Hi, my name is Meg Schned, and I am a fifth year Concurrent Education, teacher candidate at Brock University. I know, in my heart, that I was born to be an educator. I am passionate and spirited about all aspects of what it means to be a teacher, and I devote all of my character and values to ensuring that my dream will one day become a reality. The word, "teacher," while simplistically defined in the Oxford dictionary as "a person who teaches, especially in a school," means much, much more than this to me. It means more than summers off, good benefits and an apple on my desk. It is more than a word. No matter how you define it, teaching directly affects all facets of life, society and the world at large. Teaching is forever changing, advancing and evolving. I believe that my role as a teacher will make me responsible, not only for sharing the knowledge and information found in the Ontario curriculum, but for expanding this material beyond the textbook, by introducing real world issues and topics, in order to prepare my students for all realms of life. Additionally, not only is teaching about the information being taught, it's about the students who are impacted by this experience every day of their lives. For many of my future students, their classroom will be just as much of a home as it is a learning environment. I will become their teacher, their support system, their second parent, their friend, and at the very least, their voice. I am prepared to open my classroom door every morning with the intention of building an environment where every student who enters has the opportunity to succeed and learn with the tools they need to be successful and strive as life-long learners. The intention of this blog is to explore the different dimensions necessary to ensure that this can be made possible, no matter the race, gender, religion, culture, class or learning ability of a student. I will make certain that every one of my students is given what they need as individuals to be the best that they can be as future members of our 21st century world.