Andrew Branco

Background

About Andrew Branco

I have been a soccer referee going on thirteen years. In that time I was awarded "referee of the year" by Wesburn Soccer Club five times and have officiated matches from ages six to sixty as well as all levels ranging from bronze youth to university men and women's games. Being a referee has taught be patience, calmness and conflict resolution, as well as leadership and mentoring skills when I work with the newer and younger referees as I am now a senior official.My time in SFU's Professional Development Program has also taught me how to transfer my skills gained from refereeing over to the classroom setting where they are all vital. It has also given me the opportunity to hone in my imaginative ideas to create fun and engaging lessons and units for my students to explore and learn. During the PDP I have also gained a strong passion for including Indigenous ways of knowing and being into my practice. I try to infuse some element of Indigenous content into what we are studying when possible, but I always either start, end (or both) my classes with a sharing circle to include Indigenous perspectives and build a strong classroom community.