Kara Nagel

North York, ON | kanagel@hotmail.com

I am so thankful to be a teacher. My teaching philosophy is always changing as Im a lifelong learner.

Currently, my goal in every classroom is to have my students want to learn by using differentiating instruction,

universal design, and creating lessons catered towards my students interests. As a drama educator, I provide my

students with the tools they need to explore different emotions, problem solve, work as a team, work

independently, to make mistakes and learn from them, develop empathy, and collaborate with their peers in a

safer and inclusive space. I think its important to say safer space as I believe many people think schools are

safe spaces, but I continue to work hard to bring in materials that represent our LGBTQ2+ and Indigenous youth

who often do not feel safe in our schools. I always get my students to tell me which pronouns they prefer.

I believe that we need to listen to student voice more to hear what they want to learn in their classes by

getting to know them through student interest inventories, observation, conversation, and becoming part of the

community in which the school is located. Ive noticed that Genius Hour or Projet Passion have been very

successful in schools because students have been able to research something that interests them. I strive to make

every assignment catered towards my students interests while following the current Ontario curriculum and

making my expectations transparent to the students by creating feedback forms with them. I establish a

classroom environment based on mutual respect, responsibility, and exploration by making classroom guidelines

with my students, getting to know them, and letting them get to know me. I have high expectations of all of my

students.

As a French educator, I am passionate about language acquisition. I participate in weekly French

conversations with educators from across Canada to learn new strategies to implement in the core, immersion,

and extended French classrooms. My goal is to help my students broaden their vocabulary and experiential

horizons through authentic communication that is presented in meaningful contexts. I also strive to help my

students see the benefit in learning French through fun and meaningful activities. Through my experiences in

teaching core and immersion grade seven French, I have learned the importance of drama education in the

French classroom as Ive used it to create valuable lessons for my students in history, geography, health, and
French. I believe drama and French education fit perfectly together as I bring in all my knowledge of drama

education to the French classroom. My students do not just sit and fill in grammar worksheets as I did in my

core French classes in high school. They have conversations, get up and move, and actively participate.

I look forward to actively participating and helping run the GSA, French club, and drama club in a

future school I work for to ensure these are safer and enjoyable spaces for students. As a future graduate from

York University, I see the importance in being a member of the community in which I teach. My favourite

teachers were coaches, club leaders, went to the same local hockey games I went to, etc. They were visible and

active members of my community that I knew I could rely on, so I strive to be a teacher that is part of my

community.

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