As a teacher, my philosophy of education revolves around three main points: safety, understanding, and fun.
As a former watersports instructor, I’m very adamant in maintaining a safe classroom environment in every sense of the word. For me, safety is more than just students' bodily security- safety is the ability of children to feel safe and secure in their environment. With each other, with their teacher, and with the world around them. Maintaining a safe classroom, I believe, is the teacher’s greatest duty. Safety in body and mind encourages students to speak freely, believe in themselves, and work harder.
Understanding in the classroom also goes far beyond students’ base-level understanding of the material. As an understanding teacher, I do my best to respect student’s circumstances and meet them where they are- teaching to the textbook doesn’t work for everyone. Teaching to student’s level is far more beneficial to their learning and understanding.
Lastly, we’ll have fun. In my classroom, fun only happens after safety and understanding are both met. I like to play games, sing songs, and do immersive activities to engage student’s understanding- but these only happen if we’re all safe, quiet, and ready to learn.