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My hope for this course is to be better aware of the choices I make when designing lessons and have more confidence in those choices. I am very curious about how I can create space in my lessons for reflection that is useful. I know that innovation plays a huge role in my work context but I have never really had a chance to evaluate it in a formal way. I tend to create a very personal system that I refine, remix and reorganize over time. A lot of it is trial by error and the changes I make tend to be small but over the years can be quite large. Just writing this paragraph has made me realize that I have rarely had to verbalize how I design lessons, let alone write about it. I have tended to operate with a lot of freedom and within a bubble, seldom knowing what other instructors are doing.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I decided\u00a0to choose one of the examples provided\u00a0and\u00a0introduce myself through a poem. This is a poem that I first read during my first year at\u00a0university\u00a0starting my degree in dance. I took a first year English class\u00a0during this time and\u00a0its\u00a0poetry component had a big impact on me.\u00a0 Although this class was 25 years ago, I do remember that when analyzing a\u00a0poem,\u00a0I must consider how the poem has been constructed to convey an aural image to the mind\u2019s ear. This poem has always been a favorite because it talks about the environment, colonization, and the idea of “arriving”.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n About two years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Margaret Atwood speak at the Chan Center at UBC for Writers Fest just before the pandemic. I have been revisiting many of her poems and they have taken on new meaning for me during my studies at Royal Roads University and my organization\u2019s radical changes due to Covid-19. I am looking forward to learning more about innovation, design and learning environments with you and sharing as much as I can with my colleagues and students at Immigrant Services Society of B.C.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I hope that I never “arrive” and that my learning will be lifelong and transformative even though it seems to get a little harder as each year goes by. Published in 1998, I humbly introduce this poem<\/a>\u00a0to you and my classmates. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have through the years.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n