I believe every student despite race, religion or economic status should have the right to a free, equitable, and quality education. Students deserve teachers that support them in the way they need to be supported. I believe that teachers should above all else, strive for honest and authentic relationships with their students. Through these relationships teachers will be better equipped to know what students needs in order to be successful. I believe it is crucial to be a life-long learner as a teacher and view your role with students as the facilitator not the keeper of knowledge. I believe in designing and facilitating rich learning opportunities for students, they will be more engaged, develop self-efficacy, and take a responsibility for their own learning.
I want education to open my students minds to different cultures, ideas, concepts, and realities. I want them to challenge what they know and also what they are learning and be critical and independent thinkers. I believe education should make students masters at discerning the information they are receiving at home, in school and from the media. I want students to be confident, independent thinkers that can learn for themselves and have a passion for learning. I want my students to understand and respect that there are many different ways in which people learn and demonstrate their learning. With this understanding, students will be able to support others and themselves with what they need best to learn and not expect everything to be equal.
I believe that education should aim to prepare students for strong successful future whether that includes higher education or not. A true education is not only academic based, but builds life skills like the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately and be able to work well both collaboratively and independently. I think that it is crucial that mistakes are encouraged rather than penalized because I believe it is better for students to take a risk than not try at all. I believe self-confidence is key in producing engaged, self-directed learners. It is my hope that my future students will be able to take pride in their work and who they are to go on to live confident, successful lives.