How would I teach differently in high school?...

 Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting my eldest's high school subject teachers at their annual teacher conference before the final external exams and it brought back memories of when I used to hold teacher/parent meetings and I was usually the last person standing as most of the parents wanted to speak with me about how their child was doing in their learning.

In talking with our eldest's teachers, it was neat to confirm the insights that they had learned over time in working with our eldest and the different ideas/ideals that we had tried to instill over time and it made me reflect about what advice or what hints I would give, firstly as a first year teacher to myself as a 24 year old back then, and to those who would be willing to listen.

I think genuinely caring about students is and was very important to me as a teacher in that it wasn't a job for me as much as it was a mission to support the students from different cultures in their learning journeys as I believed that any child could succeed as they put their mind to it, depending on the tasks etc.

I definitely believed in choosing materials that students from indigenous backgrounds could relate to whether through universal themes or stories that rang true and I believed in having fun as I definitely wasn't the strict 'sit down and shut up' kinda teacher with power issues etc.

I think from where I teach now within the Indigenous research space that I would definitely think about ways of decolonizing the classroom within the confines of what and how we teach. So that although we use English as the medium of conversation, I choose not to use the same power structures in the ways that I situate the class i.e. I often choose not to stand, students voices are affirmed in their sharing although they may not always agree with each other and another important consideration is setting up the class in being a "safe space" in which to share within.

I find my teaching style is more facilitative and that I draw conversations around background experiences and personal understandings. We also talk about indigenous principles which although are specific for all cultures share some important universal ideas i.e. looking after the environment, looking after each other, looking after other beings eg. animals etc. and not being wasteful etc.

These are just some of the reflections that I'm considering to write more seriously about at some time...