Growing up in several countries with countless teachers, each one with a different teaching style and set of philosophies have allowed me to experience and value specific values and model my own professional practice on. Someone I think has had a huge impact on my own learning throughout school is my A level Philosophy teacher. She was the first teacher in our school who introduced a truly balanced way of teaching. Even though we were continuously faced with controversial topics in the subject, she never swayed our opinions and she allowed us to construct our own opinions and come up with our own conclusions. However, she guided us in a way which left us fully informed.

I have always struggled with finding a specific field of interest in myself, over the years my idea of a future career shifted day-to-day and I never felt fully comfortable with one specific field. When I was 14 my sister was born, which gave me a direct insight to the development of a child’s mind. I became interested in how she learned and what interested her as she got older and I found that the more I engaged in her learning the more I found myself enjoying the teaching progression. I started teaching english to a brother and sister who attended a Jordanian primary school, where I managed to exercise my teaching strategies and source/ create resources to help me teach the two children. 

I would have to say that my values and principles are mainly derived from my international and cross cultural experiences: 

• Open Mindedness: I definitely think that the first stage of connecting two or more cultures in an environment, all parties need to have an open mind. Open mindedness does not necessarily dictate that the parties need to accept or take on each others beliefs or cultures, but merely acknowledging them and allowing yourself to be informed is a crucial step in creating a peaceful environment.
• Inquiry/ Risk Taking: In my opinion inquiry and risk taking are very similar, because I would say that in order to be inquisitive, one has to be able to take risks in their own learning. This means not just blindly accepting information, but constructing your own opinions and perhaps going against the grain (when it’s appropriate).
• Ambition/ Positivity: Anyone is capable of success. Even if something seems out of reach, it is never impossible. Similarly, I believe to have this attitude, the individual needs to be positive, about themselves and their environment. I am a strong believer in Karma and that what you give is what you receive.
• Understanding/ Empathy: In order to become a caring individual, which everyone should strive to be. One needs to be able to place themselve

What is your attitude to your pupils and their learning?

What is your teaching style?

In terms of your own professional development journey, why have you chosen the electives you have?

In what ways do your answers to the above embody the IB Learner Profle?