Guest: Sarah Harrison
Sarah Harrison is a globe-trotting teacher who loves to travel. This Manitoban educator is currently teaching in an international boarding school in England. She recently completed her Master of Education degree. In this episode, we talk about what it’s like to teach (and live) in a boarding school and her recommendations for pursuing a similar path. Sarah also shares about play-based learning and tips for getting started if you’d like to add more playfulness to your classroom practice.
Meet Sarah and learn about her journey in this episode of Cultivating Connection.
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What are you reading right now?
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
What are you watching right now?
Re-watching Grey’s Anatomy
What’s a typical school day lunch for you?
We have catered lunches in the dining room, so I usually have the soup and salad bar unless it’s Fish & Chip Friday.
What do you like to wear to school?
Dresses
Teaching Practice
What’s your current role in education?
I teach reception (4 and 5 year olds) at Windlesham House School in West Sussex.
What’s your school day like?
Students attend all day, every day. Students arrive between 8-8:30AM and the school day finishes at 3:30PM. I live on-site. I start my day with breakfast duty for the boarders and head to my classroom for about 8AM to greet my students. I have 15 students. We spend the morning playing and then they have specialist lessons in the afternoon and some time in our classroom.
How did you go from a small town in Manitoba to teaching in a boarding school in England?
It’s been an adventure. I started with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education at Brandon University, then took a job teaching Kindergarten in Park West School Division. I loved Kindergarten and the small community. I had a friend in London and she encouraged me to consider moving there. A few weeks later, I’d accepted a position.
My first job was teaching nursey (3 and 4 year olds) in south east London for 2 years. Then my Visa expired and I was quite desperate to stay in the country. It was quite difficult to get a second job that offered a Visa, but I found one in Essex (outside of London). It was a reception position in a school that was part of an academy, so I got to do some co-planning. It turned out my teaching partner was also from Manitoba. She was great to work with, but the school was not for me. I had a class of 30 4-year olds and a part-time teaching assistant. It felt like the whole day I was trying meet their needs and I just couldn’t do it on my own. This pushed me to find something that was a better fit. So, I interviewed for my current job and I’m now in my second year at Windlesham House.
What’s it like teaching at a boarding school?
I love it. There is a strong sense of community. Some of the students live on site and many of the staff live here, so it’s a tight-knit community.
Are there any challenges with living and teaching at a boarding school?
Balance can be a challenge. Even when you’re at home, you’re still at school so you are there all the time.
What advice would you give someone who might like to teach internationally?
I recommend researching what role and school you might like. I used an agency when I first moved and I’d really recommend that. It’s someone who has contacts in both Canada and overseas who can help you with Visas, bank accounts. I used Tradewind.
How do you use a play-based approach with your young learners?
We have the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum for birth to age 5. It’s designed to be used with a child-led approach. It’s an open and flexible curriculum, so it’s easy to use in a play-based environment. We design the environment to make resources accessible to children, carefully organize and label them for children to use freely and design our day with lots of uninterrupted play. There are resources that are always out (like playdough) and then we add provocations based on student interests. For example, when we had some bird enthusiasts, we added binoculars, bird ID sheets and bird seed.
During play time, we meet children where they are at and we help weave the curriculum into their play and naturally support their next steps. We watch, watch and wonder before we join their play. When invited to join in, we help the children clarifying, wondering, questioning and modeling.
Why is play-based learning so important for children?
I think it helps them to have agency in the classroom and to guide their own learning. What’s I’ve seen through their playful learning is that they are learning to learn. They learn to access information, they learn through trial and error and they can really focus on what they’re doing because they are doing what they want to do. It’s really authentic and purposeful.
Do you draw from the Reggio Emilia approach or are there any other approaches that guide your teaching practice?
Definitely Reggion Emilia and some aspects of Montessori. We also have some brilliant UK authors who have influenced my practice: Julie Fisher and Anna Ephgrave.
What response would you have to someone who says that kids aren’t learning, they are just playing?
Playing is learning for young children. Watching children deeply engaged in play is incredible! They are developing language, making predictions and connections, having sensory experiences, developing gross and fine motor skills, learning to manage emotions and relationships, taking on different roles… it’s incredible.
Do you integrate technology in your teaching?
Yes, we do. We’ve been really mindful of how we do that because kids have been on screens a lot during lockdowns. We are an Apple accredited school, so we have iPads for taking pictures, documenting progress with Tapestry. We also have a SMARTboard. I use Canva and Google Suite.
How has the pandemic affected your school year?
Since September, we’ve been in school in bubbles. Students had to be split into these groups for dining and boarding. We went into full lockdown in January and did 8 weeks of online learning. It’s been a very strange year. We don’t need to wear masks in our own bubble. If we go anywhere or mix with other groups/bubbles, we need to wear them. Students in Years 7 and 8 must wear masks.
Further Education
Congratulations on completing your Master of Education. Can you tell us about that?
I just finished last night with a final presentation to my cohort and faculty. I’ve been studying Early Childhood Education at the University of British Columbia for the last 2.5 years. My final project was on the power of play in the classroom.
Was pursing a Master’s degree a worthwhile experience for you?
Absolutely. I was unsure of a topic to study, but after teaching Kindergarten, I knew I wanted to learn more about our youngest learners. The program was online. It has been brilliant. I’ve made connections with other teachers. Engaging with literature has made me a better teacher and opened me to new concepts and ideas.
Travel
Where have you travelled?
Pre-pandemic, I had visited 21 countries in 2.5 years. I was on a mission to see and do as much as I could. The school year here is broken up with holidays, so I have two weeks in October, 3 weeks at Christmas, a week in February and 3 weeks for Easter, a week in May and summer holidays. There is lots of time to travel. I’ve been all over Europe, Trinidad and Tobago.
What were your favourite destinations?
My favourite was Tunisia in North Africa. It was the most unique place I’ve ever been to.
Once we can travel again, where do you want to go?
Back to Italy, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Uzbekistan
Wellness
As a busy teacher and Master’s student, how to you take care of yourself mentally and physically?
For me, a big part is making sure I get time outside every day. If I know I have loads of work to do, I might just stop and go for a walk. Getting that fresh air and sunshine is so important for me. I really love being outside. Drinking enough water and looking after what’s going in to my body and taking care of it makes me feel a lot more energetic. I have also been trying to prioritize reading for enjoyment and minimizing screen time in the evenings.
Staying in touch with everyone back home has also been really important for my wellness.
How do you maintain balance when your classroom is on site?
It’s taken quite a bit of conscious work to set boundaries for myself and decide when it’s okay to go over and work and when it’s not. I have to think “If I weren’t living at the school, would I be doing this or not? Learning to say no to extra tasks has also been a big challenge for me because there is always more you could do.
Final Thoughts
You’ve accomplished a lot in a short time. What’s next for you?
I haven’t ruled out a PhD. I’d love to be in a leadership position at some point, but I also want to be involved in a classroom.
What’s one thing you wish you’d known when you started teaching?
I wish I’d known how to cultivate relationships with parents.
If a teacher would like to do more play-based learning in their classroom, where do you think they should start?
Find a mentor teacher you can observe. Check out the resources available online.
How can we connect with you?
Find me on Twitter @_MissHarrisonMB
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