When I was in third grade I remember feeling segregated from the rest of the class. This was due to the table arrangements, where he would separate the kids based on their performance in class. All the “smart students” would sit together and all the kids who knew less would sit on different groups of tables ranging on how much they knew.  That marked me a lot, the realization that maybe I wasn’t as smart as other kids, that although we all felt included as a classroom we were being segregated based on the knowledge of what the school system wanted us to learn. 

Thinking back to this event, most of my Professional Learning Network was based on that. I started to talk less in group projects and the classroom, and pay more attention to what others had to say, getting most of my information from peers and the teacher. Don’t get me wrong, I like getting information from others, I believe that listening to others perspectives helps us understand the bigger picture. In recent years however, I decided to mark more presence in the sense that I made sure my opinion was heard. Due to that, I started reading more, and watching educational videos on whatever topic I was working on, so that people could see that I would add value by working with them. I would say that due to that my PLN is very diverse, a great part of that due to the fact that I lived in 3 different cities and two different continents(North America & South America).My greatest pride in my learning networks is to be understanding of where and why a person thinks that way, being able to see both sides of the argument without being biased, most of the time. Another aspect about my learning profile is that various things gain my interest, I try to keep my topics diverse and on a wide range. For instance, I could be talking to my grandpa about the battles of World War 2, and move on to a conversation about the latest Netflix Series Squid Game. 

Overall, I would say that inclusion is one of the main principles of my PLN. I always try to understand why a person thinks that way and most of the time I am able to identify the why. So even though I do not agree with what a person is saying I am considerate and inclusive on why they think like that. This week’s reading gave me a new way of looking at the definition of the word inclusion, it made me reflect a lot and think about personal experiences I have had with inclusion and exclusion.

Bibliography:

Introduction (Page 6-10) & Part 1 (Page 11-12). https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/lib/uvic/reader.action?docID=4832579&ppg=6