As a child living in England, with a father from Germany, my family often traveled together to different places in Europe. Visiting my father’s side of the family in Germany was one of the main destinations, but other family vacation spots included Switzerland and France. I remember traveling and exploring the continent in our VW van. Just after moving to Canada my family continued this exploration with a summer road trip through the United States. My parents purchased a tent trailer and packed us, six kids, up. We spent the entire summer slowly traveling down the Oregon coast, visiting the Red Wood Forests, and many other sites along the way to Las Vegas. On the way home, we traveled slowing back on a different route as to take in as much as we could before settling into our new life in Canada.
As a teenager, I spent a summer back in England with my two sisters, and right after graduation moved backed, with my friend, to live with my grandparents for three and a half months.
Throughout my young adulthood, into adulthood, I have been fortunate enough to continue traveling. With my children, I have visited Australia, New Zealand, England, Mexico, And various trips to different places in the United States.
My experience exploring the globe has impacted the shaping of the person I am, and therefore it has an impact on the teacher I will be. Visiting many different countries has allowed me the opportunity to see a world outside of the community in which I now live, and it is my goal to bring my experiences into the classroom in such a way that my students will benefit. The most frequent place I have traveled is back home to England. This tells me that I am strongly connected to my place of birth, even though I have lived much more of my life in Canada. Because of this, I can appreciate every one of my students that feel connected to another place, and/or culture, and foster this connection. I can emphasize with students who, at a young age, have left their homes, and often their extended family, to start a new life in a strange country where they know no one. I have experienced this first hand and the memories are still very present in my mind.