Looking at my graduation cap it reads “teaching is a work of heart.” This quote resonates deeply because teaching is not just a job, it’s a game changer. A teacher’s impact is significant to each individual student in their classroom. This leads to my first belief which is in the theory of Asset Approach to Learning. Students need to be viewed as an asset to the classroom with individual strengths and diverse cultural backgrounds. By assessing students’ strengths, teachers can use these strengths to make connects with their areas of struggle. In my classroom linguistic and cultural background diversity will be celebrated and connected to the content learned in the curriculum. This is one way to view students’ diversity as an asset to their learning. A goal of mine is to have each student leave my classroom at the end of the school year with tools for learning, social emotional awareness, and individual growth. To reach these goals consistent assessments need to be given to inform future instruction. Instruction needs to be planned based on students’ prior personal and learning experiences. The affective aspect of teaching is something that needs to hold high value in the classroom. Students need to have a positive learning environment and support from their teachers and peers in order to learn. This leads to one of my strengths as a teacher which is to create a positive learning environment and respect for all of my students. Creating meaningful relationships helps students’ affective factor in learning which may be one of the most important parts to learning. This makes me think of a class I’ve taught and the growth they’ve made. In the beginning of the year, students were nervous about coming to school for the first time and learning couldn’t begin until they felt comfortable in their environment. That’s why in the beginning of the year I work on getting to know each individual, making connections to students’ lives, and presenting the class as a family because “teaching is a work of heart.”