed content that was relevant to helping students understand Canadian, Quebec and Montreal culture as this is where they live while also aiding them to think critically about heritage and cultures from around the world. Throughout my FE4, I had much to learn again to teach my indigenous students and help them to develop their identities and be proud of who they are while remaining respectful and aware that this is not my culture and that I had much to learn from the community and its students.
Overall, I have been able to develop this competency being the one educating students about cultures but also, I have been on the flip side, being respectful, open, and receptive to their own cultures and demonstrating that we are constantly learning and growing as citizens of the world. Thus, I believe that I find myself at a “thorough” level of mastery as I still have much to learn but have greatly developed as well.
Artefacts
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This lesson plan with artifact creation, completed as an assignment for one of my bachelor courses, allows students to develop their knowledge and understanding of various cultures from around the world. This provides students with the opportunity to discover and build on their understandings and views on the world by getting them to see the beauties of each country and culture with the teacher as a guide for students without feeding them what they should see and think. This lesson allows for students to develop their cultural awareness and become critical thinkers when considering world heritages.
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This is a unit plan created for one of my bachelor courses. It explores the specific topic of food and associated diseases or illnesses so that newly arrived immigrant students would be able to inform themselves on the cultural foods of the new country them find themselves living in. Food, being a huge cultural component for many of us, is an important aspect that needs to be studied and understood so that immigrant students can understand the beauty and potential dangers that they may not have been aware of without a project such as this.
 Lusginign (Indian bread) |  Storytelling |  fire building |
|---|---|---|
 Fire making |  Maple syrup tapping |  Sap collection |
 Maple syrup evaporating |  Bracelet making |  Traditional bracelet pattern |