Attending high schools in Germany and France:

I had the opportunity to attend high school in Germany for 2 weeks and high school in France for one year. Both of these experiences were different but equally taught me valuable lessons about myself, education, and what I value as a future educator. I got to experience the struggles as a student who did not know any German and knew only a little French when I attended those schools, which now allows me to sympathize with ELL students that I encountered. I also got to experience different school systems, which allowed me to see the benefits or drawbacks of the Canadian education system and how I want to structure my future class. 

City of Abbotsford:

During my undergrad I did a co-op placement with the City of Abbotsford economic development department. This job was not related to my desired career of being a teacher but I think that it allowed me to develop and practice some valuable skills that I will take into teaching. The main skill I learned was collaborating with colleagues and meeting deadlines for tasks, which can translate to teaching as there is often collaboration between teachers and school wide deadlines. This job also made me realize how much I wanted to become a teacher and not have an office job.

Summer Agriculture Program Assistant: 

The SD 73 Summer Agriculture program is a 2 month course for middle and high school students in the district to learn about agriculture and farming. I started in this program as a student and then spent a summer as a full time employee working on the farm and in the greenhouse, and spent my last summer in the program as a teaching assistant. Getting to see the program from multiple perspectives allowed me to see the value of this program and the benefit of learning outdoors and from in the local environment. I have already incorporated my experiences from this program into my lesson and unit plan assignments and I hope to continue to incorporate the knowledge I gained from teaching students outside and in nontraditional learning environments.