My philosophy of education was always rooted in the idea that educators should teach the ability to obtain knowledge rather than knowledge itself. Throughout the MET program, I continuously found myself aligning with Jean Piaget and other constructivists, as I came to realize that knowledge is a process rather than an endpoint. This is what we generally understand as learning.

From a personal perspective, I have always been intrigued by the Taoist symbol of yin and yang. The symbol is meant to represent the opposing forces of chaos and order and how they work together to create growth, life, etc. I have found in most aspects of life that there are always opposing forces (whether they be chaos and order, action and inaction, good and bad, and so forth), but the key to navigating almost all scenarios is finding the right balance between these forces.

I see learning as a struggle between the opposing forces of the known and the unknown in a similar way. This relates strongly to constructivism as it asks learners to build new knowledge by interacting with the unknown while simultaneously referencing what they already know. I believe the border between the known and the unknown is where learning happens.

Throughout this portfolio, I have attempted to outline what opposing forces are at play for each of my selected artifacts. In doing so, I have discovered a recurring idea of theory vs application. Throughout the process of building this portfolio so far, I realized that I had a lot of experience with practice (i.e. in the classroom) but it was not necessarily supported by a lot of theory (or at least not consciously). At the beginning of the program, I feel I was lacking in theory, but I have been fortunate enough to build upon that. At this point in the program, I feel that I have found a good balance between theory and application/practice. I believe that will become apparent as you read through this portfolio and dig into my artifacts. It is my belief that an educator needs the right balance of both in order to be effective. Too much theory just does not work (this could be seen as too much order) and too much application without theory is misguided (and can be seen as too much chaos).

In addition to the dichotomy of theory and application, I have noticed other opposing forces as I developed this portfolio, such as what I know vs what I want to know, my experience and position in the secondary sector vs my desire to work in higher education, my intrinsic motivations for taking this program to simply be a better educator vs my extrinsic desire to advance my career, old methods of teaching vs new methods, digital teaching vs analog teaching, and business vs education. The idea of opposing forces permeates my portfolio, from my motivations to be in the program, to the artifacts I have selected, to my personal philosophy of education.

I chose this metaphor because it is a genuine expression of both my personal and educational philosophies. I strongly believe that the idea of balance (and the understanding that we sometimes need to shift back and forth between opposing forces) is applicable to all aspects of life. I hope this portfolio inspires you to consider what opposing forces are at play in your life and how they might generate something new.