Entangled
To nurture a stance of critical curiosity by continuing to deepen my own learning around equity and social justice, recognizing that ongoing personal and professional growth is necessary to authentically support and advocate for responsive, inclusive, and belonging-focused early learning environments.
Photo from Adobe Stock, Akin Ozcan
Entwined
To develop accessible, practice-grounded resources that translate critical theories, such as critical literacy, critical race theory, and culturally sustaining pedagogy, into meaningful tools for Early Childhood Educators.
Photo from Adobe Stock, Brother's Art
Unbroken
To use storying as a critical method for examining how intergenerational histories, identities, and positionality shape power, belonging, and ethical responsibility in early childhood education.
Guiding Strands
“In the stories are the histories of the people, their struggles and their triumphs, their resistance and their oppression, their battles won and their battles lost. Within their stories lay the answers to many of life’s questions. Their journeys provide pathways to follow and pathways to avoid. But before I can truly listen and hear their stories, I must listen to my own story” (Lenear, 2023,p. 17).
Listening has led me here.
This portfolio emerged from the act of listening - to my stories and to the stories of others. The guiding strands that follow surface from an ethics of care rooted in my undivided self - my values, “attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness” (Moss, 2019, p. 59) as an educator. They reflect my continued commitment to learning, to strengthening my practice as an educator to pre-service early childhood educators, to teaching with intentionality and care, and to advocating for a stronger and united sector. Meaningful change often emerges within small stories and everyday moments; ethical practice requires both making my voice heard and creating space for the voices of others.
These commitments call me to teach with authenticity and heart, to engage in intentional dialogue, and to listen closely to the stories of children, families, and the community. They also position me to make visible the often hidden narratives embedded within the systems and spaces we occupy, and to act with courage within my sphere of influence. Tatum (2017) asks that we each fill in the gaps of our education, identify our strengths, and leverage them. They write, "We all have a sphere of influence. Each of us needs to find our own sources of courage so that we can begin to speak. There are problems to address, and we cannot avoid them indefinitely" (p. 342). The strands that follow represent this ongoing work - unfinished and continually in the making.
