Today I finished up what was left of my application essays for the teaching program I will be hopefully starting in the fall. I had a lot of trouble with these prompts. I spent a lot of time talking them over with 
My Experiences with Inequity in Education and What I Learned
One experience I had in which I was personally aware of an unjust situation where inequitable treatment impacted an individual was when I was assigned to help a seven year old girl in a classroom. This individual had a history of behavioural issues that negatively impacted her ability to learn. She had few supports and no long term plan in place because she had not been diagnosed with any specific learning disability or medical condition. As a result, we could only instruct her in the work and make her environment more suitable to her needs. Besides these minor adaptations, there were no clear learning goals developed. I learned that as an equitable teacher my duty will be to document challenging behaviours diligently and actively pursue diagnoses when it could have a beneficial impact on a student's potential to achieve. Personally, this professional practice will be important because the student in this scenario was a bright, creative child whose inability to regulate on her own in a typical classroom impeded her success. It made me realize that a child's behaviour does not define them as a good or bad student, and with the right supports in place, all of them can achieve to the best of their potential.
That particular student has since gotten a diagnosis and is doing ok, as far as I know. She is definitely someone I'd like to run into later in life.
Why is Personalization of Learning so Important? How My Vision of Teaching Reflect a Different School Paradigm
The personalization of learning for every student is important because choice and autonomy gives students more control as learners to pursue their passions and interests. My vision of teaching and learning reflect this new paradigm by harnessing the curiosity that comes naturally to younger students and bringing it forward to the higher grades, eventually carrying it on into adulthood. In a nature kindergarten class I helped facilitate, children were free to investigate their surroundings and ask questions to fuel their lessons and activities. All of this was done while meeting the student’s movement and sensory needs. Their impulses to move and explore their environment did not impede their lessons. Instead, the impulses fueled the lessons and activities by raising questions about their environment. My teaching will reflect my passion for this type of environment informed learning. As prescribed by the new B.C. curriculum my students will learn through inquiry based learning, such as taking a social studies class outside to generate informed questions about their own environment and how the peoples of Vancouver Island use it to make a living. Textbooks are quickly becoming a thing of the past. As educators we must seek to bring more than knowledge to our students. One way I will strive to do this will be by putting the students in an environment that will inform their learning experience, just as the kindergartner's environment informed their learning experience.
I'm still not happy with my second answer, and I've got a couple of days left to rework it. I think the points they wanted me to hit are how conventional classrooms are losing their place in education, and teachers need to start thinking differently in how they approach learning outcomes. I really enjoyed my time with the NK classes, and I'd like to do that type of learning with my classes as well, even if it would be just taking them for a hike once a week to get enough questions generated for a week's worth of science and social studies classes. For some reason that's just really difficult to communicate formally.
I'd just like to add that through writing all of this, I've found that wearing my old glasses frames helps me concentrate. I think they're like a working dog's vest.
