My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is based on patience, selflessness, perseverance and love.

Patience
It is extremely important to remember that children are children.  They are learning what it means to step outside their home and interact daily with peers whom they may have never met before.  They are learning how to exist as their awesome self in a group where they are not the only one their age.  This is where patience comes in.  As teachers, we must be patient, even though admittedly sometimes it gets hard.  When a child is having difficulty following a direction.  When a child is not wanting to share.  We must put ourselves in the mind of a 5/6 year old and realize the tremendous amount of "newness" they are experiencing.  After all they are only at the beginning of their journey.

Selflessness
Teaching is not something you do for yourself.  It is for others, for the children around you, and for the future.  Teaching is a service, not a job.  It is giving to children knowledge, experience and moments to succeed, to find their strength and to discover what they are capable of.  I teach to make an impact on every child in my classroom.  I teach to spread joy and to show each student, who may not feel it, that they are intelligent, they are important and they are loved.  I believe in teaching not for personal gain, but to help those around me.  I teach to give each of my students the best opportunity possible to learn about the world around him/her and learn how to interact with everything he/she faces, whether it is academic, social or emotional.  I believe in giving my time, my days, and my life to children because they are what should be the focus of our world. 

Perseverance
To have perseverance means that you are able to keep going even when things get difficult.  It is very rare to have a day where one does not face a single struggle.  This is very true for teachers. I believe in persevering, taking a deep breath and remembering why I was chosen to become a teacher.  This skill also needs to be felt around the classroom.  A teacher needs to model for the students how to fight against the hard times, not the people who may put it there.  A teacher needs to show his/her students that struggle makes you stronger, and that it gives you an opportunity to face future moments of struggle and come out on top.  I believe in helping children see their own ability to persevere; to show them that is it okay to take a break and approach the struggle later; to show them that we are all humans and that everyone of us feels overwhelmed and like we cannot make it through at times, but to show them that we can and that we will.

Love
Love, I truly believe, is the greatest gift anyone can give. My teaching philosophy is based on that reason. When someone is feeling down, we give him/her love. When someone is feeling happy, we share his/her joy through love and when someone is feeling scared, we comfort him/her with love. I believe in sharing love with my students. I believe in loving each of them as if they were my own children. I believe in loving them through their mistakes, their moments of strength, and their moments when they just need a hug. I believe that love can make anyone believe in him/herself, work hard, and spread kindness. With love comes respect; respect for individual needs and differences; respect for mistaken behaviors; respect for each student to express him/herself in anyway possible. With love also comes understanding; understanding that we all have good and bad days; understanding that learning takes time (and some may need more time than others), and even if we don't see it, it is happening; understanding that each child is coming from a different background that inevitably effects his/her academic, social, and emotional experience. With love comes joy; joy when a student finally writes his/her name; joy when a student scores his/her first soccer goal on the weekend; joy when a student sings the national anthem in front of the school. With love comes advocacy; advocacy for each student that he/she receives the education he/she deserves; advocacy that children receive services to better their chance to succeed; advocacy that children are supported in and out of the classroom. With love comes care, protection, and confidence.

With love, I truly believe, comes a classroom full of students who know they are appreciated, wanted, welcomed, cared for/about, protected, encouraged, and loved. I truly believe a classroom full of love has the potential to be a classroom, a group of students, a teacher, a family, who will touch your heart forever and that is the education, the beginning of a journey, I believe in giving each of my students.