Teaching Philosophy Statement

I believe every child is unique and needs a caring, secure, trusting, and positive classroom in which to grow emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially.

I also believe that high energy levels, a positive attitude, and humor are key elements to a successful learning environment.

Teaching young minds is a task that cannot be taken lightly. It can be full of challenges, frustrations, and responsibilities. However, it is a task that is also full of excitement, and joy which helps my passion for teaching to continue to grow. I love the quote from Dave Burgess book, “Teach Like A Pirate” when he writes, “It doesn’t matter what subject you teach. You can become totally engaging to your audience if they can feel your passion and

I believe my students learn best in small groups. It is during small groups that I can monitor, evaluate, and continually adapt my teaching to the needs of the students. I find that having a personal relationship with every student, I can give each one of my students an equal chance for success. By recognizing every student’s potential and having separate, individual goals for each, I can accommodate personal needs and abilities and educate and encourage them to reach their goals and beyond. An example of accommodating personal needs for one of my students is by taking them to the nurse’s office to brush their teeth every morning. They are not encouraged to brush their teeth at home and because of this their breath was very offensive to other students, so much so, that they did not want to sit by them. I spoke with the case manager and she called home and got permission to have them brush their teeth at school. To make it a “cool” activity I purchased a tooth brush and tooth paste of their favorite Disney character. My student now goes excitedly to the nurse’s office after unpacking in the morning and they are no longer avoided by the other

I teach my students to relax and enjoy writing. I explain to them that writing is the same as speaking except you write down your words instead of speaking them. To illustrate this, I have my students write notes to each other and deliver them to each other without speaking. This has helped them make the connection of how writing and speaking work together. Using small group instruction it allows me to teach the writing process and observe my students with their writing process. I encourage them that when they start to write that they do not stop to correct their spelling or sentence structure. For some of my students, writing just one sentence, is a great accomplishment and I will use that one sentence to teach and encourage my students to believe that they are the best writers in the world.

Teaching is a lifelong learning process of learning new philosophies, new strategies, use of technology, learning from the parents and the community, learning from colleagues, district professional development, and especially learning from my students. Over the years I have found that my students have taught me to open my heart and mind to the joys of learning and teaching. Because of this, I will never forget how to smile, laugh, stay passionate and truly cherish my