BCCL: Spa Class Cayley Routenburg-Brown Placement Artifact BCCL: Spa Class Cayley Routenburg-Brown

Where and When?: 13 Fisherman Drive, Brampton Ontario, L7A 2X9 1-4pm Thursday

Vision and Mission Statement: Vision: A community that respects and supports the dignity, inherent value and the rights of all people to participate, contribute and share in all elements of community life. Mission: To support empower people who have an intellectual disability, in partnership with their families and the community, to lead enriched and meaningful lives.

Values: Respect and Dignity: respecting the inherent dignity and value of all people and enabling individuals to achieve their unique potential, free from discrimination and abuse. Inclusion: Building an inclusive community that values participation and contribution of all its members and expands opportunities for people to achieve their goals and aspirations. Organizational Excellence: excellence, demonstrated through leadership, accountability, education ,partnership building and innovation.

My Role: Preparing Spa class for members of BCCL Painting, filing, cleaning, and shaping nails Communicating with members of BCCL Being patient and understanding Preparing with Spa Class Advisor Preparing Tea Preparing Spa Music Clean Up

Spa Class Photos

How can I use this experience as an educator? This community placement has taught me a lot about individuals with disabilities (mental and physical). I now feel comfortable talking and engaging in conversation with individuals with disabilities. It has taught me to be more mindful of accessibility in communities, schools, neighbourhoods. (ramps, push buttons, wheelchairs).

Connection to Readings: Invisible Backpack: this placement has taught me to bring in tools of patience, understanding, acceptance. Public Knowledge, and the Education of Public School Teachers: this placement connects to the idea of “worldliness” and the ability to “recognize that life may not be so easy outside the privileged space”. (340) Beyond the Intersection: Idea of how the community impacts lives. The idea of giving back to the community.

The Three R’s Research: I researched by asking the Manager of BCCL and this link: Relevancy: My community placement is very relevant to my teaching practice at it fosters the same skills such as acceptance, patience, and understanding. Reflection: Every week I visit I am learning something new about myself as an educator and about the members of community living. I feel more comfortable in discussion, but I would like to continue to work on this in the coming weeks.

Conclusion Overall, my position as a spa class leader has helped me learn and grow since September. I am more comfortable with my colleague, the staff, and members of BCCL. In September I struggled to see how this placement connected with teaching, but now I am much eager to strengthen my social skills. Community Placement is a great way to test out your abilities as a teacher in a small group while seeing how important the idea of community is with the members of BCCL.