JOELLE​PETERS

Experience as a learner

 

When I think about myself as a learner and how I view education I immediately think of my family and my childhood. Both of my parents are teachers and played a large part in shaping me into a lifelong learner. My father is a lecturer at the Otago Polytechnic, he teaches math and physics related papers, and has been teaching for roughly 25 years and my mother is a violin teacher. Growing up we were always encouraged to find answers for ourselves, our parents would help us use our children’s set of Encyclopedia Britannica, navigate the Encarta CD Rom, use our library cards and brought us huge cardboard books which taught us about the universe and the natural world, which were valued alike for educational and fort building value. Over summer our father would run ‘math and science camp’ in our basement and I explored trigonometry and chased bees around the garden to try and study their differing anatomies. Our house was always filled with books of all shapes and sizes. This encouragement and support to explore my own learning is something that I try to emulate with my students.

 

Throughout high school I struggled socially with bullying both in and outside of the classroom. This impacted my ability to focus, to feel safe and made it difficult for me to feel confident in myself and my work. My parents and sisters supported me through this and ensured that I got extra support at home. Over the years the bullying stopped and I began to succeed more academically and to feel more confident in myself and to begin enjoying learning in a group environment again. My experience with an unsafe learning environment and how it impacted me is something I bring into all of my classes, I try to ensure that all learning spaces I am involved in are safe and promote equal opportunity. I try to take the time to make sure my students feel encouraged and supported in their learning. These values have also been informed through my role as a youth leader at Roslyn Baptist Church and helping to run the Friday night meal which our church used as an outreach from 2003 – 2007 where I helped serve people from across Dunedin who struggled to fit into society. Many of our Friday Nighters had mental illnesses, disabilities, or had struggled with education and left school early and faced difficulties since then. Working with the variety of people who came along helped me to understand that people come from dramatically different places and that it is important to get to know people and how you can best serve them by talking with and valuing them.

 

At university I majored in Theatre Studies where I again learned that differences can be strengths and the value of communication and communities.

 

Experience as a Teacher

 

I have been involved in teaching and leadership roles at the Otago Polytechnic, Youth Group, the Otago University Debating Society, and Improsaurus and throughout these roles I have tried to bring the idea of creating safe and inclusive spaces where people can work together to learn. During my time at the Polytechnic I have greatly appreciated being part of a supportive team of individuals who recognise my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher and who share ideas and support me to improve. I am part of the Engineering Technologies team who teach a wide range of subjects and who have connections across the Polytechnic teaching subjects (mostly those with a maths or research focus) for other programs. We support and value each other and purposefully arrange our timetable so that students experience a range of teachers with different styles, content strengths and industry experience. Throughout my time at the Polytechnic I have worked as an administrative assistant, an exam invigilator, TA for foundation maths classes, TA for the maths module in BMETS, taught math for a stream of nursing students, developed and taught a English for Specific Purposes for a Saudi Arabian cohort, developed assessment for Professional Engineering Practices, developed and taught Academic English for Engineers, and redeveloped and delivered Technical Literacy. Throughout my many roles I have always felt supported and encourage by my team and the other staff I have come into contact with.