About Me

A Chapter of My Story

My name is Tanya Katarina Febbraio, and I am grateful to be able to connect with you from the lands of the Coast Salish people, specifically the Skwxwú7mesh Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation, upon whose unceded traditional territory I learn, play, and grow.

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My passion for teaching runs as deep as my zest for learning: I recently completed my Master of Education degree through Queen’s University, and I will be starting my 20th year of teaching this September in North Vancouver, British Columbia. My recent studies have allowed me to tap into my deep-seeded interest in assessment, passion for literacy, and need to strengthen my knowledge base in Indigenous pedagogy.

 

Over the course of my career and in my studies, I have reflected often on my teaching philosophy, trying to determine which school of thought I subscribe to most. If I had to pick just one, I think that Constructivism best characterizes my approach to education. I ground my lessons and curricular approach in inquiry-based learning that encourages students to use their prior knowledge and personal histories as the foundation upon which to build or weave in new concepts or knowledge.

 

Though my type A personality sometimes gets in the way, I do consistently strive to act more as a guide or co-learner in the classroom so that students can uncover things independently and collaboratively by engaging in an experience. A quote by Piaget has resonated with me for some time: “Each time one prematurely teaches a child something he could have discovered himself, that child is kept from inventing it and consequently from understanding it completely.” We can learn a lot when someone tells us information, but we absorb and understand much more when we engage in the act of learning ourselves.

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The topic of my Capstone project—which has culminated in the creation of this website—has become increasingly important to me over the last few years as I have noticed a decreased level of student readiness for high school. In teaching 8th grade English and Social Studies for much of my career, I have witnessed both an evolution in certain areas (i.e. students today ask more questions, offer more outside-of-the box responses, and tend to be more comfortable engaging in direct conversation with teachers), but also a regression in others (i.e. awareness of how body language demonstrates respect, organizational ability regarding supplies and homework, openness to connecting with new classmates). Through district-sponsored visits to elementary schools, I’ve also observed a distinct difference between the expectations of those classroom environments and that of a high school classroom. With this Capstone project, I hope to offer strategies and insights for navigating that leap so that grade 8 teachers find more success in building students' essential skills, and grade 8 students feel more supported during their first year in high school.

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This website is meant to be a shareable work because one of my capital “T” Truths is that collaboration and the sharing of resources improves both the learning experience of students and the working conditions of teachers. As such, I implore you to share the site with anyone you think may benefit from it—a frustrated colleague, a concerned parent, a curious friend, a new teacher on staff…there is something here for everyone.

                                                                                                                         

With gratitude,

Tanya