Becoming a teacher and working with young people to develop their minds has been an aspiration of mine for as long as I can remember. Even though I always wanted to be a teacher, I did not always enjoy being a student; learning was often scary.  Over the years I have learned that learning is an endless journey, and although it is a challenging journey, it should not and need not be scary.  My goal is to join the ranks of those teachers who helped make learning less intimidating giving me the opportunity to find satisfaction and enjoyment in it. 

My goal as a teacher is to form trusting relationships with my students so they feel valued and respected.  By establishing a rapport with my students, I will be able to better understand their needs and how to help them reach their potential. In addition, fostering strong, supportive relationships will likely add value to their experiences in class and give them the confidence to become independent thinkers.  I aim to make learning enjoyable by making lessons engaging with an enthusiastic and relatable approach. I believe it is important to make the connection between concepts and experiences in order to reach a deeper level of comprehension. 

Classroom management is another critical component of creating a safe and comfortable learning environment.  I have learned through my practicums and student teaching that keeping students engaged is the most effective way to minimize behavioral concerns.  When issues do arise I believe in helping students reflect, consider other choices, and think about their responsibility to themselves, their classmates and myself.  Positive reinforcement, classroom management, and student motivation are what generate an atmosphere where rules are more like guidelines for personal and academic success.

I believe that a classroom is a community working together for a common goal.  A strong and successful community promotes fairness, respect, empathy, honesty and integrity, which will all be reinforced in my classroom. I believe that my ideas about how to interact with students with respect to learning both academics and social skills will support such a community.  Over time my philosophy might change, but that just means I will have grown and learned new things. My biggest hope is that I inspire children to embrace growth in all areas of their lives and never settle for the path of least resistance.